Prague Circuit Opens, Catastrophic Scenarios Untrue

The opening of the new part of Prague circuit went smooth and the capital relieved itself. At least that’s what Radovan Steiner, the Prague councilman for transport says.

„I twice travelled the length of the route personally, including the predicted problem spots, and I have to say that Jizni spojka and Barrandov area are much more relaxed, the traffic is absolutely smooth. Even in the Sporilov and Chodov area, the traffic was without any problem, Steiner said. According to Steiner, no traffic jams occured in villages northeast of Prague, which is the route most of the trucks could have chosen instead of Jizni spojka. According to the information from the police, no collapse situations or measurable increase in truck transportation occured. Steiner admitted that no definite stance could be taken after the first five hours of observation, however, no catastrophic scenarios as described by CESMAD Bohemia definitely did not happen. The city representatives will observe everything in the following days.

The association of truck transporters CESMAD Bohemia states that the timing of new Prague circuit opening is just a pre-electoral ad of the Prague councilmen.

Invasion of German trucks imminent

According to the Director of Centre For Efficient Transport Petr Slegr the circuit will help divert through transport, but there is more radial than through transport, so Prague will be in need of a system solution for the transport between the agglomeration and the centre in the nearest years anyway. „According to my estimates, in the nearest years the traffic on Jizni spojka will rise to its original intensity. There may be less trucks in it, yes, but there will be new intra-urban traffic arising, the Jizni spojka will start to carry people who use buses and tramways nowadays,“ Slegr says. The circuit, he adds, can attract much more trucks driving from North to South Germany. The bigger and more modern highway is constructed, the more cars use it. „This phenomenon is called the induction of transport. It should invoke some countermeasure, such as toll elevation,“ thinks Slegr.
The Road and Motorway Directorate opened a new, 23-km long segment in early afternoon. The bypass connects the motorway to Pilsen and to Brno. The building, which is important within the European road network, cost about 20 billion Czech crowns. According to Otakar Vacin, the expert on road construction, the complicated geotechnical relations had impact on the financial demandingness of the construction. „Large bridges and tunnes were constructed. Furthermore, there were buyouts in Prague and vicinity,“ stressed Vacin.

Bad welds

The Ministry of Transport was considering postponing the opening of the circuit as some of the welds on the Lochkov Bridge were supposed to be defective. However, that was not necessary, experts later confirmed the welds to be safe. As the vice-rector of the Czech Technical University Petr Moos told Radiozurnal: „It is a certain lack of quality of the welds that are not important for loading capacity of the bridge, so the person on the bridge is exposed to no danger. And according to the experts on bridge construction and steelmakers, the defect is not dangerous and will be under control,“ stressed Moos in Twenty minutes of Radiozurnal. Also Otakar Vacin thinks it’s all a bit exaggerated: „I believe a new expertise will confirm that. The welds of such a large flange as in this case are not even known in the Czech standard,“ says the expert on transport constructions, Otakar Vacin.