M4 motorway (Hungary)

The road's origins can be traced much further back in time - as far back as 1974, when the first section of the future motorway was opened. This section, from Albertirsa to Cegléd, served to bypass the older, congested Route 40, that passed through these towns. This was extended in 2005 to bypass Abony and Szolnok. The same year, the Törökszentmiklós bypass opened. On 6 July 2011, a bypass also opened at Kisújszállás. Most of these sections were only 1 lane per direction.

The 10 km long Vecsés-Üllő bypass opened in 2004, completed up to expressway standards. The section also helped ease accessing the Liszt Ferenc International Airport. However, this had left a gap between Albertirsa and Üllő, and the old road going through Monor soon became a bottleneck. The missing 29 kilometer long section of M4 was completed on February 7, 2020.

The section going south of Szolnok was found to be unsuitable to upgrade to motorway status, so on 16 September 2013, a contract was signed regarding the new route of the motorway. This route would go northwards of Szolnok, crossing the Tisza rivers, and shortening the route of the motorway. Construction contract was awarded to Strabag, with the estimated costs reaching 100 billion Hungarian Forints. Since the motorway passes through an environmental area, protective fencing was to be installed on the new sections from Üllő towards Törökszentmiklós. Whilst this section was supposed to open by 2016, construction work was stopped on 30 June 2015, to investigate the companies who were building the road. Apparently, the project was submitted to the EU to be supported in 2013, but it never received approval. Another issue was the huge cost of the route - 4 Billion HUF per kilometer. The work on this section restarted in 2018, and it opened to traffic in 2022.

A 4 kilometer stretch of M4, near Berettyóújfalu, was inaugurated on December 20, 2018. This section serves to link the M35 motorway to Route 47.[1]

The M4 as seen heading towards the Romanian border, near Derecske, 27 December 2018

In 2019, a section near Cegléd section was upgraded to a dual carriageway, but it only reached expressway status after the connecting section between Cegléd and Abony was completed in the summer of 2020.

Works at the other end of the planned motorway started in 2016, specifically on the Berettyóújfalu-Nagykereki section, which would connect to the Romanian A3 motorway, towards Oradea, Cluj, Târgu Mureș and Bucharest. However, just like the work on the A3 motorway in Romania, construction temporarily stopped due to funding issues. In 2018, Hungary received up to 265 million Euros from the EU Cohesion Funds specifically to complete this section of M4. It was opened on September 4, 2020.

The M0-M4 interchange seen from the air, 20 June 2006. Notice the then-under construction section of the M0.

Preparatory work has started for the Törökszentmiklós-Kisújszállás-Karcag-Püspökladány-Berettyóújfalu section. This section envisaged an interchange with the M8 motorway, but the procurement procedure was abolished on 26 February 2014, leaving work halted on this section.

Distance from the Zero Kilometre Stone (Adam Clark Square) in Budapest in kilometres.

• The section between Budapest and Berettyóújfalu is expressway. The maximum speed limit is 110 km/h, with (2x2 lanes).
• The section between Berettyóújfalu and Nagykereki is motorway. The maximum speed limit is 130 km/h, with (2x2 lanes and stop lane).

km		Destinations	Route	Notes
18		Budapest		Connection to Budapest Introductory path of M4
19		Vecsés-nyugat	4	Western connection to Vecsés
21		Budapest International Airport
24		Vecsés-kelet, Ecser	3101	Eastern connection to Vecsés
		M4-M0 interchange (Budapest bypass)	M0 / E60	Connection to Győr, Székesfehérvár, Pécs, Szeged and Nyíregyháza, Vác. The western terminus of European route E60
30		Üllő, Gyömrő	3124
35		Monor-nyugat, Péteri	3111	Western connection to Monor
41		Monor-kelet, Gomba	3112	Eastern connection to Monor
49		Pilis, Monorierdő, Káva	4606
52		Gerje rest area
56		Albertirsa, Dabas	405	Also serves as a connecting road to M5 / E75
63		Ceglédbercel	46124
66		Cegléd-Öregszőlő		Connection to the Aquapark of Cegléd
69		Ceglédi rest area		MOL / MOL +
		Cegléd, Tápiószentmárton	3116
70		Cegléd, Tápiószele	311
77		Abony-nyugat	401	Western connection to Abony
85		Abonyi rest area
89		Abony-észak, Újszász		Northern connection to Abony
94		Abony-kelet, Szolnok-nyugat	406	Eastern connection to Abony Western connection to Szolnok
		M4-M8 interchange	M8	Connection to the M8 motorway, towards Kecskemét.
99		Szolnok-észak, Jászberény	32	Northern connection to Szolnok
101		Zagyva (Bridge)
106		Szolnok-kelet, Besenyszög		Eastern connection to Szolnok
112		Tisza (Bridge)
115		Rest area
117		Törökszentmiklós-nyugat, Szajol	4	Western connection to Törökszentmiklós
125		Törökszentmiklós-kelet	4	Eastern connection to Törökszentmiklós
133		Fegyvernek, Örményes
145		Kisújszállás-nyugat, Kenderes	4	Western connection to Kisújszállás
154		Kisújszállás-kelet	4	Eastern connection to Kisújszállás
160		Rest area
165		Karcag, Füzesgyarmat
180		Püspökladány, Báránd Püspökladányi rest area	42
190		Kaba
197		Rest area
202		Hajdúszovát, Földes
208		Rest area
210		M4-M35 interchange	M35 / E79	Connection to the M35 motorway, towards Debrecen. The western terminus of European route E79 and of the motorway section. The eastern terminus of the expressway section.
215		Berettyóújfalu, Derecske	47
220		Körtvélyes rest area
226		Gáborján, Váncsod	4815
230		Kengyeles rest area
237		Nagykereki, Pocsaj, Biharkeresztes	4808
242		Nagykereki (H) – Borș II (RO) border crossing
A 3 / E60 / E79 → to Oradea, Romania

•   Under construction
•   Planned section