Hradec Králové will repeat the competition for the construction of a footbridge over the Elbe

Hradec Králové - The city of Hradec Králové will repeat the competition for the construction of a footbridge over the Elbe near the Aldis Congress Center. No company applied in the first competition. According to the Deputy Mayor for Investments Jiří Bláha (ODS), the qualification requirements for candidates were strict in the first tender. For the second tender, the city council intends to relax the qualification conditions. The project for the construction of the footbridge has been prepared by the city since 2003.

According to Bláha, the footbridge features a unique delicate structure made of concrete blocks connected by cables. In the Czech Republic, this type of construction has been used only four times so far. In the previous tender, the city required candidates to provide a reference for a footbridge of this type with a length of at least 60 meters, whereas, according to Bláha, only one footbridge of at least that length has been built in the Czech Republic so far.

The new tender specifications are expected to be approved by councilors on April 30, after which the city will announce the new competition. The Deputy Mayor for Economy Monika Štayrová (ANO) told ČTK that if the second competition is successful, construction of the footbridge could start in September and be completed by approximately mid-2020.

The estimated cost of the footbridge is around 48 million crowns excluding VAT, most of which should be covered by a European grant from the ITI program. The repetition of the tender should not jeopardize the grant as the funding conditions state that the footbridge must be completed by the end of 2023. The city also committed to the construction of the footbridge in a contract with Československá obchodní banka, which began building a regional headquarters for a thousand employees in the Aldis zone last December.

The footbridge will be for pedestrians and cyclists, connecting Šimkovy Sady and the area around the Aldis Congress Center with Karel IV Avenue in the city center. The city council already built a pedestrian boulevard in the Aldis zone in 2003 for 23 million crowns, which the footbridge was intended to connect to.

In the past, nature conservationists had objections to the footbridge project. The original project involved the felling of an oak tree on the embankment, against which environmentalists successfully protested. Delays and disputes were also associated with the architectural competition. Ornithologists raised objections to the design of the footbridge because the proposed footbridge could interfere with the flight paths of birds, especially swans. The project was modified due to environmentalists' comments.