Skip to main content

Prague wins legal battle over Blanka Tunnel costs

The Czech capital Prague will not have to pay €63 million to construction firm CKD Praha DIZ for cost overruns on the Blanka Tunnel complex. CKD Praha DIZ sought the amount over an alleged rise in costs when completion of the tunnel was delayed, according to a report by Radio Praha.
September 6, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

The Czech capital Prague will not have to pay €63 million to construction firm CKD Praha DIZ for cost overruns on the Blanka Tunnel complex.

CKD Praha DIZ sought the amount over an alleged rise in costs when completion of the tunnel was delayed, according to a report by Radio Praha.

A court of arbitration also ruled that the company must pay the city’s legal costs of around €630,000. The court’s decisions are binding and final.

The 6.4km Blanka Tunnel complex is a part of Prague’s unfinished ring road system and is the longest road tunnel in the Czech Republic and the longest city tunnel in Europe. Just under 40km of the 83km Ring Road are complete.

The tunnel, which connects the area west of Prague Castle with Trója district in the northeast, consists of three tunnels - Bubenečský, Dejvický and Brusnický. Construction started in 2006 and completion was supposed to be 2011.

However, delays put the opening date back to September last year and doubled the overall cost to around €1.6 billion.

A survey by Prague’s Technical Administration of Roadways recently found that on averages 75,000 vehicles use the Blanka tunnel daily.

Related Content

  • Concern over the state of US bridges
    April 1, 2019
    Bridge condition is a serious concern in the US, according to a new report from American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
  • Bertha ends her Alaskan Way voyage in Seattle
    December 21, 2017
    Seattle's State Route 99 viaduct is coming down. David Arminas was on site. Bertha, the world’s largest diameter earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine, with a cutterhead diameter of 17.5m, is no more. Her 2.7km journey underneath the waterfront area of Seattle finished on April 4 and the power went off for the last time on an extraordinary TBM that had finally completed an extraordinary job. “A small sidewalk job would have had more impact on city traffic than we have had,” says Brian Russell a v
  • Checking up on the Czech Republic's Via Salis
    May 20, 2022
    Construction of the Via Salis, the Czech Republic’s first public-private partnership for a road project, is on schedule, according to VINCI which is leading the construction and operating consortium.
  • How Florida paved the way for availability payments in the US
    November 21, 2014
    New financing models have been used to deliver key transport links in the US - * Patrick D Harder and Brandon J Davis Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) public-private partnership (PPP) programme has made impressive progress, setting precedents for US transportation planning and funding. On March 26th 2014, FDOT opened 16km of new reversible express lanes as part of its US$1.8 billion I-595 Corridor Roadway Improvements Project. Just a few months later, on August 3rd 2014, FDOT opened twin tunnel