On 20 September, 4 years later than planned and over CZK 10 billion more expensive than promised by politicians, “Blanka” – the longest city tunnel in Europe, should finally open. The original purpose of this mega project was to alleviate the city center from heavy traffic. However, if Blanka is “only opened”, contrary to the original plan, many places are actually threatened with a significant deterioration of their current situation (traffic jams, air pollution, excessive noise). In order for Blanka to really help the city center, it is necessary that a series of additional measures related to the traffic organization is taken. Most of the leading Prague politicians are actually aware of this issue but they don't have expert materials based on which necessary changes could be implemented.
This is why Auto*Mat decided to hold a public collection called “Blanka makes sense when...” in order to collect money for an expert study which will show the necessary steps to be taken in order for Blanka to alleviate the city centre and not vice versa. From 8 August to 8 September, over CZK 100,000 was collected through a crowdfunding collection available on www.motejl.cz thanks to public contributions and The Otakar Motejl Fund, which doubled the collected sum. The study is about to be completed within several days and we will do our best to make sure that Prague authorities will make the most of it.
