Due to the demolition of OP, traffic on R46 will be halted in Prostějov

"No one has ever done a similar demolition like this here. It’s a life challenge."

Prostějov - The planned demolition of six production halls of the bankrupt Clothing Enterprise will temporarily halt traffic on the R46 expressway in Prostějov for several minutes on Saturday morning, near the textile plant. Jan Studecký, spokesperson for the Road and Motorway Directorate, informed ČTK today.
    The R46 expressway will be completely closed in Prostějov from 7:00 AM to 7:10 AM for safety reasons during the demolition of the halls. Traffic on this expressway will be restricted starting at 6:00 AM. For about a kilometer stretch, police will direct traffic from the right lane into the fast lane and from the left lane into the slow lane. These restrictions will end at 8:00 AM, Studecký stated.
    People from Prostějov and the surrounding area are expected to come to watch the demolition of the production halls. Jana Gáborová, spokesperson for the Prostějov Town Hall, told ČTK today that Industrial Street will also be closed during the demolition, which will be cordoned off by the guards. "The city police will warn citizens not to enter the closed area," she said.
    The six production halls of OP will be brought down by a ton of dynamite on Saturday morning. Prostějov will thus lose an integral landmark of the industrial part of the city, which has towered over the area with its six-story buildings for several decades.
    The demolition of the production halls has been carefully prepared for weeks by demolition expert Zdeněk Šobíšek from Prague. "No one has probably done a similar demolition here before. I have even heard that the last time a demolition of such magnitude occurred was in Dresden when they were bombed by the Americans. It's a life challenge that gives me chills just speaking about it," Šobíšek told ČTK, who has previously managed to demolish 62 chimneys, three large machines, two bridges, and 17 buildings.
    Experts will gradually place 4200 detonators and igniters into the structure of the production halls, which will be connected by several kilometers of wire. A total of 1.1 tons of dynamite will be used for the demolition of the halls. "A team of 16 people will be loading it for three days," noted Šobíšek.
    The six buildings will be demolished one after the other on Saturday morning, with each expected to fall in several seconds. Before the demolition, firefighters will soak the roofs of the production halls with water to reduce dust. "Water will also weigh down the columns of the buildings, which will help us during the demolition," added Šobíšek. Around sixty people, including firefighters and police officers, will be involved in securing the Saturday demolition.
    The demolition expert now has to carefully consider the placement of the explosives so that all six-story halls collapse as if they were houses of cards after the explosion. According to Šobíšek, the demolition will not be straightforward because the structures of the production buildings are reinforced with strong iron wires.
    The company Astria Group, which became the new owner of the main site of the bankrupt OP in Prostějov at the beginning of the year, plans to build a large exhibition hall on part of the land. Some parcels will likely be offered to investors.