Prague’s underground car traffic tunnel, known as Blanka, will reach a
final price tag of 36 billion crowns, according to a report obtained from
Prague municipal authorities by the newspaper Hospodářské Noviny. The
tunnel, which is set to open in May 2014, will provide a traffic bypass
from the north to the south-west of the city. Construction on the roughly
6.4 km tunnel began in 2007, with an initial estimated price tag of 28
billion crowns, according to then major Pavel Bém. Engineering challenges
in the digging of the tunnel are said to be behind the increased costs.
However, city authorities are claiming that they managed to reduce costs
from escalating to 38 billion, saving 2 billion crowns. The tunnel is
being
built by the private firm Metrostav, with finances coming from both Prague
and the national government.