<p>Prague has obtained a building permit for the construction of the Troja footbridge.</p>

Prague - The construction of the new Troja footbridge in Prague will start this July and will open in the summer of 2020. It will have a lifespan of 100 years and will serve both pedestrians and cyclists. Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr (Prague Sobě) announced this today to ČTK. The originally planned temporary structure will not be built. The Prague City Hall received a building permit for the construction of the footbridge between Císařský Island and Troja from the building office of Prague 7 on Wednesday. The permit is valid from today. A public tender for the construction contractor has also been announced.

"We have a valid building permit and can start construction. We want to open the footbridge next summer. The new Troja footbridge will be at least four meters wide, allowing both pedestrians and cyclists to use it together. If necessary, a vehicle from the Integrated Rescue System can also cross it," Scheinherr stated.

Interested parties in the construction of the footbridge have until the end of May to send applications to the city to participate in the competition and prove their qualifications. They will then have 15 days to submit their bids. The actual construction will begin at the start of this summer's holidays.

The collapsed footbridge will be replaced with a new steel-reinforced structure, which will be easier to inspect and maintain. "The new footbridge will have a lifespan of 100 years and will not corrode from the inside, and we will be able to effectively monitor its condition," he said. The footbridge will replace the original one, which collapsed in December two years ago, injuring four people in the accident. Police have already charged two men with endangerment in the investigation of the accident.

The previous city administration had planned to first construct a temporary footbridge with a lifespan of 30 years before building the permanent one. This has now changed. According to the very first plan, the temporary structure was supposed to be 3.5 meters wide and have a surface made of wooden planks. However, this was not liked by the Prague 7 city hall, and the project was therefore revised and changed.

The footbridge collapsed on December 2, 2017, injuring four people, two of them seriously. The city compensated each of the injured with 50,000 crowns. In January this year, the city reached an agreement with the insurance company regarding further compensation, which began to pay out before the completion of the police investigation.

Prague has long-term problems with its bridges. Several bridges over the Vltava are in poor condition, including Libeňský, Hlávkův, and Palackého bridges. Libeňský bridge had to be completely closed to public transport and cars at the beginning of last year. The city, through the Technical Administration of Communications (TSK), has already begun diagnostics on these bridges.