In March Euro Alliance Tunnels started the excavation works on tunnel Boyneburg. This tunnel is part of highway A44 connecting Aachen in the West with Eisenach in the East. The site is located between Kassel and Erfurt in the hearth of Germany.
The tunnel has two tubes with length 1.714 m (eastern tube) and 1.682 m (western tube). Total length of NATM excavation will be 3.606,5 m. There will be also entry and exit passages in the portal areas with total length around 550 m. The tubes will be connected with 5 cross cuts to ensure maximal safety and flexibility. Two of those cross cuts can be used with vehicles, which is another safety feature. Also breakdown bays will be constructed to ensure stable and fluent traffic in cases of vehicle breakdowns.
The main works will consist of excavation the rock. As of highway size requirements the cross section will be up to 108 sqm, in the breakdown bays up to 129 sqm and in the presections up to 160 sqm. We will excavate using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method with steel reinforcement and sprayed concrete. The geology is challenging, we expect high water influx in some areas in consequence of aquiferous layers.
