The Road and Motorway Directorate will replace tens of thousands of windows in houses in the Plzeň region due to noise

Plzeň - The Directorate of Roads and Highways (ŘSD) will be changing tens of thousands of windows in houses along the first-class roads in the Plzeň region due to excessive noise. It will invest at least 200 million CZK into these measures, half of which will be in Plzeň. It is currently claiming the first 30 million CZK, which should be enough for the replacement of more than 3,400 windows in houses on road I/26, for which a project already exists. This was stated by the head of the plzeň ŘSD, Zdeněk Kuťák. The ŘSD will cover the complete modifications of the windows, and citizens will not have to contribute.
    The administrator of 450 kilometers of first-class roads in the region will start this year on Rokycanská street in Doubravka heading towards Domažlická street. Road I/26 is completed and no new constructions are planned on it. Adjustments need to be made in 252 buildings in the territory of Plzeň. About 90 percent of the windows will need to be replaced, and the rest will be adjusted or resealed.
    Similar measures will have to be implemented in other areas of the ŘSD. "Within the Czech Republic, these will be investments amounting to hundreds of millions to several billion CZK," stated the operational deputy of the plzeň ŘSD, Michal Syřínek. The ŘSD rejects claims that this will reduce planned investments in the construction of "first-class" repairs. The SFDI and our directorate are capable of finding a balance so that we can carry out noise reduction measures without halting investment construction, added Kuťák.
    "Following agreements with district hygienic stations, we have exemptions from old noise burdens for all problematic communication routes in the region. These are valid until 2009 to 2010," he stated. According to him, it will not be sufficient for the ŘSD to resolve all communications by then. However, they must prepare the implementation of noise reduction measures, otherwise, they would not be entitled to exemptions. If they do not receive them from the hygienic authorities, the ŘSD would have to close the roads by law, even though they are not the source of the noise. "It is important to remember that many bypasses we are building will resolve the reduction of noise burdens, for example, Staňkov and Klatovy," added the director.
    By the end of next year, the ŘSD plans to measure all communications in the region. Mapping of the old noise burden has three phases. The last of them is a precise acoustic study and proposal for noise reduction measures including costs. This has so far only been processed in Plzeň for the passage of road I/26. The second phase of mapping is taking place on road I/22 between Domažlice, Klatovy, and Horažďovice.