[1] Despite most civil engineering projects in Czechoslovakia being halted after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, in order that material scheduled for them could be diverted to the Nazi war effort, the construction of the bridge continued, although it was halted after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi overlord of Czechoslovakia.

Under the Communist regime which came about at the end of World War II, construction resumed, even though the emphasis at the time was on heavy industry and railroads rather than on automobile travel.

One of them was reducing the lake size, but the city of Prague required millions of litres of drinking water.

Finally, the decision was made to bypass the valley and to build a completely new bridge 1.4 km upriver to the south.

The bridge rests unseen in the middle of the forests of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, as the whole lake district is a forbidden area and entry is strictly prohibited to protect the watershed.