While work in the Kramer Tunnel near Garmisch-Partenkirchen has been at a standstill since August 11th, construction has been underway again outside the north portal since this week. The Weilheim State Building Authority has not reached an agreement with the Tyrolean tunnel construction company BeMo about its additional demands, which now amount to 60 million euros. Because of this cost dispute, both sides mutually terminated their original 150 million euro contract for the tunnel shell construction. The authorities and the construction company have now agreed on an official acceptance of the road construction work carried out so far outside the tunnel. Another company is now completing the northern access road. How things will continue down the tube remains unclear.
This means that Garmisch residents and many motorists traveling through will probably have to make do without the long-awaited bypass towards Zugspitze, Reutte and Fernpass well beyond 2025. There is a risk of a delay of at least several months and a further increase in the price of the longest road tunnel in Bavaria, which was recently estimated at a total of 365 million euros. In view of the two terminations, the building authority says it is doing everything it can to get the work going again as quickly as possible and to find another tunnel construction company to do so.
The two previous partners have already met in court for the first time and without any concrete result. Most recently, BeMo publicly signaled its willingness to talk, but at the same time spoke of even higher additional demands than before. Before the building authority can re-tender the remaining work on the tunnel shell and award it to another company, it must work with BeMo to determine exactly how far it has advanced the project. How much the company can actually charge for this will probably have to be clarified in court at some point.
At the same time, it cannot be entirely ruled out that BeMo will also take part in the new tender in order to finish building the tunnel itself – then at a new and presumably significantly higher price. Because there aren’t that many tunnel construction companies. Compared to possible competition, the Tyroleans don’t have to learn the ropes all over again and don’t have to calculate from scratch. Above all, however, they would have short-term capacity – including the very workers who they completely unexpectedly withdrew from Garmisch on August 11th because of the cost dispute. However, they left materials and machines behind on the construction site. The building authority is trying to keep both for a fee so that the next company can access them immediately.
In any case, the authorities found a construction company at short notice for the road construction work on the north portal near Burgrain. Work has started there again since Tuesday. The aim is to at least make this almost finished section winter-proof so that the junction can be built next year. Work is also underway near the south portal near Grainau. Here, a local construction company and the water management office are restoring a temporarily relocated stream. It is unclear when traffic will start flowing on Kramer.