The road will finally become a square for a day
The decision to close Wenceslas Square to all traffic was taken at the first meeting of a City Hall working group whose aim is to renew and revitalise Wenceslas Square. “For the time being we want to use this method of transforming Wenceslas Square into a car-free boulevard for tourists and locals, at least for a few hours. If everything goes without major complication we’d like to repeat the whole experience, maybe once a month,” said Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda of Car-Free Day in Wenceslas Square.
The lack of vehicular access to Wenceslas Square will be offset by an accompanying programme focusing on electro-mobility. Electric bikes will be available for people to test-ride, electric motorbikes will be demonstrated in the square and an electric goods vehicle will also be on display. Of course, there will also be electric cars of all sizes.
Reconstruction of the entire square is on the way
According to the Mayor further steps towards the revitalisation of Wenceslas Square are soon to follow. Svoboda wants to deal with the reconstruction of the whole square by the end of his period in office. “Wenceslas Square is the most-disputed problem in terms of safety and the visual aspect. However, nothing has been done about it for ages,” said Svoboda, adding that agreement has been reached with the region of Prague 1 and a number of specialists on the importance of solving the problem of Wenceslas Square as soon as possible.
A park, a garage or trams?
Councillors of the City and Prague 1 have approved the Cigler Marani project and the lower part of the square should be adapted according to this, with more greenery and less traffic. The future of the upper part is still to be decided. The working group is currently considering whether this will involve the implementation of an earlier idea to create an extensive underground garage. It is also still unclear whether trams will return to the square.
The city centre will be alive without cars
Apart from the event in Wenceslas Square a festival will take place, within the Car-Free Day programme, on Saturday 17th in the streets between Slavia Café and Jan Palach Square. Besides performances by well-known musicians (Eddie Stoilow, Olga Lounová, Vladimír 518 and others) attractions will also include free bike-servicing, in-line skate hire, a skate-park and a climbing-wall. Young children can look forward to performances by theatre groups and magicians.
