After years of anticipation and construction preparations, the Directorate of Roads and Highways (ŘSD) ceremoniously opened the Jaroměř bypass today. This new thoroughfare will divert transit traffic, which numbers over 15,000 vehicles a day, away from the city center and the adjacent villages of Čáslavky, Dolany and Svinišťany.
The bypass was originally supposed to be completed as early as December 2021, but disagreements over the purchase of land and obtaining building permits delayed its opening. “The construction was blocked by legal action due to several plots. And it wasn’t just land seizures, but also easements, for example,” a spokesman for the ŘSD told journalists today Jan Rydl.
The preparation of the building started already in 2011, but the construction itself stretched until the present day.
Together with the still tolled D11 highway, drivers now have the opportunity to go from Hradec Králové to Náchod without going into the center of Jaroměř. This option saves them about seven minutes of time. During rush hour, the time savings will be a little more.
One meter of asphalt for 104 thousand crowns
The bypass, which measures almost 6.6 kilometers, is a diversion of the I/33 road and connects the end of the D11 highway near Hořenice with the Česká Skalice bypass. Now drivers traveling between Hradec Králové and Náchod can use a route that avoids passing through villages, which means smoother and safer travel.
The construction of the bypass, which cost 688 million crowns without VAT and began in September 2022, was implemented by the company Metrostav Infrastructure. The originally estimated costs were 863 million crowns.
The most demanding section of the construction was the overpass over the Elbe River and the adjacent floodplain, the length of which is almost half a kilometer. The builders also had to build a 650-meter-long sewer to drain the new road, which lies nine meters below ground level.
The plans of the ŘSD in the region also include other bypasses, including the 20,000 Náchod and Nové Paka in Jičínsk, with the aim of improving the traffic situation and safety on key routes in the Hradec Králové region.
