The footbridge from Prague's Holešovice to Karlín will cost 197 million crowns

Prague - The footbridge between Prague's Holešovice and Karlín will cost 197 million crowns. The city hall will now announce a tender for the company that will build it. The footbridge will be five meters wide and 285 meters long. The tender was approved by the Prague city council today. When exactly construction will start is not yet clear; it is expected to be completed in about two years. The project for the city was done by the company AI Praha. The city is also developing a study for the transformation of Štvanice Island.

The footbridge will complete the currently missing pedestrian and cycling connection between the banks of the Vltava River and Štvanice Island. It is currently accessible only at its western tip via the Hlávkův Bridge. "The footbridge has been planned for decades. Now we are getting to the point where we will announce the tender for its construction," said Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr (Prague Together).

The footbridge is designed as a reinforced concrete structure made of prefabricated parts. On the Holešovice bank of the Vltava River, the entrance to the footbridge will be located at Bubenské nábřeží in front of the Prague Market. On the Karlín bank, it will connect to the local cycle path. By the end of the year, the city hall is expected to submit an application for a building permit. Construction could begin next year.

The long-planned transformations of Štvanice Island are also expected to take place in the coming years. The city announced an architectural competition for the modifications, in which the architectural studio RKAW succeeded in 2013. The project was paused for several years, until the beginning of this year when the city tasked architects with developing the original proposal into a more detailed conceptual study.

The competition for the footbridge linking Karlín and Holešovice was first announced by Prague 7 in 1999. The winning proposal became unfeasible due to changes in flood protection measures after 2002. Currently, a ferry connects Karlín and Holešovice, which is expected to stop operating after the footbridge is completed.