Elbe Tunnel (1975)

The New Elbe Tunnel is part of the German motorway network and plays a key role in international travel and freight transport to Schleswig- Holstein and Scandinavia. First planning a " Elbhochbrücke " in the kingdom highway construction go back to the years 1934-1937. Was modeled on the then longest suspension bridge, the George Washington Bridge in the United States. After the Second World War, the highway route planning in the western part of Hamburg was widely accepted and the same tunneled instead. The New Elbe Tunnel is now one of the longest underwater road tunnels in the world. One of nearby Old Elbe Tunnel in 1911 was good for only for the urban traffic.

• 4.1 Traffic density
• 4.2 Tunnel Syndrome
• 4.3 storage reasons
• 4.4 tube closures

• 6.1 See also
• 6.2 sources
• 6.3 External links

Original expansion

The construction of the tunnel began in 1968 and on 10 January 1975, the new Elbunterquerung by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was opened with a festival where 600,000 people took part. With a total length of 3,325 m 1,056 m below the river bed and 2,813 m are closed tunnel route. The construction of the fourth tunnel 160 m of the northern grid line were completely covered. In a medium high tide it is located 28 m below the water surface. In the current range of the tunnel with eight tunnel junctions made ​​with a weight of 46,000 tonnes. The elements, each 132 m long, 41.7 m wide and 8.4 m high, were dammed in reinforced concrete in for this purpose and prefabricated empty pumped Maakenwerder harbor. After flooding of the dock the tunnel elements were floated to their final position and lowered into a previously dredged channel. Under the Elbhang was built over a length of 1,113 meters in the shield tunneling with compressed air. The tunnel tube outer diameter of 10.8 m, the expansion was performed with segments of cast iron.

The tunnel initially had three tubes with a total of six lanes, which can be blocked individually via dynamic traffic management systems. The tunnels can be released according to the traffic situation for one or both directions. Elbe tunnel is monitored by a busy round the clock operations center tunnel on the north portal. This not only has the opportunity to observe the traffic participants, numerous cameras and control with light installations, but they can also respond directly.

The tunnel operating in Othmarschen

Monitor wall in the tunnel control center

Elbe above the tunnel with passenger emergency exit Hamburg- Övelgönne

Fan center building (architect: Godber Nissen )

View in southern direction in the second tube without transport

Expansion - fourth tube

Since everyday congestion in travel became more and more in particular the rule, there have been more claims to build the tunnel. The GAL refused their coalition negotiations in 1993 with the Hamburg SPD further expansion of the Elbe tunnel from though. However, Mayor Henning Voscherau (SPD ) took the necessary support of the expansion project, which was also demanded by the CDU in the newly formed constituency association INSTEAD party. The cooperation agreement between the SPD and INSTEAD party of 14 December 1993, therefore, contained the passage: " The construction of the fourth Elbtunnelröhre will begin immediately. "

With the expansion of the tunnel to a fourth tube was started in 1995, although the actual tunnel was started in October 1997. On 27 October 2002, the 3096 -meter-long tube was opened, which was built over the entire length with a shield tunneling machine with liquid- supported face. The construction was carried out at a soil cover of 7 m to 13 m. The support of the cavity wall is carried out by 70 cm thick Stahlbetontübbinge. The tunnel boring machine TRUDE - Deep Down Under The Same - was with an outside diameter of 14.20 m, the largest tunnel boring machine in the world. The cutting wheel is on display in the Museum of Barmbek work. The cost of the fourth tube amounted to around 550 million euros.

Hardware

Height control

The Elbe has an automatic height measurement system to the access roads that closes the tunnel in each direction of travel as soon as a vehicle with a height approaches over four meters. In this way it can be assured that the tunnel is not damaged by too high a truck.

Until the completion of the fourth tube, this led to regular full closures of the tunnel. Because since when four tubes are released, the trucks are directed into the side tubes, targeted only the truck traffic can now be locked for other traffic in each direction will remain a pipe passable.

Emergency facilities

• Emergency facilities
• Escape routes
• Supply and exhaust air

Communication media

Numerous private and public radio stations operate in the Elbe a micro transmitter in order to ensure reception of the local radio programs. War to receive exclusive NDR 2 in the tunnel a few years ago, there are now nearly all receivable in Hamburg Radio stations that can be for an additional fee there to feed with a transmitter power of 10 watts. The use of mobile phones both in the GSM as well as UMTS area in the tunnel.

