Warnow tunnel

General plan of the Warnow tunnel and additional new construction sections

Entry into the Warnow tunnel from the east

Toll station in front of the eastern tunnel portal

The Warnow tunnel , also known as the Warnow crossing , is a road crossing under the Warnow in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . It has been connecting the two banks in the north of Rostock between Schmarl and Krummendorf with a 790-meter-long four-lane tunnel since 2003 . It is the first privately operated toll route in Germany in through traffic.

On January 10, 2017, the 50 millionth passage through the Warnow tunnel was counted.

history

In the 1920s, a plan for a bridge from the city harbor to Gehlsdorf at the height of the Kanonsberg was made, as Warnowbrücke from the plans of the late 1960s. In the zoning plan of 1950 there was a Warnow crossing from Gehlsdorf via Bramow in the direction of Hamburger Straße as part of a city ring. The general transport plan of 1959 included a ferry connection from Schmarl to Oldendorf. The general traffic plan of 1967 recorded a fixed crossing of the Warnow as a tunnel at this point in connection with the new overseas port and the beginning of residential construction in Lütten Klein . This was also part of the planning based on it in the 1970s. As a result, the surrounding road construction work was kept within bounds, since on both sides of the Warnow four-lane roads led almost to the shore (in the west the Warnowallee, the feeder to federal highway 103 , and in the east the federal highway 19 ).

Soon after the fall of the Wall , an application was made for inclusion in the urgent needs of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan. However, this was not approved due to the low importance of the route for supra-regional traffic in the federal trunk road network. In the general traffic plan 1992/93 the northern Warnow crossing was named as a tunnel or high bridge. The Warnow Bridge to Gehlsdorf was no longer included in the integrated overall transport concept of 1998.

Planning and preparation

With the amendment of 1994 on highway private financing law the tunnel project was concrete. The planning that had been going on since the fall of the Wall was intensified and the necessary preparations began. To establish the legal requirements, a plan approval procedure had to be carried out in accordance with the Federal Highway Act . For this purpose, various route variants further south had to be examined with regard to their environmental relevance and various structural solutions to be examined. In addition to the already favored immersed tunnel , a drilling tunnel and the construction of a high bridge , a lift bridge , a bascule bridge , a swing bridge and even a pontoon bridge were examined. Ultimately, priority was given to the ecological, traffic and economic advantages of an immersed tunnel.

In addition to the aforementioned variant investigations, the optimal integration of the route and the structure into the area already planned for the 2003 International Horticultural Exhibition in Rostock had to be taken into account. Another focal point of the investigation was the assessment of the economic viability on the basis of the expected toll income, as there was no experience with a toll-financed road project in Germany. The particular difficulty was in the forecast of future traffic occupancy depending on the toll level.

As part of a Europe-wide tender, the project was awarded to a consortium led by the French construction group Bouygues Travaux Publics SA .

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 1, 1999. The group and its Australian shareholder Macquarie Infrastructure invested around 220 million euros in the Warnow tunnel together with an international bank consortium led by Deutsche Bank , NORD / LB , KfW and EIB . The European Union also made a grant available. The public grants were twelve percent.

Prefabrication of the tunnel elements in the dry dock

Tunnel cross-section

The lowering process

For the tunnel that was lowering method applied. The principle consists in the prefabrication of the tunnel elements on land or in a dry dock and the subsequent floating in and lowering of the elements in the tunnel route.

For the construction of the Warnow Tunnel, six concrete elements about 120 meters long, each with two tunnel tubes, were produced in a dry dock immediately in front of the later western tunnel portal. A flood gate served as a connection from the dock to the Warnow . After the completion of two elements each, the dock was flooded and the elements floated out. In order to ensure the buoyancy of the elements, which were slightly curved according to the later tunnel route, taring with ballast tanks was necessary.

The first four tunnel elements were temporarily stored in an old harbor basin at the Kvaerner shipyard in Warnemünde . At the same time, the tunnel channel between Schmarl and the overseas port, into which the elements would later be lowered, was dredged to a depth of up to 20 meters. After the completion of the last two elements, the 790 meter long tunnel tube was built with the floating and lowering of the six elements, the production of the tunnel portals, the sealing of the joints between the elements and the covering to protect against static buoyancy and as protection against damage. The deepest point in the fairway above the tunnel measures eleven meters. The tunnel was then pumped out and the tunnel was technically expanded.

The sealing of the joints between the tunnel elements should be mentioned as an interesting detail. Due to the water pressure , the flexible seal inserted in the joints is pressed apart, thus preventing water from penetrating the tunnel.

