From the beginning of August, drivers will start using the completed first half of the ring road, in the single-lane mode. Credit: Zdeněk Kolařík / Brno City Municipality.
Brno, July 31 (BD) – The first functioning section of the new outer city ring road is to open to traffic tomorrow, in a limited capacity. From 1 August, traffic from the old ring road and existing service road will move into the finished section next to the tunnel. The second half of this section of the ring road will be completed after another year.
The purpose of the works on the Žabovřeská section of the ring road is to unblock the section hemmed in on one side by the river and on the other by rocky cliffs, where traffic previously had to slow down on the two-lane road, creating long traffic queues. The resulting four-lane road with a separate tram line (partially routed into a tunnel under the rock) will be in use for car traffic for the first time next year. “We expect it to be put into operation in the second half of next year, then there will be further work in the vicinity, related to vegetation, sidewalks and paths, for example,” estimated project manager Radka Matuszková.
From the beginning of August, drivers will start using the completed first half of the ring road, in the single-lane mode. The builders will then begin work on the second two lanes, on the section closer to the river which cars were using as a service road until now.
The project is also bringing new facilities to other road users. Cyclists and pedestrians will be able to use a new trail on the left bank of the Svratka, and pedestrians can cross the busy road via two new footbridges. There will be two new access points to Wilson’s forest, via staircases leading to Masarykova čtvrť.
The project will also retain the chapel of St. Anthony and St. Barbora, the only surviving building from the former Stone Mill colony, which gave way to road construction in the last century. The renovation of the chapel and the construction of access walkways was part of the outer ring road project.