Renovation and Retrofit

In the context of, in European tunnels decided after several serious accidents with fire, safety retrofit program for road tunnels an asbestos abatement and from January 2009 until the beginning of February 2013 carried out the actual retrofitting in the older three tunnels from October 2003 to March 2007. This roadway drainage, fire emergency lights, exit signs, emergency call and speaker system, three additional escape tunnel and fume extraction were created, improved the structural fire protection, rebuilt or replaced. For the work was one after the other tube blocked so that since February 2, 2013 following four years, all four tubes are the first time to traffic each.

Highway operation

Each tube has two lanes that have, with the exception of the fourth tube has no hard shoulder. The speed limit for all car 80 km / h, overtaking does not exist.

Traffic density

The traffic density in the Elbe Tunnel is regularly determined by traffic counts between Othmarschen and Waltershof. On working days, with about 120,000 vehicles / d of heavy traffic is now almost 19 % and rising. The (theoretical) capacity of four tunnels can be to 14,000 veh / h ( eight lanes, 80 km / h; prescribed safety distance) calculated. Considering the peak rush hour times are likely in the days 7-8 and 17-18 clock about 15,000 veh / h the same pass under. This requires a sophisticated management lanes at eight lanes.

Tunnel Syndrome

Driving in monotonous tunnel narrows the perspective. In the tunnel leadership at the apex of the tunnel it is inevitable distortions of perspective. By color coding the tunnel wall at the lowest point it has tried to compensate for this perception error, but can be experienced, for example, repeatedly motorists who forget the throttle on the pitch, thus ensuring a jam. Also, there are people who out of fear (→ claustrophobia ) or other subjective reasons does not go in the tunnel traffic volume adjusted.

Jam reasons

Since its completion the Elbe has a place in the traffic of regional radio programs. Soon he was named as the bottleneck of the North. The main cause of this is the greatly increasing car traffic, which uses the original for 65,000 cars sized tunnel daily. The selective accumulation of congestion directly on the tunnel can thus not explain alone, since the optimal utilization of a road is given at a speed of 80, and thus the theoretical capacity of the Elbe tunnel is greater than that of the afferent traffic highway. However, for example, result in stranded vehicles in tunnels by blocking a lane inevitably lead to greater traffic congestion than in areas of the open road ( with a hard shoulder or lay-bys ) would be the case. The new fourth Elbtunnelröhre has therefore, in contrast to the three old Elbe tunnel tubes on a separate hard shoulder.

Since the interior lining of three older Elbe tunnel tubes consists of tiles to slow moving road users are often called by the hamburgers tile or tile counter in the vernacular. If a slow -moving vehicle is detected by the monitoring staff, was the tunnel public address system the band text: " Caution Caution, this is the police. Please move quickly, you hinder the traffic behind! " Played. This announcement will take place today not because of road users was often slower during an announcement.

Tube closures

Tubes are blocked in the Elbe for different reasons:

• According to a blocking plan one tube is blocked for maintenance purposes, usually at night.
• Necessary remedial measures ( asbestos removal, upgrade of the ventilation ... ) require a permanent closure of the respective tube.
• Automatically or manually initiated closures for reasons of personal safety. Reasons for this may be so, for example, a triggered level control, detection of fire, a deformed possibly standing in the traffic space barrier, the tunnel of smoke, a traffic accident.

In the past, closures, with the aim of protection of persons and the impact of major traffic jams of the press have been described as a failure of the system sporadically.

• Locally occurring roadway damage and short-term ventilation disturbances caused temporary closures of a tunnel and traffic delays

• On November 6, 2012, the trial operation of a smoke extraction system led to the self-destruction of the exhaust duct, so a tunnel for a long time remained closed for construction work.

• On November 20, 2012 denied the "height control." The crane on a low loader demolished direction signpost and ceiling covering the whole length of a tunnel whose several hours then bestaute blocking commercial traffic.

Trivia

• The actor and comedian Mike Krüger was used during his training as a concrete worker in the construction of the first three tunnels.
• In April 1989, tank traps were installed on the southern tunnel entrances. The cast concrete so-called falling body would have been blown out of their holders in the case of defense and been with her ​​107 tons of weight to remove from the roadways barely. They were removed in the course of work on the 4th tube in 2000.