Transit Through Hungary Only on Designated Routes. Official Map of Transit Corridors

As of 1 January 2026, new rules apply in Hungary concerning the transit of heavy goods vehicles with a gross vehicle weight exceeding 20 tonnes.

Under the new regulation, trucks covered by these provisions must travel exclusively on motorways, expressways, or officially designated urban transit routes, from the moment they enter the country until they leave it. This effectively eliminates the possibility of freely choosing local roads for international transit. Leaving the designated network is permitted only in strictly defined situations, where it is necessary to reach a loading or unloading location or a parking area in order to take the mandatory driver breaks and rest periods. At the same time, the use of roads running through residential areas is explicitly prohibited, even in such exceptional cases.

The Hungarian authorities justify the introduction of these restrictions by the need to reduce noise, exhaust emissions, and the risk of road accidents in populated areas. This represents another example of the increasingly common policy in Europe of diverting heavy transit traffic onto higher-class roads and away from local communities. In practice, this will result in a greater concentration of heavy vehicle traffic on the main transport corridors.

A key element of the new regulations is the officially published map of the transit route network, valid from 1 January 2026 and available in English. The document precisely indicates the roads on which heavy vehicles may travel in transit through Hungary and should become a primary route-planning tool for transport operators and carriers.