Gábor Eszter: Andrássy Avenue – Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)

ble evils when inlaid parquets are broken up with a pick-axe. Behind the glitzy restorations is the devastation wreaked by modern-day vandals.

Yet all this is really nothing when compared to the devastation of the avenue by the spread and increase of motorised traffic. The coup de gráce

was

delivered when the major exit from Budapest to motorway M3 was brought here. The covering of the underground tunnel, which also came to be endangered, had to be reinforced. The century-old row of planes has practically been wiped out. Windows opening on Andrássy

út have

had to be kept sealed for decades now due to the noise and the pollution. Pleasant strolls along Andrássy

út belong

to the past as one cannot walk from the City Park to Bajcsy-Zsilinszky

út without

being sick. And that despite the fact that the situation has improved somewhat in recent years. There are no more lorries rumbling down the avenue, the route of bus 4 has been curtailed and route 1 has been phased out. The man in the street has gone underground allowing cars and tourist coaches to take over Andrássy út.

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