Nuselský most Bridge

Nuselský most is a pretension concrete construction in Prague, which surpasses the Nusel Valley and connects Pankrác with the city centre. The construction was completed in 1973. Thanks to the unique concept, including the inner tube for the metro and the upper six-lane magistrate, it represents one of the most busy transport hubs in the Czech Republic.

The bridge of the Nusel Valley was already considered in the early 20th century. The design of the reinforced concrete bridge was developed after the creation of Czechoslovakia by Stanislav Becyne. In 1927, there was a competition that came up with 28 proposals. Already in 1932, the possibility of setting up a lower bridge for a speedway was envisaged. However, the implementation took place only in connection with the massive construction of settlements on the Pankrák plaza in the 1960s. The construction itself began in 1967 by demolishing 17 houses at the bottom of the valley. The original design of the subsurface tram was changed to metro in 1968, which required additional modifications to the construction.

The object is 485 meters long and 26.5 meters wide. It consists of five fields of prestressed concrete with four pillars. The average height above the valley is 42.5 metres. The inner tube for metro lines C has a trapezoidal cross-section and walls 30 to 110 centimetres thick. The project involved architects and engineers Jan Vítek, Miroslav Sůra, Robert Bucháček, Svatopluk Kobr, Vojtěch Mikhalek and Stanislav Hubička.

From 1975 to 1989, the construction was called the bridge of Klement Gottwald. The operation started on 22 February 1973 and the long-distance transport on the Magistrates was fully operational on 30 April of the same year. Since May 9, 1974, subway sets started to come through the tube. Due to the higher weight of Soviet Ečs subway sets, compared to originally planned vehicles, a special steel grid of 822 tonnes had to be installed into the bridge. This was repaired in 1997 due to fatigue cracks and the bridge underwent extensive reconstruction for CZK 288 million between 2012 and 2017.

Technical attractions include a static load test from November 1970, where 66 tanks from the cancer regiment were used. The dynamic test was subsequently performed with rocket engines. During the measurement of the steel grid, there was a complication: the grid worked as an antenna for radio broadcasting. The measurements had therefore to take place on the night when the station Prague did not send.

Today, Nuselský most is a key link, on which thousands of cars and metro line C pass daily, transporting over 300,000 people in 750 sets. The bridge surpasses the Park of Folimanku, the Botič stream and the railway line. For visitors, it is an important example of the engineering construction of the 20th century, which fundamentally influenced the form of Prague transport. This monumental technical construction, even after decades, fulfils its irreplaceable role in the infrastructure of the capital.