With the noise of excavators and pile drivers, work began on June 19, 1968 in Hamburg on one of the most ambitious construction projects of the time:Europe's longest underwater road tunnel is to be built at the bottom of the Elbe. For weeks, the earth on the previously idyllic Elbe beach in Övelgönne vibrated every five seconds.
Tunnel to relieve Elbe bridges
The new traffic artery is intended to relieve the Elbe bridges in the east of Hamburg, over which 110,000 vehicles squeeze their way every day. And it should limit the flow of traffic through the city center. Because if you are coming from Hanover and want to drive north or vice versa, you have to cross the city to get from the A1 to the A7. The six-lane tunnel is part of the new West Bypass, which also includes a 31-kilometer stretch of motorway and the Köhlbrand Bridge, which opened three months earlier.
Tube elements are sunk in the Elbe
The tube elements with the lanes were produced individually in a drained harbor basin.The tunnel builders produce the individual tube elements in a dock that has been drained specially for this purpose. After completion of the tunnel elements - each one weighing around 48,000 tons - the harbor basin will be flooded and the elements will be pulled onto the Elbe by tugboats. There they are lowered into a dredged channel and joined together and sealed at the bottom of the Elbe. In the next step, the cavity under the tubes will be filled with gravel. The sections below the banks of the Elbe are being produced with a tunnel boring machine.
Hundreds of thousands come to the opening
At the end of 1974, work on the new Elbe tunnel was completed. On the occasion of its completion, the building authorities invited the people of Hamburg to a very special kind of festival in December 1974:before the new Elbe tunnel was opened to car traffic, the population was allowed to explore it on foot. The tunnel festival lasts five days - from December 26th to 30th. More than 100,000 visitors came on the first day. They all want to see the building, which was unparalleled in the world at the time.
Hamburgers celebrate their tunnel
If you want to walk through the entire tunnel, you have to be good on foot. Each tube is almost three kilometers long. And like the cars, the visitors have to stick to the direction of traffic, so they are not allowed to turn back in the tube. Only three narrow passages allow a change to the neighboring tube and thus a faster way back to the starting point. Visitors can't fortify themselves in the tunnel - because they should cross it as quickly as possible. That's where the music plays. 14 marching bands with a total of 850 musicians march through the tubes, several jazz bands play.
Postcards, coins and brochures
At the two tunnel exits, visitors can expect sausage stands, beer bars and carousels. You can buy memorabilia in containers:you can choose from the color brochure "Der Tunnel" and commemorative coins for one mark each, as well as color postcards "Hamburg's new Elbe tunnel with children's eyes" for two marks. Mobile post offices issue special cancellations with the date.
From January 10, 1975, the traffic is moving
Free ride:In January 1975, traffic was still flowing smoothly through the tunnel.Around 600,000 visitors took the opportunity to walk through the Elbe tunnel over the five days. After that it belongs to the drivers. On January 10, 1975, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt opened the tunnel. In his opening speech, Mayor Hans-Ulrich Kloseder expressed hope that the new Elbe Tunnel would solve the Hanseatic city's traffic problems:"For us, this tunnel is a piece of confidence and optimism, it's a piece of Hamburg."
A bottleneck to this day
But the bill doesn't add up for long. The tunnel does not bring the desired long-term relief. In 1975 around 55,000 vehicles drove through it every day, a few years later it was already 100,000. Regular traffic jams are the result - the initial enthusiasm is followed by disillusionment. In 2002, a fourth tube was inaugurated - once again, the people of Hamburg were allowed to walk through it. Despite the expansion, the Elbe tunnel remains a bottleneck. Because the traffic continues to increase and the old tubes have to be renovated and modernized so that all four are not always open. Drivers are repeatedly asked to be patient:the A 7 is being expanded further and is being closed in the Hamburg city area. As part of the construction work, traffic jams around the tunnel are still the order of the day.