The Kramer Tunnel through the Kramer near Garmisch-Partenkirchen is set to become Bavaria’s longest road tunnel – and “long” can mean many things. 3,609 meters of tunnel, for example, would not only be long, but even longer than the 2,971 meters of the previous record holder, the bypass tunnel around the town of Oberau, just a few kilometers to the north.
But things can take a long time. And quite apart from the fact that both tunnels have been talked about for half a century: construction work on the Oberau tunnel began in 2015 and was completed in 2022. Drilling has essentially been going on at the Kramer tunnel around Garmisch since 2011. And the decision will soon be made as to who will be allowed to finish building it in the coming years.
It could possibly continue there in November and then continue until 2027, according to the responsible state construction authority in Weilheim. Then – to estimate very roughly – around 200 meters of tunnel would have been driven through the Kramer every year, not even half as many as in Oberau. But the comparison is of course unfair, not least because there are two tubes in Oberau and only one in the Kramer plus an initial exploration and future rescue tunnel. And it was precisely in those tunnels that water soon penetrated, which is why work was interrupted in 2013 and only resumed in 2020.
In addition, there was actually already light at all ends of the tunnel in August last year when the tunnel construction company suddenly gave up and withdrew all workers from the construction site. The building authority did not want to pay additional demands totaling 50 million euros, both sides terminated each other’s contracts and have been involved in the courts ever since. The building authority put out a new tender for the missing work on a few meters of the main tunnel and 700 meters of rescue tunnel last autumn – and expressly excluded the former partners from the process.
However, they pushed for their approval in court, and when the Bavarian Supreme Court indicated in early August that it would agree with them, the building authority decided to start the process again. The building authority is certain that an offer from the former students will be on the table by the application deadline in a few days. Who will charge how much for what and how long it will all take, however, is still an open question. In any case, the total cost is unlikely to remain at the 365 million euros that were previously mentioned as the total cost. Bavaria’s longest road tunnel will not also be the cheapest.