According to the ADAC, “one of the worst traffic jam weekends” of the season threatens at the weekend. One reason: the wave of travel is reaching its peak. Because with Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, the last two federal states are also starting their holidays. The second wave of travel is rolling out of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and the south of the Netherlands – which is again bringing many holidaymakers to the North and Baltic Seas.
The situation in Hamburg and on the motorways around the Hanseatic city is particularly critical. The second of the 55-hour full closures on the A7 is due this weekend of all days. After the southbound route was affected last weekend, the northbound route is now closed.
From Friday evening at 9 p.m. the driveways Heimfeld, Hausbruch, Waltershof, Othmarschen, Bahrenfeld, Volkspark and Stellingen will be closed. From around 10 p.m., the motorway in the area towards Flensburg can no longer be used. Traffic should only be able to roll again on Monday morning from 5 a.m.
During the 55 hours, the first tunnel cells for the future Altona cover will be largely completed. In contrast to the previous tunnel projects in Schnelsen and Stellingen, the bridges over the motorway in Altona will be completely demolished – half of this has already happened – but will not be replaced by temporary bridges. Instead, the construction of the tunnel sections on which the streets Osdorfer Weg, Bahrenfelder Chaussee and Behringstraße will later run will be brought forward – in some cases from autumn, i.e. several years before the tunnel itself will be finished.
For this purpose, the motorway builders had already erected the future tunnel walls in the middle and on the outside in the past few weeks. Then, last weekend, huge cranes laid the reinforced steel girders for the tunnel ceilings on the walls. The same should now happen on Saturday and Sunday on the tunnel walls to the north. Only the Behringstraße bridge has to be spared for the time being. The drilling for the tunnel foundation there had shown that the soil appears to be different than assumed by the test drilling. The works have been stopped.
The measurement data would still be evaluated, said project coordinator Karina Fischer on Wednesday. After that, it will be checked whether and to what extent the planned foundation of the tunnel should be adapted to the ground conditions. Only then can one say when the construction work on the site could continue. Until then, traffic will continue to drive on the part of the bridge that has not yet been demolished.
This is also the case on Osdorfer Weg and Bahrenfelder Chaussee. From the two bridges, however, drivers will be able to follow the new roads being built on the first tunnel segments over the next few weeks. Because in a few weeks, traffic is to be relocated to the tunnel sections. Then in November – when the A7 is next completely closed in this area – the remaining parts of the bridge will be demolished. The blocking will then last 79 hours, i.e. a whole day longer than currently. After all, the appointment will not be in the holidays.
But why is the Autobahn being closed at all this weekend? The past week has shown how big the impact on travel is. The alternative routes via the city center and the A1 were heavily used. On Sunday, the day with less traffic, the cars were still on the A1 southbound for eight kilometers, on Heidenkampsweg and Amsinckstraße traffic came to a standstill again and again.
Basically, the aim is always to avoid construction work and the associated traffic restrictions in the summer travel season, explains project coordinator Fischer. However, especially in multi-year construction projects, it is not always possible to move traffic restrictions to times when there is little traffic.
Incidentally, in order to get as much work done during the full lockdown as possible, it was extended compared to last week’s lockdown. The fact that the route is already closed from Heimfeld is due to another construction site on the A7 – the work on the eight-lane expansion south of the Elbe Tunnel. For this purpose, bridge parts will be used in the port at the weekend. As north of the Elbe tunnel, large cranes will also be used on the autobahn. In addition, the Elbe tunnel tubes one and two will be serviced and repaired. In this way one could avoid further closures of the motorway, Fischer asks for understanding.
The construction of the 2,230-meter-long Altona noise protection tunnel – called “Dober” in Hamburg – began in 2021. The construction over the A7, which will then be expanded to eight lanes, should be completed by 2028. After the tunnels in Stellingen and Schnelsen, the cover in Altona is the third project that aims to significantly improve noise protection on the motorway.
In addition, the tunnel is to be developed with allotment gardens and parks and bring together parts of the city that have been cut up by the autobahn since the 1970s. According to current information, the cost of construction is 790 million euros, of which Hamburg will bear 291 million euros. The Hanseatic city had extended the Altona noise protection tunnel planned by the federal government from 730 to 2230 meters and has to bear the costs for this.
