Branich tunnel

Branich tunnel
	Branich tunnel, west portal
use	Road tunnel
traffic connection	State Road 536
place	Schriesheim ( Baden-Wuerttemberg )
length	1796 m
vehicles per day	12,000
Number of tubes	1
construction
Client	State of Baden-Württemberg
building-costs	92 million euros
start of building	February 1, 2012
completion	June 18, 2016
business
operator	Rhein-Neckar district
release	June 22, 2016
location
Coordinates
West portal	49 ° 28 ′ 54 " N , 8 ° 39 ′ 54" E
East portal	49 ° 28 ′ 34 " N , 8 ° 41 ′ 17" E

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The Branichtunnel is a road tunnel in Schriesheim in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis . It is part of a bypass of the state road 536, which includes the construction of the 3.325 km long state road with three bridge structures, two underpass structures ( B 3 and OEG ) and the 1.796 km long Branich tunnel. It was put into operation in June 2016 and relieves the valley road leading into the Odenwald .

planning

The first plans for the construction of a northern bypass in Schriesheim date from the 1950s; In 1995 the bypass was included in the general traffic plan of the state of Baden-Württemberg as an "urgent need". In October 2004, after a planning period of almost four years, the planning approval decision was issued . The Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Günther Oettinger promised to build the bypass in January 2008; The groundbreaking ceremony was held in November 2008 by Interior Minister Heribert Rech . The construction of the bypass should halve the volume of traffic on the valley road, which was loaded with 12,200 vehicles per day in 2003.

course

The 1796 meter long tunnel crosses under the Branich residential area . 1,576 meters of tunnel were excavated using mining techniques . One of the four escape tunnels runs parallel to the tunnel, the other three lead to the valley road. The major part of the tunnel runs through light red, medium-grain granite , in which lamprophyte tunnels are distributed. The eastern tunnel portal is located directly on Talstrasse, the western portal north of the Schriesheim cemetery. From the west portal, the national road 536 runs in the incision to a new junction on the main road 3. As part of the construction project bridges for the Federal Highway 3, for the railway line Weinheim, Heidelberg and three rural roads built.

costs

The construction costs were estimated at a total of 63 million euros, 45 million euros of which went to the tunnel. According to more recent calculations by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport, the tunnel should cost 57.4 million euros, the overall project 85 million euros. At the end of the construction period, the total cost was 92 million euros.

construction

The prerequisite for the start of construction was the construction of the western access road, as this was necessary for the development of the tunnel construction site. For this purpose, two bridges for farm roads were built in construction phase I between November 2008 and September 2009. From September 2009 to December 2012 in construction phase II, the bypass road to the tunnel portal and the junction on federal highway 3 were built.

Construction phase III from September 2011 to mid-2015 related to the tunnel shell construction. The tunnel work began on February 1, 2012 with a symbolic blast. The tunnel breakthrough took place on July 26, 2013 and was festively celebrated on August 1, 2013. In addition to the actual tunnel, two escape tunnels with a total of five emergency exits were built. The eastern, 110-meter-long tunnel ends in the upper area of Talstrasse not far from the east portal, the western one runs over 1200 meters and ends at the operations building above the west portal.

Construction phase IV from mid-2015 to June 15, 2016 comprised the tunnel and route expansion including tunnel technology, in particular escape route and orientation lighting, announcement system, video surveillance, smoke extraction flaps, fire alarm system, tunnel radio and broadcast transmission system.

The tunnel was officially opened on June 18, 2016. Due to a technical problem in the safety technology, it was only released for traffic on June 22, 2016.