Nymburk has chosen the design of the new footbridge; the author also designed the previous one

An expert panel selected from six proposals. The new bridge will have an arched structure and will be one meter wider than the original. The construction should cost around 40 million crowns, but the exact price will be determined only after a detailed project that the firm must now process. The new bridge could be completed in 2020.

The expert panel selected proposals anonymously, and the author of the winning proposal was revealed only after its selection. Initially, 14 competitors entered the competition, and six advanced to the final round.

"The proposals were of a very high technical and architectural level, so it was not easy to make a selection. There were various types of constructions," said the panel chairman Jan Vítek to reporters today. According to him, there were, for example, arched structures or structures supported by cables.

The seven-member panel evaluated three areas - overall solution and integration into the city space, fulfillment of the building program, which assessed how individual projects met user parameters. The third area comprised maintenance and lifetime costs.

"An arched structure fits well near the old bridge; it blends in nicely. From the perspective of user parameters, the slopes were crucial so that people would not have to walk too much up and down," said Vítek. He stated that the winning proposal has a so-called integrated structure, which is easy to maintain, as it does not use expansion joints or bearings that have a shorter lifespan than the bridge itself.

If the city does not reach an agreement with the winning author on the development of the project, the second or possibly third proposal in line will be given the opportunity.

The city had the bridge demolished because it was at risk of collapse. The bridge was closed to pedestrians last December, and boats were prohibited from passing under the bridge since June. River traffic was restored exactly two months later on August 8th. Since September, a ferry has been operating at the site of the demolished bridge in Nymburk, and people can also use the railway bridge or the hydroelectric plant to cross the Elbe, which means a journey of more than a kilometer.