Reconstruction in Roudnice nad Labem has brought cycling and greenery together

The project aimed to ‚humanize‘ the streets during the reconstruction, making them pleasant for movement through the city. The ground level, featuring greenery and parking bays, simultaneously improved conditions for water infiltration, biodiversity, and the local microclimate. Additionally, the number of legal parking spaces increased, and the passage for cycling traffic in the streets was enhanced.

In the one-way street Budovatelů, a contraflow bike lane was introduced to enable two-way cycling traffic. Residential streets Stadická and Švermova were supplemented with bicycle pictograms.

Innovative greenery

Improvements for cycling were successfully integrated with so-called rain gardens, which capture surface water and gradually infiltrate it into the subsoil. Landscape architects planted ornamental grasses and perennials in these gardens. Additionally, gravel beds with reduced maintenance requirements were created. In Školní Street, a triple-row maple alley was planted. Overall, the reconstruction brought 77 new trees, 430 shrubs, and 3,500 perennial plants to the streets of Roudnice nad Labem.

A significant challenge was the actual location of utilities, often found where they were not supposed to be according to the administrators. Therefore, it was necessary to find new locations for tree planting or modify the originally deep rain garden. Collaboration with the construction company, which did not always adhere to the project documentation, especially regarding the protection of existing trees or details of basic road curbs, presented another challenge.

The implementation took place at the end of 2020, and the design was by Projekce dopravní Filip s.r.o., with landscape modifications overseen by Ing. Martina Imramovská and Ph.D., Ing. Markéta Šindlarová from the studio Krajinářská architektura M². Construction was carried out by Metrostav.

The project in Stadická Street cost the city of Roudnice nad Labem 26.7 million CZK excluding VAT, with landscaping accounting for 2.75 million CZK excluding VAT. The second project in Švermova Street and 28. října Square cost 22.5 million CZK excluding VAT, with landscaping expenses amounting to 1.5 million CZK excluding VAT.

A model for the future

The pilot project for the reconstruction of Stadická and Švermova Streets is the result of a collaboration between traffic engineers and landscape architects. The city’s leadership was convinced that investing in such solutions, despite higher initial costs, would be worthwhile. The result is stable plantings and resilient gravel beds with low maintenance, which will be implemented in other locations in Roudnice in the future.