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Mühlberg Tunnel

A unique engineering triumvirate can be admired at Weilburg (Hessen). 3 tunnels pass under the built-up hillside beneath the Frankfurter Straße with in a distance of only 100 m. A further special feature is that these tunnels serve 3 different purposes. Apart from the 195.0 m long river ship tunnel built back in 1847 (Germany's sole river ship tunnel) and the 302 m long railway tunnel completed in 1862, the trio was rounded off in March 2004 by the "Mühlberg Tunnel"- a road tunnel. The tunnel (Standard cross-section RQ 10.5 T) carries two-way traffic in 2 lanes and passes through the hillside along the River Lahn so that it directly links the Weiltal and the Lahntal valleys. It runs parallel to the existing tunnels and is 132.50 m in length with a 3.3 % gradient. Thanks to the tunnel there is no need to contend with the extreme inclines and bends, which previously had to be negotiated when climbing the ridge. The road tunnel serves to relieve Weilburg's historic old town in conjunction with the 145.5 m long arch bridge in the form of a partial bypass. The tunnel was driven from north to south in Rhenish slate rocks by means of drill+blast. Diabase, a hard to very hard massive igneous rock was present over the complete distance. In this connection, correspondingly gentle blasting Operations had to be employed as care had to taken to ensure that various buildings located above and at the side of the tunnel such as churches, chapels and dwellings were not damaged by Vibrations. No special safety technical measures for subsequent operation were necessary on account of the relatively short length of the tunnel. The permanent lining was produced from reinforced exposed concrete.

 

  • Country: Germany
  • Region: Hesse
  • Tunnel utilization: Traffic
  • Type of utilization: Road tunnel
  • Client: Federal Republic of Germany
  • Consulting Engineer: IMM- Prof. Dr.-lng. B. MaidI- Dipl.-lng. R. MaidI, Müller+ Hereth
  • Test engineer: Prof. B. Maidl
  • Construction monitoring: Ingenieurbüro König und Heunisch
  • Contractor: Schachtbau Nordhausen
  • Main construction method: Trenchless
  • Type of excavation: Drill-and-blast
  • Lining: Concrete formwork
  • No. of tubes: 1
  • Tunnel total length: 132.5 m with 118 m produced by mining means
  • Cross-section: 90 m²
  • Contract Volume: approx. € 4.5 million net
  • Construction start/end: June 2002 to March 2004
  • Opening: 2004