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Lingenberg Tunnel - B257

The federal highway B 257 links the A 61 and A 48 motorways with one another. In addition it acts as an access road to the Grand Prix Circuit at the Nürburgring. The Lingenberg Tunnel was built as the final part-section between the locations of Ahrbrück and Kreuzberg in conjunction with the Altenahr Bypass on account of its great importance for traffic and the infrastructure. Thanks to the construction of the Lingenberg Tunnel the B 257 circumvents an area endangered by rock falls. Here a slab of rock weighing several thousand cubic meters fell on the federal highway in 1988. In this way traffic safety has been considerably enhanced in addition to the effectively speeding up the flow of traffic. The Lingenberg Tunnel comprises an approx. 212 m long main bore with 2 lanes and a width of 7.50 m between the edges. The official start on the tunnel tubes began on October 14th, 2006. The tunnel was driven by mining means over a length of 165 m in keeping with the NATM. This signifies that the drive took place by drill+blast with the excavation being secured immediately. ln this connection gentle blasting was essential for tackling the excavation as there is a roughly 8 m high free-standing block of rock on the Lingenberg, which had to be secured by untensioned rockbolts dowelled into the contact a rea prior to the beginning of blasting Operations. The tunnel was produced as a two-shell structure with mouth cross-section. On account of the hydrogeological Situation - the groundwater level largely lies several meters above the tunnel roof the tunnel is provided with an all-round seal to protect it against pressure water. This waterproofing layer was executed by means a plastic sealing membrane placed between the outer shotcrete shell and the inner structural concrete. The tot al cross-section was excavated in parts (crown, bench and floor). Altogether 18,000 m³ of solid rock was excavated. The tunnel was provided with a base invert over its entire length. During the construction of the tunnel an operations building, a collector basin for all liquids present in the tunnel as well as two shaft structures were also produced. It was opened for traffic on March 31st, 2008.

 

  • Country: Germany
  • Region: Rhineland Palatinate
  • Tunnel utilization: Traffic
  • Type of utilization: Road Tunnel
  • Client: Federal Republic of Germany, Land of Rhineland Palatinate
  • Consulting Engineer: König, Heunisch + Partner/Baugrundinstitut Franke Meißner
  • Test engineer: Prof. Dr.-Ing. W. Wittke
  • Construction monitoring: Prof. Dr.-Ing. W. Wittke
  • Contractor: Schachtbau Nordhausen GmbH
  • Main construction method: Trenchless
  • Type of excavation: Drill-and-blast
  • Lining: Shotcrete
  • No. of tubes: 1
  • Tunnel total length: 212 m (total), 165 m (mining means), 23 m (top cover method), 24 m (cut-and-cover)
  • Cross-section: approx. 93 m²
  • Contract Volume: 5.5 mill. Euro (roughwork)
  • Construction start/end: 2006-2008 (24 months)
  • Opening: March 2008