přemostění Masarykova nádraží Bridge

The North-South Magistrate is one of the key transport walls of the Prague Centre and part of it is also přemostění Masarykova nádraží - a construction that solves one of the most fundamental urban problems Praha has faced for decades. The Masaryk railway station has long been a serious obstacle to smooth car traffic in the north-south direction. The bridge through the station itself measures 240 metres, but the entire steel estacade from the main station to connection to the Hávkov Bridge reaches a length of almost 685 metres.

The idea of solving the traffic situation in the centre of Prague was born in the 1930s. The plans then envisaged not only the solution of the car transport, but also the mass transport - even the bridge for the tram speedboat, which was built in the 1930s. This intention was fundamentally changed only in the 1950s and 1960s, when the demolition of the railway station was discussed - as was later the case with the Prague station Praha-Těšnov. In the end, however, Masaryk Railway Station was preserved and simply overpowered by the Magistrate.

Operation on the bridge started on 28 October 1978 and represented the culmination of long-term construction efforts. The steel supporting structure was made in the building of former VŽKG in Ostrava between 1976 and 1978. This is a high-value welded steel construction consisting of seven separate elements. The weight of the steel structure itself is 6,821 tonnes. The bridge reaches a maximum width of over 41 metres and leads in an arc with radii moving between 420 and 3000 metres, with a range of fields between 30 and 40 metres - up to 43.7 metres above Sokolovská Street. The main beams are 1.1 metres high and 2.25 metres wide.

The construction is part of Wilson Street and represents one of the most important technical achievements of the socialist period. It is not without interest that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, a part of the so-called New Connection - railway construction was built in the vicinity of the bridge, which connected the Main Railway Station with the lines coming from Prague in the northeastern, northern and eastern direction. The bridge of Masaryk Railway Station remains an important part of a comprehensive transport solution that allows Prague to function as a modern city. For a visitor, an interesting example of engineering courage is the second half of the twentieth century.