Time-lapse video of highway repairs near Prague's Main Station reveals sluggish pace — Správa železnic explains why

A time-lapse video of repair work on a stretch of the highway near Prague's Main Station, filmed from mid-July to August 3, shows that the construction site stood idle for most of the period. Traffic restrictions on this section due to the reconstruction are planned to last 126 days in total — work is expected to continue until November.

The footage shows that during the first week, up until July 20, almost nothing happened at the site, even though preparations for closing the section were already underway. It wasn't until July 21 that construction equipment arrived on site, with a handful of workers beginning to mill the old asphalt and remove curbs.

From July 23 to 25, the pace remained sluggish: at most one or two vehicles moved around the site, while workers slowly hauled away construction debris and leveled and compacted the gravel base. For hours at a time, machinery simply sat idle. And from July 26 until early August, aside from the occasional vehicle movement, virtually nothing happened in the visible part of the site.

Work was taking place out of the camera's view

According to Správa železnic, the reconstruction schedule is being followed, and the bulk of the work during this period was carried out outside the frame. "The video captures only one specific section and mainly documents the preparatory phase of construction. However, preparations were underway not just in the area covered by the camera, but in many other locations as well," explained Správa železnic spokeswoman Nela Fríbová.

According to her, work was simultaneously proceeding toward Štvanice, preparations were being made to relocate bus stops to Opletalova Street, work was underway inside the station building, and construction beneath the highway itself was being coordinated. In addition, this stage involved preparing the central median strip, which will be needed to switch traffic from one side of the highway to the other during later phases of the reconstruction.

The spokeswoman added that the main construction work began on August 10: removing the asphalt surface, installing a new drainage system, waterproofing, and a new storm sewer system, including new through-holes in the concrete slab.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz