Plzeň has started the first stage of the revitalization of the square, trees will be planted, and cars will decrease

Plzeň - Plzeň has begun the first phase of revitalizing the historic Republic Square. The western part, where the street runs between the cathedral and the bishopric, will transform into a pedestrian and cycling zone by August, adding trees, benches, drinking fountains, and misting stations. Car traffic will not return there; access will only be allowed for transportation services and deliveries. The cost of the first phase is 55 million crowns, it was stated today during the work commencement, which will also limit traditional events held in the square. The aim of the modifications is to create a more pleasant place for spending leisure time and sitting on benches under the trees or on front gardens.

"Republic Square is the showcase of our city. We want citizens and tourists to feel comfortable here. The look that Plzeň residents are used to will be preserved, while at the same time it will become a more pleasant place. The restoration will occur in phases. The reconstruction of the entire 1.2-hectare square is expected to cost approximately 200 million crowns," said Mayor Roman Zarzycký (ANO). He is particularly pleased that there will be trees in the square. According to him, a recent survey showed that 98 percent of people wanted permanent trees in the square. In recent years, smaller trees were planted in large-capacity containers here.

That will soon change. Before the hottest days, the construction company will plant 14 elms along about 250 meters of the square's edge, which are resistant to climate fluctuations and will provide partial shade in a few years with their airy crown. "This is a fast-growing species that can live for up to 80 years," said technical deputy Pavel Bosák (Pirates). To ensure that the trees under the pavement do not suffer, they will have space around the trunk, and their irrigation will be ensured by underground retention trenches that will collect rainwater.

The trees from the Netherlands are already in the Czech Republic. "They already have a circumference of about 35 centimeters and a height of around 2.5 to three meters," said Petr Myslivec from Swietelsky construction company, which is carrying out the revitalization. The new avenue will also feature two misting stations for cooling on hot days. "This is a structure about 4.5 meters tall with a built-in fixed bench. It will be controlled by a processor based on humidity, temperature conditions in the square, and weather forecasts," he stated.

A significant change will also be the expansion of pedestrian space. "The paved path on the western side of the square will completely disappear. It will all transform into a pedestrian zone; the sidewalk that is currently about three meters wide will be widened to ten meters," Myslivec noted.

"The work includes the reconstruction of engineering networks and leveling the heights of the surfaces. The modifications will ensure that the square will stop being a large roundabout, as it is now," said Deputy for Transport and Environment Aleš Tolar (STAN). In further phases, the projects will start being prepared, including the removal of the parking lot in front of the town hall and other modifications on the opposite side of the square.

The city invested around 160 million crowns in the square between 2007 and 2008 to change the asphalt surface to red-brown Italian porphyry paving. In 2010, gilded fountains were added in three corners of the square costing nearly 27 million crowns.