It’s absolutely understandable that the Chain Bridge is an object of fascination for every city sightseer; when it was completed in 1849, this was not only the first permanent river crossing in Budapest, it was the first fixed bridge across the entire Danube. This marvel of 19th-century engineering was built by Scotsman Adam Clark (honored with his namesake square on the Buda side of the bridge) at the behest of prominent Magyar statesman István Széchenyi, who is now commemorated with the square on the Pest side of the bridge that bears his name – and it is here that near-accidents occur almost every few minutes, as pedestrians race to illegally cross the slim pair of lanes that carry cars back and forth between the city’s two sides.
Down the stairs at both sides of the bridge, pedestrians will find a fine underpass specifically designed for them so that traffic can flow uninterrupted above, but most foreigners either don’t know that this safe passage exists, or they prefer to save a few seconds by risking life and limb with a Budapest-themed game of human “Frogger”. Despite the railings specifically installed on both sidewalks to dissuade walkers from becoming sprinters on the street, people are almost always perched on the curb at this busy intersection where cars enter or leave Pest with a blind turn, before wildly bolting in front of barreling buses or careening cars and then attempting to hurdle over the opposite railing or duck beneath it, as vehicles speed by just inches away from a traffic tragedy.
However, with the arrival of summertime’s tourism high season in Budapest, city officials recently decided to accommodate these international jaywalkers by installing a temporary traffic light and zebra crossing here, and already it is making a huge impact to improve public safety – large crowds continually mosey across this bridgehead as drivers patiently wait for the light to turn green… and considering that there is only one lane in either direction on the Chain Bridge, and that many downtown streets of both Buda and Pest funnel cars directly into this crucial city bottleneck, the patience of local drivers is indeed being tested here, as this pedestrian crossing is indisputably adding to the city’s already considerable congestion.
We think everyone can agree that even if the life of just one slowly strolling tourist is spared with this act of civil engineering, the installation of this traffic light on the Chain Bridge is well worthwhile… but we wish that the pedestrians who use this kindly provided zebra crossing would return the favor by respecting the drivers forced to let people cross a thoroughfare that is ordinarily meant for motorized vehicles only.
Far too often we’re seeing tourists stop in the middle of the crosswalk to take photographs right down the middle of the bridge – and while we can understand why this stately sight bordered by lion statues may inspire the artist in everyone to immortalize this image on an iPhone, would a visitor to New York feel so cavalier about playing photojournalist in the middle of the road leading from the Brooklyn Bridge? We kinda doubt it.
Even more hazardously, some crossing tourists are actually stopping within the slim wedge between the two lanes and letting the light turn red, taking their sweet time to size up their shot before snapping a masterpiece photo… as cars and buses whip by at dangerously high speed. This is a threatening situation for everyone involved, but the people standing in the middle of the street disregardful of their surroundings are at considerably higher risk than the drivers racing past them.
There are plenty of good vantage points for taking amazing photos of the Chain Bridge, whether from the sidewalks that line it to the promenades that surround it to the ferryboats that pass beneath it… but the center of the road where cars are speeding across it is obviously a bad place to seek any proper perspective. So, if you’re crossing the Chain Bridge at Széchenyi Square this summer, by all means enjoy the temporary zebra crossing – but please just quickly head to the other side, instead of stopping in the middle to take pictures; do you really want that photo to be your last work of art?
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Már 15 éve lélegzünk összhangban a fővárossal. Jubileumi kiadványunkban mindent megtalálsz, ami magazinunk és eddigi munkánk esszenciája. Gasztronómia, kultúra, városi legendák és Budapest arcai, interjúk, történetek és a legjobb helyek – úgy, ahogyan mi látjuk a fővárost.
Rendeld meg itt vagy keresd a nagyobb könyvesboltokban!
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