Nymburk wants to announce an architectural competition for a new footbridge

"The architectural competition should involve selected design offices. Their proposals will likely be assessed by a professional jury during September," Fojtík said. The best proposal would then be tasked with developing its own project documentation for the construction of the footbridge.

According to Fojtík, the actual design process would take at least half a year to three-quarters of a year. "In the summer of 2019, we could start competing for contractors; the year 2020 is then a fairly sober estimate for the opening," Fojtík added.

The city decided to close the footbridge based on the recommendation of the specialized company Pontex, which examined the Nymburk footbridge about two years ago. The company sent information to Nymburk that, according to preliminary information from investigators, the Troja footbridge likely has a systemic construction flaw where the prestressing cables are corroding.

People now have to use the railway bridge or the hydroelectric plant to cross the Elbe instead of the closed footbridge, which means a journey of more than a kilometer. Next to the closed footbridge is a bridge for cars, but pedestrian passage is not possible for safety reasons. Since January 15, the city has also introduced free bus transport between Přemyslovců Square and Zálabí, which is on the other side of the river. People can ride the bus for free between the Nymburk, Zálabí PVT, and Nymburk Náměstí stops. Throughout the day, about 45 buses run in each direction, so free transport concerns 90 connections.