Prague, July 18 (CTK) – Prague plans to build the largest climbing wall in the capital city on its highest bridge above the Nusle valley next year, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes today.
The 485-metre-long and 42.5-metre-high Nusle bridge from 1973 was dubbed “the bridge of suicides,” since several hundred people have committed suicide by jumping from it since its opening. To prevent this, protective metal fences were raised on both sides.
MfD says the major part of a four-year overall reconstruction of Nusle Bridge will be completed soon, by November 17 at the latest. A six-lane road on the bridge, connecting south of the city with the D1 motorway to Brno, the second largest Czech city, should be completed in two months.
After the repairs, a new climbing wall will be constructed on one of the bridge pillars.
“We will prepare the project during the autumn to be able to install the wall in the spring so that it could start working in May,” deputy Prague mayor Petr Dolinek (Social Democrats, CSSD) said.
The grips will not be fastened directly to the pillar, but they will be attached to a coating that will cover it.
The City Hall also promised a free access to the climbing wall. It will only secure its maintenance and regular checks of the wall, MfD says.
The costs of the wall have not been calculated yet. However, the reconstruction of the bearing structure, reinforcements and the road on the bridge’s surface will cost some 280 million crowns, MfD writes.
The main reason for the repairs was water leakage into the interior of the bridge, including a tunnel for metro trains on the C line, situated under the road, and the threat of a serious damage to the bearing structure, MfD writes.
If the reconstruction is successful, Nusle Bridge will need no further adjustments for another ten years at least, site manager Karel Frankota told the paper.
($1=22.762 crowns)
