Experts praise Prague’s plan for a new metro ring line. It would relieve the center, they agree
The O metro line in Prague could help relieve congested parts in the city center, and could also lead to the development of other areas in the metropolis. Especially assuming further dynamic development of the capital, thinks of transport construction experts.
According to experts, it is also good that a feasibility study for a new metro line is already being considered, as this could help in tracing and financing constructions. This year, the Prague Sobě group, which is part of the city management, wants to commission a test of the construction options.
Representatives of Prague claim that, thanks to the line, it would no longer be necessary to travel on some routes through the center. The construction would also relieve congested sections of the metro, simplify commuting to work in Central Bohemia and connect the planned new development to the public transport system. The opposition ODS and YES also agree with the proposal in principle. According to Mayor Zdeněk Hřiby (Pirates), it will be necessary to check.
Martin Všetečka from the Department of Roads, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, I believe that it is relatively common in large cities not to build all subway lines just to the center. He sees the overload of sections in the central part of the city and shortened routes outside the center as the main reasons for this.
“Of course, it has a lot to do with urban planning, that is, whether it’s more monocentric or more polycentric,” he said. According to him, the construction of roundabouts can often support the development of other areas of the city.
According to Všetečka, the current load on the metro in Prague has reached a point where, in his opinion, it is reasonable to deal with the issue of the roundabout. He emphasized that so far it was only an inspection, not a commission.
According to Milan Kříž from the Department of Logistics and Transport Management, the Faculty of Transport at the Czech Technical University all indicates that the population of Prague and its surroundings will grow in the future. It is necessary to respond to this in spatial and transport planning, he said.
At the same time, Kříž reminded that the project of the round line is still visible, while several studies of the project may emerge from the study, which will have different effects on the subsequent transport and the zoning plan. According to him, the possible construction of a new line should be based on the balance between spatial and transport planning in the city, as well as on political and social consensus.
The experts agreed that the question of whether a similar roundabout in Prague is realistic at all will be answered by the forthcoming feasibility study. According to Kříž, it is correct that the study is already being considered, because sometimes a situation arises where a solution is adopted in advance, which then turns out to be economically inefficient in the study.
In this context, Všetečka stated that it is premature to talk about a specific line management before the study is prepared. The feasibility study just entered should answer the most suitable specific route route.
According to the first proposal, which was presented on Thursday by Deputy Adam Scheinherr (Prague Sobě), the new line should lead from Podbaba Railway Station via Dejvice, Smíchov, Dvorce, Budějovická, Vršovice, Žižkov, Vysočany, Čakovice and then in the second phase north back to Podbaba. According to Scheinherr, the cost of the roundabout cannot now be estimated.
The city is now waiting for a building permit for the construction of the first section of the fourth metro line D, which is to measure about ten kilometers and will pass through Pankrác and Písnice. In the future, another section from Pankrác will be built on náměstí Míru. According to this year’s update, the total estimated price of line D is 97.79 billion crowns.