Visibly relaxed, project manager Franz Piller stands on the road with a yellow safety vest next to the site fence. The western bypass tunnel is still closed, but the construction work has been completed. Tunnel manager Christine Huber, on the other hand, still has a few restless nights ahead of her, and the final details have to be settled. After a final inspection, the 705-meter-long structure and thus the entire tangent will be opened to traffic on Monday, January 10th. Some residents cannot tick off the project yet. Damage was found to around ten houses, says Piller, and the extent is currently being examined.
Transport Minister Kerstin Schreyer actually wanted to come to the opening. Because of the rising corona numbers, this time the city is not holding the usual ceremony with the obligatory cutting of a tape on such occasions. In a very unspectacular manner, the route will be released on Monday, probably around 4 p.m., when the building yard employees clear away the site fences. All in all, very unpretentious when you consider that the project divided the Freising people like no other – and that it took 55 years from the first planning documents to completion.
Soon the fifth branch will be opened for road users in the new roundabout on Thalhauser Strasse.
(Photo: Birgit Gleixner)
At an on-site meeting on Tuesday morning, Piller, who will retire in a few weeks when the project is completed, has the most important key data ready. Not all accounts have been received yet, but the estimated costs for the 3560 meter long route between Thalhauser Strasse and Staatsstrasse 2350 (formerly B 11) are around 139 million euros, which, according to Piller, also includes two million for a land purchase, the was not needed directly for the tangent. The tunnel alone cost around 68 million euros.
The grants are impressive: the Free State will contribute around 75 million euros – 70 percent of the eligible costs – and five million euros from the airport’s environs fund will go into the budget for planning. The bottom line for the city of Freising is still the stately amount of around 30 million euros, for the district it is probably 24 million euros.
How much has to be paid for repairs to houses is still open. That is currently being compared with the insurance company, explains Piller. Before construction work began, a detailed appraisal was carried out at 60 houses, and a follow-up inspection was recently carried out. Each case is considered individually, says Piller. On one side of a garage there was a drop of 20 millimeters, on other buildings it was a maximum of three to four millimeters, and there were also smaller cracks. The project manager thanked the residents in Vötting, who had to suffer from construction noise, for their patience. In the more than 400-meter-long mining part of the tunnel on the north side up to Giggenhauser Strasse, work was carried out seven days a week and also at night. Two families were even evacuated for a few weeks at the end of 2018.
The new bypass is intended to relieve the Freising city center.
(Photo: Birgit Gleixner)
In the future, according to forecasts, up to 16,000 vehicles will drive through the tunnel every day. How necessary the building is to relieve the city center, how much additional traffic it will attract as a shortcut to the airport, opinions in the city have always been divided. In a referendum in September 2013, however, a clear majority of 56.3 percent voted in favor of the project.
The first symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the bypass followed on May 7, 2015. At that time, costs of 86.5 million euros were assumed. But even then, critics of the project predicted that it would not stay that way. You should be right – but the route was already under construction. Another referendum in 2015, which the Vöttingen Citizens’ Forum tried to achieve a moratorium until the northeast bypass of Freising was completed, also failed. The respective Lord Mayors – Adolf Schäfer, Dieter Thalhammer and Tobias Eschenbacher – always supported the project.
The tunnel alone cost around 68 million euros.
(Photo: Birgit Gleixner)
An opening of the west bypass was initially planned for October 2019. However, unsightly surprises during construction caused delays and cost increases. Biggest problem: A layer of clay in the area of the tunnel structure turned out to be not completely impermeable to water. The city was just able to avert a construction freeze, and a new, more complex solution was found. Despite everything, he always tried to remain calm, says Piller.
When walking through the tunnel, he refers to the two emergency exits, the special asphalt, which has to be lighter than on the open road, and the special glazing at the end of the tunnel on the south side. Integrated stripes that are invisible to humans are designed to prevent birds from flying against the panes. The problem was discussed for a long time with the Lower Nature Conservation Authority, says Piller. At the deepest point below the Moosach, the road is about twelve meters below the edge of the terrain. The entire tunnel can be viewed through almost 50 cameras, and they are monitored by the tunnel monitoring system of the Autobahn Directorate in Fröttmaning.
By the way, Tempo 50 will apply inside the tunnel in the future, as the signs are already showing, behind it on the south side it is allowed to drive 80. The building is closed to cyclists and pedestrians.
The next few days will be stressful for Christine Huber. A few details still have to be addressed to the fire alarm systems, the locking system has to be installed. Huber will continue to be responsible for tunnel management in the city, the structure must be cleaned and checked regularly. On Monday evening, like Piller, she first wants to have a drink.