“Construction could start as early as 2025 and 2026 by increasing the capacity of the interchange on the Prague ring road to the intersection with D5, and after 2028 the expansion of the highway in the section between Beroun and Prague is planned,” said Minister Kupka. According to him, the costs of this construction will certainly exceed a billion crowns.
The D5 motorway between Prague and Beroun is one of the busiest sections of the motorway network in the country. Therefore, it has been planned to convert it into a six-lane for several years.
Construction workers have so far completed the reconstruction of the D5 highway on the fifth to tenth kilometers between the exits to Rudná near Prahy and Loděnica in Berounska.
The work started in May and required approximately 450 million without VAT, the builders managed to speed it up by a week. Traffic restrictions will end at the weekend, the busy D5 section in front of Prague will be fully passable again by Sunday at the latest, Radek Mátl, director general of the Directorate of Roads and Highways, told reporters.
According to Mátl, it was one of the biggest reconstructions this year. Due to the busyness of the section, through which 50,000 to 60,000 cars pass daily, the speed of the repair was an important evaluation criterion in the selection process. The designer assumed that the work would take 200 days.
According to Mátl, the winning company offered a higher price than the other bidders, but it succeeded thanks to the length of the repair of 158 days, which it eventually shortened by eight days.
Kupka recalled that the repair between the 16th and 21st kilometers of the D1 highway between Všechromy u Prahy and Mirošovice was similarly shortened. “We hope that we will succeed in shortening deadlines in other key constructions next year as well,” he added.
The work on D1 was originally supposed to end a month later, but ŘSD paid an additional 8.5 million crowns to speed it up. In the case of D5, according to Mátl, the ŘSD paid nothing for the acceleration. The director pointed out that it is also advantageous for the contractor if he manages to speed up the construction. However, the weather was also a favorable factor.
“The weather is really kind this year, we have examples of maybe ten to 15 buildings where repairs have been shortened significantly,” Mátl added.
The reconstruction of the D5 section in front of Prague included the replacement of the surface of the left and right lanes of the highway, and the repair of highway bridges was part of the work. Builders also reconstructed drainage, unpaved shoulders, retaining walls, noise walls and fencing, and replaced guardrails. They equipped the road with weather sensors, replaced traffic surveillance cameras and installed new horizontal and vertical traffic markings.
“The final finishing works are currently underway in the central dividing strip. On the weekend of November 4 and 5, traffic measures will be gradually removed so that on Saturday there will be free passage to Prague and on Sunday afternoon in the opposite direction, i.e. to Pilsen,” said VINCI Construction CS Group spokeswoman Iveta Štočková.
