Hospodářské noviny reports that the city of Prague will be using CZK 450m that it originally planned to use on the construction of the new D metro line on the repair of the city’s bridges instead. The decision is yet another result of the collapse of a pedestrian bridge connecting Prague 7 and Prague 8, which exposed a catastrophic lack of underinvestment into maintenance. The largest portion of the CZK 450m will go towards repairs on the bridge that brings drivers from the Barrandov bridge towards Slivenec. The next most expensive item will be the reconstruction of a pedestrian bridge at the Nové Butovice metro station, which the city warns is in catastrophic condition. Most of the projects for the repair of the bridges are ready to go meaning that work should be able to get underway quickly. The city is also considering a request to increase the budget for regular maintenance of bridges to CZK 98m, an amount that would significantly increase their longevity.
