You are riding a bicycle with a child on Komenského Street in the Sever district of Košice, and suddenly, instead of asphalt, there is gravel under your wheels. If you managed to brake in time, you are lucky. If not, like resident Miloš, who says he has already fallen into this hole twice. This is what a section of the bike path looks like now, which utility workers dug up at the beginning of April and have not repaired since.
It all started with a water pipe burst on Easter. On Tuesday, April 7, the accident site was dug up, the pipe was repaired, and the hole was filled with macadam (crushed gravel) — and it has been in this state for about three months. During this time, the unevenness has become a local "landmark": in comments, Košice residents write that they have been avoiding it for months, and one poster ironically calls it a "speed reducer model '26, to make cyclists ride at walking speed."
Who is responsible and what they promise
The restoration of the surface is the responsibility not of the city council, but of the East Slovak Water Company — Východoslovenská vodárenská spoločnosť, a.s. (VVS), because it was their network that was being repaired. A resident who called the water company says he was told that the section is scheduled for concreting, and only after that will asphalt be laid. The company does not provide exact deadlines. Therefore, residents advise each other to complain directly to VVS — it is there, they emphasize, that this issue is "within their area of responsibility."
What worries Košice residents the most is the safety of children and inexperienced cyclists: a sharp transition from asphalt to loose gravel at speed is a classic scenario for falling. One resident specifically drew attention to another hole between manholes a little further down the road. If a child on a bicycle rides into it, she says, "it could end badly." Košice journalists, who described the situation, collected details and photos of the section here.
Parallel reality: the city builds, but doesn't finish
The irony is that Košice is currently actively investing in cycling infrastructure. The city already has 37 km of bike paths, another 35 km are under construction, and in 2023, over 5 km of new routes were added. In March 2024, for example, an updated shared path for pedestrians and cyclists was opened in the Sídlisko KVP neighborhood, costing €322,701. Only 5% of this amount was co-financed by the city; the rest came from European funds.
Plans include paths on Alejova and Gemerská – Rastislavova streets, a connection between the Barca and Šebastovce districts, and the completion of the bike route to Alpinka. The state also adds to the optimism: the Ministry of Investments has allocated €84 million for the development of bike routes across the country and plans to increase this amount to €100 million next year.
But new kilometers of routes offer little comfort when an existing path waits for asphalt for months. A similar story recently happened on the neighboring Strojárenska Street: after excavations, a section of the road there also remained covered with gravel, drivers had to drive into the oncoming lane, and only after several months of complaints were the restrictions finally lifted.
If you ride a bicycle on Komenského Street, consider this section on your route, especially with children. And if you think three months to "concrete and asphalt" is too long, a call or a request to VVS is currently the only effective action: the city council is not formally responsible for this repair.
