Praha 6 wants to announce a construction ban on the route of the Prague Ring Road

Prague - The leadership of Prague 6 wants the city council to declare a construction freeze in the northwestern part of Prague, where the Prague ring road is supposed to run. Today, the municipal council made this resolution. The freeze would prevent construction in areas where the bypass is intended to be built. A construction freeze was previously in place on the unfinished parts of the outer ring, but it was lifted by the court in 2013. Smaller municipalities, especially Suchdol, are protesting against the planned route of the northwestern part of the ring road.

The council supported the declaration of the freeze and tasked Deputy Mayor Eva Smutná (TOP 09) with advocating for its declaration. "If we are to secure this route and ensure that construction is not blocked in any way, then we need a construction freeze," said the deputy mayor. She added that she tried to raise the issue at the last Prague council meeting, but it did not make it onto the agenda. The city council must prepare and approve the construction freezes.

An expert group of the government is dealing with the preparation for the completion of the ring road, which Smutná approached to address the construction freeze. According to her, she received a promise from the Ministry of Transport that the issue would be discussed at the next meeting.

A construction freeze already existed on the planned route of the ring road in the sections Ruzyně-Suchdol, Suchdol-Březiněves, and Březiněves-Satalice since 1997. In 2013, it was lifted by the court at the request of the Suchdol town hall and the owner of one of the plots of land. The reason was the city's long-term inactivity in the area of construction. The city council spoke about the restoration of the freeze in 2014 under the leadership of Mayor Tomáš Hudeček (independent, formerly TOP 09), but it has not yet occurred.

The entire Prague ring road measures about 80 kilometers, and currently, about half of it is in operation. The missing sections are the northwestern part between Ruzyně, Suchdol, and Březiněves, and the southeastern part between Běchovice and the D1 highway. The total construction costs are expected to exceed 106 billion crowns. The southeastern part is closer to the start of construction, for which the Ministry of the Environment is currently preparing an environmental impact assessment (EIA). If everything goes according to plan, construction could begin in 2019.