Takac and Lunter Open Iconic Road to Kralova Hola Mountain after Reconstruction

Sumiac, 11 September (TASR) - The project to build an asphalt road from the village of Sumiac (Banska Bystrica region) to Kralova hola mountain in the Low Tatra mountains has been completed, said Banska Bystrica region governor Ondrej Lunter and Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) during the opening ceremony for the iconic road on Friday. The route will host the final stage of the Tour of Slovakia cycling race in just a few days. The project to build an asphalt road to the summit of Kralova hola began in 2024, with the first phase involving the construction of the route from Sumiac to Predne sedlo. Work on the final stage leading to the summit, which is situated some 1,946 metres above sea level, began in June and lasted exactly 100 days. As part of this stage, a 5.35-kilometre section was renovated, with features designed to allow marmots to migrate, while benches, bicycle racks, information boards and traffic signs were added. The entire route from Sumiac to the Low Tatras ridge stretches some 12 kilometres. According to the governor, the project has made Kralova hola the highest accessible point in Central Europe by road bike. He expects it to provide a significant boost to tourism throughout the Upper Hron area. "The preliminary figures already speak for themselves. If you ask entrepreneurs operating in Sumiac, Telgart [Banska Bystrica region] and other nearby villages about their revenues, they'll tell you that they've seen a steep increase. If you look at the bicycle counters monitoring the number of cyclists using this road, or at the statistics on the number of overnight stays, these figures clearly show that this road is and will continue to be of enormous importance to the region," stated Lunter. The asphalt road to Kralova hola is the result of combined efforts by Banska Bystrica Regional Authority, local government, the Agriculture Ministry, state-run forestry company Lesy SR, the Low Tatras National Park and other entities. According to the agriculture minister, it was a model example of successful cooperation. "I think that this is one of the most successful soft tourism projects that we've managed to implement in Slovakia. I'm positive that it will bring a large number of tourists to the region," said Takac. ko/df