Scope of the entire construction project

Tunnel entrance

In addition to the 790-meter-long tunnel structure, a total of around 6200 meters of two- and four-lane road routes had to be expanded to close the gap between federal motorway 19 in the east and federal highway 103 in the west and to integrate it into the existing urban road network. This included the expansion of the Krummendorf motorway junction as the northern end of the A 19, the junctions to the Schmarler Damm and the Alte Warnemünder Chaussee as well as the partial relocation of the Schmarler Damm and the new construction of the Krummendorf bypass with several bridges and culverts. Significant traffic infrastructure was created for the neighboring districts of Schmarl , Groß Klein and Krummendorf as well as for the IGA 2003 including the Hanseatic Exhibition Center and the A 19 .

In order to operate the tunnel, it was also necessary to expand the toll station outside the eastern tunnel portal and the dynamic traffic control systems at the tunnel entrances.

The Warnow Tunnel was opened on September 12, 2003.

Equipment and operation

Entrance to the Warnow tunnel at night ( long exposure )

Fire alarm and extinguishing systems in the tunnel

The tunnel is considered to be one of the most modern road tunnels in Germany. It has four emergency walkways, escape doors every 150 meters and four emergency stop bays (two per tube). The security and surveillance systems include video surveillance, height control, dynamic traffic control, manual and automatic fire alarm systems such as carbon monoxide, smoke and air speed measuring devices, as well as fire extinguishers, extinguishing water extraction points and a large, heat-resistant tunnel ventilation system. Furthermore, traffic , emergency telephones and wireless coverage installed for all networks. The tunnel control center is manned around the clock.

The prices for a passage depend on the type of vehicle, the payment method and the time of year. For example, the prices for a passage through the tunnel in the months of May to October are higher for cash or debit card payments than in the rest of the year. The toll can also be paid using a card (Oscard) that has to be topped up with a sum of money in advance. Finally, a radio transmitter (tag) to be installed in the vehicle, through which the barrier can be opened and debited from a credit account, was introduced automatically. Pedestrians and cyclists can only pass through the tunnel with the Rostocker Straßenbahn AG (RSAG) buses that run here at normal rates. For the transport of bicycles, more space has been created for the buses that were acquired from 2003.

From the start, the use of the tunnel fell far short of expectations. After 3½ years of operation, the eleven millionth tunnel driver was counted on March 16, 2007, and the thirteen millionth vehicle on September 12. This corresponds to around 11,100 vehicles per day. In order to be able to operate the tunnel profitably, however, a capacity utilization of around 20,000 vehicles per day is necessary. A traffic forecast in 1994 assumed 30,000 vehicles per working day. At the end of 2004, a financial consortium consisting of 14 banks declared that the project's insolvency between 2005 and 2006 was unavoidable on the basis of current commitments. In order to avert the threat of insolvency of the Warnowquerungsgesellschaft (WQG), the operating contract was extended in June 2006. WQG now has 50 years (previously 30 years) to refinance its investments before the tunnel changes hands and belongs to the city of Rostock.

Toll station at the Warnow tunnel

At the turn of the year 2006/2007 there was a price change for the first time since its existence. The toll for trucks was initially reduced to a maximum of 13 euros in order to make the tunnel more attractive compared to the bypassing via the A 19 and A 20 . In addition, the upper limit for cars rose from 1.90 m to 2.05 m; this means that vans and minibuses can now pass through at the price of a car. However, car prices rose in return.

In October 2009, the 21 millionth vehicle passed the tunnel. The daily traffic performance is still around 11,000 vehicles and the expectation for the year 2030 is now estimated at 16,000 to 17,000 movements per day.

In 2019, the prices for car passages are 4.20 euros for May to October and 3.40 euros for November to April and for trucks between 8.50 euros and 17.50 euros.

operator

The Warnowquerung GmbH & CO. KG is the operating company based in Rostock and employs around 39 people in 2016. The company received EU grants through the Hanseatic City of Rostock. In August 2018, after approval by the Federal Cartel Office, the takeover was carried out by European Transport Investments (ETI) based in London, Great Britain, backed by the Australian financial company Macquarie .

Warnow tunnel party

In July 2010, due to the accident at the Love Parade in Duisburg, the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Ministry of Transport revoked the approval of the Road Construction Office for the Warnowtunnel Party - an electrical event that was to take place in the Warnowtunnel for the second time after 2009 on September 11, 2010. The organizer of the tunnel party (Plaspo Event agency) announced to the press on August 19, 2010 that the celebration would still take place because the permit was wrongly withdrawn ("the permit was wrongly withdrawn from us, our safety concept is consistent"). The FDP in Rostock also pleads for continuation. At the last techno party with 4,000 visitors in the Warnow Tunnel on September 12, 2009, the police had raised concerns after visitors to the event had been walking on the motorway.