Green party does not want the tunnel under the Vltava River, proposed by Prague 1

Ondřej Mirovský (Green Party)

Prague - The Greens in Prague do not want a tunnel under the Vltava River proposed by the Prague 1 municipality. The project would be costly and would lead to total traffic congestion in Prague 7, said Ondřej Mirovský (Green Party), a councilor from Prague 7, to the Czech News Agency. The first city district wants to push for two car tunnels in the new urban plan, connecting the port in Podolí and Štefánik Bridge.
    "I consider it an absolutely insane project that, I hope, will never be realized," Mirovský stated. According to him, while it is a good idea to relieve the north-south main road, directing it through a construction that would require greater investment than the Blanka tunnel complex does not seem sensible to Mirovský. Even the Greens in Prague 1 did not support this proposal for the new urban plan.
    Mirovský also pointed out that there are unresolved issues in the project. "The exit from the tunnel at Štefánik Bridge would lead to total traffic congestion in Prague 7," Mirovský explained. The mayor of Prague 7, Marek Ječmének (ODS), was also surprised by Prague 1’s proposal during today’s council meeting. "I haven’t seen the proposal; no one has talked to me about it," the mayor said.
    If the tunnel leads to an increase in traffic in Prague 7, such a variant is unacceptable to him. "If, however, they want to resolve the traffic issue they have and assume that the tunnel will end at Štefánik Bridge, but will be addressed in such a way that traffic dissipates across the right bank roads in Prague 1, then it is not up to us to decide," Ječmének stated.
    According to the mayor of Prague 1, Petr Hejma (ODS), the fate of the project is a matter of money. "I believe that it will eventually be realized," the mayor had said earlier. According to the municipality of the first city district, these considerations are already ten years old.
    The municipality is accepting proposals for the new urban plan until the end of March. The document, which outlines how individual areas can be utilized, is expected to be approved by the metropolis in about two years. The current proposals from the councilors of the first city district still need to be confirmed by local councilors.