Workers completed the glazing of the first arch of the Negrelli Viaduct

Prague - Workers have completed the glazing of the first arch of Prague's Negrelli Viaduct at the corner of Sokolovská and Prvního pluku streets. Additional structures will be built in the area, and a municipal information center will open here in March next year. It will operate in a pilot mode for the first two years. If the operation proves successful, the city will glaze and remodel another approximately forty arches. This was announced today by representatives of the capital city, Prague 8, the Technical Administration of Communications (TSK), and the city company Trade Centre Prague (TCP), which will manage the space.

"In the pilot operation, which will last for two years, it will be technically verified whether this activity is suitable for a cultural monument. TCP should take over the construction from TSK around January, and then the pilot operation will commence," said city councilor Adam Zábranský (Pirates). The two-year pilot operation was a condition set by monument protectors for the modifications to be approved.

TSK employees built glass doors that are not drilled into the arch but are held in place with special braces. Workers also had to bring all the engineering networks here, including electricity and water. A wooden installation still needs to be mounted in the arch. TCP will monitor the construction with special sensors that will examine, among other things, the influence of temperature change on the structure.

According to the current plan, the arches will be used 40 percent for commercial activities. The same amount of arches will serve for so-called creative activities, such as artistic ones, and the remaining 20 percent will be reserved for projects aimed at developing other activities. "In the future, this project needs to be set up so that there is a whole range of activities here, to infuse it with a lively project," said Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček (STAN).

In the pilot operation, the city leadership wants to find the right combination of uses for the arches. In addition to information for the public and future operators, there will also be projects, according to Zábranský, that will enliven the space near the first glazed arch. In the future, there will be a complete renewal of the area around the viaduct, where relaxation areas will be created, and greenery will be planted. Current illegal parking spots created by drivers will disappear. "Their number has already been replaced during the reconstruction of Pernerova Street," said Deputy Mayor of Prague 8 Tomáš Slabihoudek (TOP 09).

The Negrelli Viaduct is the first railway bridge in Prague across the Vltava River and the second oldest standing bridge in Prague. It connects Masaryk Station through Štvanice Island with Bubny. The 1100-meter-long structure, which was put into operation at the beginning of June 1850, is a protected monument. It is named after its builder Alois Negrelli. The installation of the glass follows the complete reconstruction of the viaduct from 2017 to 2020, which cost nearly two billion crowns.