Opponents of Bohemian Paradise Highway Push for Southern Route Instead of Northern One

A coalition of civic organisations has issued a public appeal calling for the abandonment of the northern route for a planned expressway through the Bohemian Paradise (Český ráj) nature reserve, urging authorities to consider a southern alternative instead. The appeal comes in response to an announcement by the Road and Motorway Directorate (ŘSD) of its intention to build a full four-lane motorway through the protected area.

"We were taken aback by ŘSD's recent announcement of plans to build a full four-lane motorway straight through Bohemian Paradise. Instead of critically reviewing its own mistakes and taking into account the serious arguments against routing a highway through our most valuable natural landscape, the directorate says it wants to further intensify the road's destructive impact on nature, residents and tourists — and drive up the project's already enormous cost even further," said Jan Piňos, spokesperson for the coalition of associations.

Arguments Against the Northern Route

According to the organisations, building a full motorway through Bohemian Paradise as currently proposed is simply not feasible, for a number of reasons. These include excessive financial costs, negative health effects on residents of the affected towns and villages, damage to the reserve's distinctive landscape, and the sheer technical difficulty of realising the northern variant.

Activists stress that their goal is not to halt the road's construction altogether, but to find an alternative that is less damaging to the region's nature and cultural heritage. They describe building the route through the heart of Bohemian Paradise as "the worst possible failure of the state" when it comes to protecting nature, landscape and cultural heritage.

Court Ruling and Project Delay

Following a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court, ŘSD is required to repeat the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure, and preparation of the relevant documents has already begun. Although the entire process had previously been completed, then-Minister Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL) annulled it in December 2025. ŘSD filed an appeal, an administrative lawsuit and subsequently a cassation complaint, but the court's decision was upheld.

The planned section of road I/35 between Turnov and Úlibice is part of the broader road link between Liberec and Hradec Králové. Construction of the first phase had been scheduled to begin in 2030. The new road is meant to divert transit traffic away from towns and villages, improve road safety and ease traffic flow.

In roughly three years, the D35 motorway section between Hradec Králové and Úlibice will be completed, but with no continuation beyond it — meaning villages between Úlibice and Turnov could face an even heavier traffic burden. Repeating the EIA procedure is expected to delay the start of construction by two to three years.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz