Election 2021 | ODS politicians promised a solution to the traffic chaos, Brno continues to close closures
“This is already the fiftieth ban, it’s not normal, you’re not normal at the town hall. In four years or eight years, or however long you have been at the town hall, you have made Brno impossible to get to,” complains the “fake Babiš”.
It was his movement that ruled in four cities in South Moravia for years and was then the target of traffic criticism, mainly from the ODS.
However, according to the interviewed drivers, the situation – despite all the promises – has practically not changed even during the reign of the “blue birds”. There are still a lot of closures. “It’s always scary and scary in Brno,” says Adéla Kachlíková, who delivers food to people’s homes by car.
Jan Jaroš, who goes to work in Brno every day, understands that the road must be repaired, but he shakes his head at the way of marking.
“I’m driving and suddenly I see that the turn is closed without any other prior notice. So I continue on to the next turn. Then again, they open the first without any other markings and block the second, so you don’t even notice. Since I was heading to the campus where I work, it took me all the way to the highway. There was also an accident, so I drove to work twice as long,” he describes a recent experience.
And according to him, it’s not just carelessness. He also describes another “experience”, when he reached Kuři via detours. And he certainly wasn’t alone. In front of him he watched the equally confused behind him. “Signage is absolutely everywhere in Brno. I don’t even want to know how much more diesel I drove because of it,” Jaroš adds.
Now, with the end of the holidays, when many people are returning from vacations, the situation on Brno’s roads is definitely not changing for the better. On the contrary. The main moves are dug up, mostly by the “salami method”, where one piece is repaired, another is not, then another is, and then another is not.
Complications from all directions
On the way from the north, drivers first encounter complications in Hradecky, where road workers have been working on a new surface for several years in a row and announce that they will return here in a year.
If the driver then goes to the eastern part of the circuit, until recently he faced restrictions due to the replacement of asphalt in Porgesova street. Today, this part is already finished, but after a few minutes you will come across the excavated Tomkovo náměstí. This year will also include the repair of the bridges over Ostravská, i.e. the drop-off on the D1 highway.
According to Vlasta Jágerová, the coordinator of the closures in Brno – a position established by the ODS – there is no danger that they will order restrictions even on the bridges, and yet the workers will not be seen due to the cold weather. “I need such technology so that we can also do it in the winter, because each of the two bridges must be modernized in one year,” explains Jágerová. They “distribute” the work into stages.
The traffic situation is not much better even if you head west. Behind the Královopolský tunnel, work is still being done on widening the road in Žabovřesky, and this year should be followed almost immediately by the repair of Bauerova street along the exhibition center and the Riviera swimming pool. And on the next section up to the railway bridge, drivers face a narrowing due to the construction of flood protection measures.
“We do what we can to make the closures as painless as possible,” says the coordinator, but at the same time she admits that if the Directorate of Roads and Highways decides to reconstruct something, they won’t do anything about it. “We can’t do much,” he admits.
Brno councilor for transport Petr Kratochvíl (ODS) says that if they want to cancel some repairs of the ŘSD, it may happen that the state organization will end up investing the money elsewhere.
“I recognize that the situation for drivers is not easy, but if we want to maintain the good condition of the roads, the pace must remain as it is today,” he promises no change this time before the councilor’s election. Just like the coordinator. “I can’t imagine that even one street in Brno would be repaired. That really wouldn’t be possible, it has to be done,” he reports.
Kratochvíl does not want to evaluate the fulfillment of promises from the previous election campaign too much. “I’m not saying it’s going well, but we’re trying to do the best we can. As a result, it may seem that there is no effect, I admit that, but we are really working on it,” and he points out, for example, the postponement of the planned long closure of the Pisarecký tunnel or Hlinka Street, where the Brno waterworks are being reconstructed.
So is the councilor in Brno doing better today than in 2018, i.e. at the time of the significantly critical ODS campaign? “I can’t compare, I have to judge her,” he concludes.