Tunnel inset celebration at Brandbergtunnel

On 28.09.2019 the tunnel inset celebration at the Brandberg Tunnel took place in the presence of numerous celebrities. The overall structure of the Brandberg Tunnel begins on the west side with the trough and the adjoining tunnel structure in open cut construction of 196 metres in length. Following the open cut construction method, the tunnel will be constructed using the mining method with a length of 765 metres; it ends with the east portal block.

The welcome was given by the President of the Freiburg Regional Council, Mrs. Bärbel Schäfer. She pointed out the great importance of this construction measure as the last piece in the realization of the Oberwinden bypass. The first part of this bypass started in 2015, the second and last part with the construction of the tunnel will now start in 2019. She also mentioned that a citizens' information point will be set up to keep the population permanently informed. The Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Mr. Steffen Bilger, explained the importance of this construction measure to eliminate the current bottleneck on the B 294 between Offenburg and Freiburg. At the moment, the locality of Oberwinden is experiencing a very high load of 15,300 vehicles per day, so that a significant relief through the bypass is urgently needed, said Mr. Bilger. Mr. Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport of the State of Baden-Württemberg, mentioned the long lasting efforts to realize this bypass, which go back to the year 1960. He is convinced that this bypass will lead to the further development of the place of Oberwinden and improve the quality of the air in the locality. At the same time, he called on the politicians of the region to start planning the redesign of Oberwinden already now.

Mr. Christian Deckert, Managing Director of Tunnel Construction of the ARGE Brandbergtunnel, explained the special challenges of building this tunnel with its difficult precision work. The tunnel sponsorship is taken over by Mrs. Marita Schmieder, who has been leading the citizens' initiative "Pro Umfahrung Winden im Elztal" for 10 years.

After the religious blessing of those present and subsequently also of the figure of Saint Barbara, the symbolic start of excavation was carried out by blasting under great applause.

The structural inspection of the open cut construction on the west side with the sub-centre including the extensive provisional construction aids is carried out by Dr.-Ing. Ioannis Retzepis, managing partner of KREBS+KIEFER Karlsruhe and testing engineer for structural engineering. In addition, KREBS+KIEFER is responsible for the safety and health coordination at the construction site.