The town hall in the center of Olomouc will install stone blocks due to drivers

Olomouc - The Olomouc City Hall wants to additionally place granite blocks in the reconstructed Lower Square to improve drivers' orientation while driving in this part of the historical city center. Currently, the traffic lane is only separated from the pedestrian zone by benches and bicycle stands. As a result, drivers have a poorer overview of the traffic corridor while driving through Lower Square, and three have already crashed their cars into the light poles installed in the pedestrian area of the square.
    Deputy Mayor Ivo Vlach (TOP 09) told reporters today that the city hall originally wanted to place metal posts in Lower Square to clearly mark the traffic corridor, but heritage protectors disagreed with this solution. "At the last minute, we therefore chose a solution that involves marking the corridor with street furniture, and we wanted to wait three months to see if that would be sufficient. Life has shown that it is not. I am surprised that drivers are able to overlook a light pole," said Vlach.
    According to Vlach, the city hall has already negotiated with heritage protectors about the placement of granite blocks and wants to install them in Lower Square "very soon." The procurement of the blocks will cost the city several hundred thousand crowns. "The blocks will definitely prevent collisions that occur there," believes Vlach.
    However, the city council is also preparing for the possibility that granite blocks will not improve the traffic situation in Lower Square. "We will quantify the costs for potentially relocating the public lighting poles closer to the sidewalks that line Lower Square. If the blocks are not sufficient, we will be ready to resolve the situation in this way later this year," noted Deputy Mayor Martin Major (ODS).
    The extensive reconstruction of Lower Square, which was completed last summer and cost nearly 130 million crowns, lasted 18 months. The road surfaces, parking areas, sidewalks, and utility networks were repaired. The Marian Column, last restored 20 years ago, was also restored. The repair of this national cultural monument cost about one million crowns. The city hall managed to obtain a grant from the regional operational program for the reconstruction of Lower Square, which covered 85 percent of the costs.