NvB: Bored in Brno?: So You Want a Metropolis?

So You Want a Metropolis?

Brno's paper Rovnost reports that plans are underway to widen the D1 freeway to six lanes. This "improvement" will only affect the portions that circle the city to the south. Minister for Transportation Milan Šimonovský announced that the freeway would be in service by 2011. Research indicates that, on the stretch for the proposed expansion, more than half of the cars are Brno drivers seeking a fast route to bypass congeseted city streets.

Thoughts?

Šimonovský is a minister from the KDU-ČSL (Christian Democrats) party. This announcement sure comes at a convenient moment for the elections.

So Brno wants to be a metropolis? Well, it's going to require a lot of ugly freeways.

In that file photo it looks like the freeway already has three lanes in each direction . . .

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In case you would like a little more context on the elections, the economist.com provides a convenient overview of the current structure of things. (They give a bit too much weight to the Union of Freedom party [US] and the European Democrats [ED]. Both of these parties are considered fringe contenders; in fact, it is possible that they may lose their five percent representation that allows them to have a certain number of ministers placed in the government. It also does not mention the quiet coalition between the Social Democrats and the Communists, which Šimonovský mentioned in a January interview.)

Tags: Brno, transportation, elections

Posted 17 May 2006 at 10:06.

The Blog

What is "Bored in Brno"? a) the best Czech movie of 2003, b) a blog about Brno (the Czech Republic's second largest city) and my adventures in and observations of south and east Moravia. I usually post about music, arts, culture, and stuff in Brno; or, I talk about whatever; or, I may bore you.

There's a Czech saying about how you are a new person for every language you learn. Here's your chance to experience Czech vicariously and to become your new self, now conveniently available in English translation. (Or at least something reasonably close to English.)

If you have questions, suggestions, like what you see, or you're just plain bored, don't hesitate to leave a comment or e-mail me.

The Blogger

A graduate student in music and anthropology writing a dissertation about music in Moravia, the eastern third of the Czech Republic. At some point, the Czech Republic's "second city" (that would be Brno) captured my attention, and I've since been blogging about events, arts, music, and other stuff—basically whatever interests me in and around the cityscape. I'm not living in Brno now, but I keep up with the cultural pulse from afar as best I can.

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