What are the reasons for traffic jams in Bratislava?

Driving in Bratislava is sometimes not an easy task as drivers find themselves stuck in traffic jams. Transport analyst Jozef Drahovský sees several reasons behind them.

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The most serious problem is the lack of transport planning before construction permission.

“The current problems related to traffic and transport need to be addressed in a balanced way, for the benefit of all its users and not just the current chosen few,” he said in an interview with the SITA newswire. “In doing so, it is necessary to think in the future in a horizon of at least 20 to 50 years.

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Traffic jams, road repairs and changes in traffic organisation

Other reasons for traffic jams are traffic accidents, road repairs or errors in traffic signs.

In the case of traffic accidents, drivers consequently enter crossroads even though they cannot continue driving beyond them.

The new cycling path on the Danube embankment
(6 photos)

“This spreads the traffic jam to other crossroads and when an accident cannot be cleared in a short time, then to a significant part of the city,” he said. He adds that this can be addressed by increasing the intelligence of traffic lights, or more vigorous education and control by the traffic police.

Planned road repairs and widenings of roads cause traffic jams, because there are not enough parallel routes in Bratislava.

“In this case, there is at least the prospect that once completed, traffic will work better,” he said.

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Another reason for Bratislava’s traffic problems, according to Drahovský, are errors in traffic signs, or in the incorrect dynamic setting of traffic signs and traffic lights.

“By adjusting them, the traffic jams could be reduced to a certain extent,” he believes.

Nevertheless, the city itself creates conditions resulting in traffic jams.

“This happened, for example, on the Vajanského Nábrežie embankment, where the organisation of traffic has been changed to create queues to motivate people to switch from cars to city public transport,” Drahovský told the public broadcaster RTVS.

Problematic cycling route on Vajanského Nábrežie

The cycling route on the Vajanského Nábrežie embankment that launched last autumn has provoked a number of contradictory reactions. Drahovský believes that a cycling route along the Danube's northern embankment, from SNP Bridge to the Old Bridge, is necessary. However, in his opinion, it was and can be built safely and without restricting vehicle traffic. He cites the Bratislava spokesperson and a representative of the Cyklokoalícia association, who told the media before the opening of the cycling route that it had been built with the aim of restricting car traffic.

“I can say that they have succeeded, but what is worse is that they have succeeded at the expense of the safety of cyclists,” Drahovský noted for SITA, adding that there are a number of dangerous spots on this particular cycling route that threaten cyclists' safety.

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