Prague wants to enhance the Malovanka intersection and build footbridges above it

Prague - Prague wants to enhance the grade-separated interchange at Malovanka, which connects the Strahov Tunnel and the under-construction Blanka tunnel complex. Walkways for pedestrians should rise above the interchange, and the walls along the interchange should be covered with climbing plants. The intention was presented today at the transport committee by architect Jiří Opočenský, who is the author of the design. According to Opočenský, the construction costs would be about 98 million crowns excluding VAT, while annual operating costs would be over half a million crowns.
    The project's goal, according to Opočenský, is to facilitate pedestrian passage, which is currently complicated at the interchange, and to reduce emissions from automobile traffic. Two cross-shaped walkways, which will be connected in the middle, are intended to link, among other things, the parks at Na Petynce and in Parléřova Street.
    According to Opočenský, the walls along the interchange will primarily use evergreen plants. According to the Atelier of Ecological Models (ATEM), automobile traffic at this location produces about 9.2 tons of PM10 dust particles annually. "The green wall" is expected by the architects to reduce this amount by approximately 35 percent.
    The project was well-received by the councilors, but some doubted whether it would be possible to complete it by around April 2014, when the adjoining section of the Blanka tunnel complex is set to open. The proposal currently lacks the necessary permits, and its financing has not yet been resolved. Therefore, Prague plans to apply for a grant from the State Environmental Fund this summer.
    "The timeline is tight, but not impossible. It requires intense work on the documentation for the zoning decision," Opočenský said at the committee. If Prague secures the grant, according to Opočenský, it will also be necessary to obtain the building permit by May 2013. The actual construction and planting, which would require partial traffic restrictions, would then take about a year.