Plzeň is installing the nearly century-old Faltus steel bridge this year

Plzeň – After years of disuse, the nearly century-old steel Faltus Bridge will start serving people again this year. The bridge, which has been classified as a cultural monument since last November, used to serve as a footbridge for employees of Škodovka for decades. The city will move it to a new location – across the Karlovy Vary road right past the northern edge of Plzeň. Cyclists will ride over it and pedestrians will walk to excursions, including trips to the area of Mount Krkavec. Work on the relocation and placement of the bridge has already begun, and the city will pay 60.7 million crowns including VAT for it, with 16 million covered by a European grant, said Aleš Tolar (STAN), deputy mayor for transport and the environment, to CTK today.

"Generations of Škodovka workers walked over the bridge to work, but during the railway line reconstruction, it was dismantled and lay unused. The city acquired it and the state recognized the bridge as a cultural monument. Therefore, it was not possible for it to simply end up as scrap, and I am glad that the structure will have a new purpose again, allowing cyclists and pedestrians to safely and comfortably cross the busy Karlovy Vary road," he said.

The steel fully welded truss bridge designed by František Faltus was manufactured by the Škoda Works in 1931 and originally served the Škodovka employees in crossing the railway line to Domažlice, which runs through the company area. According to Jana Bukovská from the National Heritage Institute in Plzeň, this was the first use of a fully electrically welded steel structure for a road bridge in what was then Czechoslovakia. At the time, it was also the largest bridge of its kind in the world. It served at its original location until 2019, when the city of Plzeň bought it for scrap value, approximately 3.5 million crowns.

Since then, it has lain unused, stored in the Škodovka area. After the move over the Karlovy Vary road, it will receive a new reinforced concrete deck, restoring its original character from the 1930s. Three historic-style lights will solve the lighting issue on the upper frame portal bracing at the beginning, middle, and end of the bridge, which will also correspond to the original state from the interwar period operation.

The so-called Faltus Bridge is named after Professor František Faltus (1901 to 1989), who, after studying engineering in Vienna and working at the Waagner-Biro bridge works there, joined the Škoda Works in Plzeň in March 1926. He became a pioneer of new welding technology for bridge structures.

"There will be signs directly on the bridge from which people will learn about the designer of the bridge and the uniqueness of the structure, which is a testament to the extraordinary engineering past of our city," Tolar added.