Dear Praguers,

Winter has announced itself even in Prague. Frost and snow are a great joy for children, but a worry for adults: calamity and black ice entail complications for passengers in public transport, cars, and for pedestrians.

The City does its best so that even in the event of a snow calamity travelling around the city is without problems. Through the Technical Administration of Roads (TAR) we try to make roads passable and negotiable. We have newly installed an automated anti-icing spray system in Vysočanská Radial Road. At present we have seven of them throughout Prague, each of them in a place critical for motorists, such as bridge constructions and tunnel exits.

The TAR is in charge of 2,281 kilometres out of 3,964 kilometres of roads across the metropolis: in the case of backbone infrastructure labelled as I.a, the TAR has two hours to reduce the defects in negotiability, in the case of the most important thoroughfares of the I. group, it has four hours. The overall layout can be seen on this map (link to the map at www.tsk.cz).

The TAR also provides cleaning of 270 hectares of pavements in the most frequented places, along major roads and in places important for the operation of the metropolis. These are, for instance, access paths to health, social and cultural facilities, metro stations, train and coach stations, pedestrian zones, steps, footbridges, bus and tram stops or paths leading to the buildings belonging to state administration and the City. This means that almost one thousand workers and two hundred hoppers and other machines are daily out in the streets.

Winter is unpredictable and I know that often every minute is crucial on your way to work or entertainment. I therefore recommend checking the state of Prague roads before you start your journey at kamery.praha.eu.

I wish you a safe and smooth journey in Prague and in the year 2013,

Martin Trnka, Director of the Prague City Hall