Trams in Bratislava will be re-routed across Jesenského Street. (source: SITA)
TRAM lines 2, 4, 6 and 7 will stop serving the route along the Vajanského Embankment and Štúrova Street in Bratislava from January 20 on. They will be re-routed due to construction work on the first phase of the so-called supportive city transport system on Štúrova Street, Bratislava spokesman Stanislav Ščepán told the SITA newswire.
The first phase of building the supportive city transport involves the reconstruction of the defunct Old Bridge and the extension of the tram line from Šafárikovo Square to Bosákova Street on the other bank of the Danube River, in the Petržalka borough. In the first stage, the old frame of the bridge will be replaced. The plans call for removing the traditional bus and tram stops on Šafárikovo Square and moving them to Bosákova – where the trams will make a u-turn back to downtown.
The plans also include the construction of a new overpass near the Artmedia football stadium and the enlargement of the Einsteinova overpass, both in Petržalka.
The tram route from Old Town to Bosákova will be 2.4 kilometres long. In its finished form, stops on Štúrova will be reconstructed, and new stops on Viedenská Cesta, Bosákova and Jantárová streets will be added. Part of the project also involves the reconstruction of Štúrova, Šafárikovo Square, the crossing of Bosákova-Jantárová and building a cycling path from the Old Bridge to the Eurovea shopping centre.
The project will cost €58.8 million without VAT; the city has asked for a grant, for which the European Union will contribute 85 percent, with Slovakia putting up 10 percent and Bratislava five percent. One of the conditions for drawing the grant is that both the Old Bridge and the Šafárikovo Square–Bosákova tram route must be completed by the end of 2015.
Ščepán asked inhabitants and visitors of Bratislava for patience and understanding due to the inconveniences caused by the re-structuring of the city transport. He added, as quoted by SITA, that as of January 27, Štúrova Street will be closed to traffic.
