The much-delayed Blanka tunnel, a key part of the Prague ring road, is no longer expected to open this year, city officials told the economic daily Hospodářské noviny. The tunnel’s cabling will have to be completely replaced, as the current cables are not water resistant. The tunnel runs under the Vltava River, connecting Prague 7-Letná to Prague 8-Troja. In 2013, when Prague was hit by a flood, the water level in the tunnel rose by 1.5 meters, Jiří Fiala, an authorized expert, told the paper. The repair, expected to cost tens of millions of crowns, also includes redesigning the project’s cabling network. The major infrastructure project, however, has another serious flaw: Petr Dolínek, Prague’s deputy mayor in charge of transport, said that water cannot drain properly, because the tunnel was not designed on a continuous slope.
