The Liben bridge would be roughly just as expensive to repair as it would be to replace, says Prague city councilor Petr Dolinek. The city has been making temporary repairs to this key piece of infrastructure at the same time as trying to figure out what to do with it. The bridge was shut down almost overnight in January after inspectors found it to be in a catastrophic state of disrepair. There had been no sudden deterioration, however the collapse of a footbridge in December has apparently kicked the city into action on a long-standing problem over the state of its bridges. A final decision on the fate of the Liben bridge is expected by March. The city will be considering not just the price of reconstructing the bridge, but comparing how much it would end up paying to keep the existing bridge in working order to the maintenance expenses of a new one. What seems clear is that the only way to save the existing structure is to undertake drastic repairs of its foundations. The organizers of the Prague Marathon are already considering whether an alternative route for the race will have to be implemented.
