• 22/12/2022
• By wizewebsite
• 420 Views

The busiest road in the Czech Republic. The Barrand bridge was the pride of socialism<

The plan to build a transport connection between Braník and Hlubočep has been known since the end of the First World War. Already during the 18th century there was only a pontoon bridge. In the period after the Second World War, as many as thirteen different proposals appeared over time to connect the two banks with a generous transport connection.

In August 1976, the design of a reinforced concrete inclined bridge was finally chosen. The generous monumental building in Brutalist style was commissioned in two stages. The southern part was opened on September 20, 1983, and the northern part only in 1988. At that time, the bridge bore the name of the second communist president, Antonín Zápotocký, but immediately after the revolution it was renamed the current Barrandovský most.

Brutalist pride

The people of Prague have been driving over the bridge for 30 years. The whole megalomaniacal construction took ten years to be fully opened. By today's standards, it was an expensive splurge. A massive concrete structure across the Vltava swallowed up to half a billion crowns.

The work is signed by the architect Karel Filsak, who very strongly opposed the imposed socialist realism and, together with Karel Bubeníček, Jiří Louda and Jan Šrámek, strongly advocated the creation of modern architecture in Czechoslovakia.

This was also the monumental construction of the bridge over the Vltava, which was ceremonially opened by Miloš Jakeš in 1988. Today it is the busiest transport structure in our territory. Up to 142,000 vehicles pass through the unique brutalist building every day. However, it was not fundamentally reconstructed for three decades. That's what awaits her.

For several years

The planned reconstruction gained momentum mainly after the fall of the Trojská lávka bridge. Revisions of the bridges over the Vltava River have shown that the long-neglected structures need major repairs. This is the highest priority for the Barrand Bridge. Not only because of its importance for Prague traffic, but also because of its condition, which certainly does not correspond to the ideal under such a load.

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The irreplaceable connection between Smíchov and Podolí will undergo a complete reconstruction that will begin after 2020. Since the bridge was untouched for 30 long years, it can assume that it won't be done overnight.

Three years ago, it was discovered that water was leaking significantly through the bridge in some places. The technical administration of communications will have to carry out the reconstruction in stages. The main priorities concern expansion, complete re-insulation and rehabilitation of the casing. Traffic during repairs will always be structured by maintaining two plus two lanes. There is no full bypass of the bridge.

It is surprising how in the Czech Republic we treat buildings that are important not only from a practical point of view, but also from an architectural point of view. The repair of such an important and irreplaceable structure for Prague traffic is only started at the moment when it is actually almost too late...

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