New construction of the A 52

Project and structural planning for the new construction of the tunnel Altenessen

The tunnel Altenessen is the most northern tunnel of the new planning segment A 52 between the motorway Essen-East (A 40) and Essen-North (A 42). In total, the commission for the tunnel Altenessen includes the survey of four variants including the required overpasses.

Variants 0 to II are based on the same trench line and gradient and a tunnel was planned, both in cut-and-cover and closed building. In the variant III, as preferred by the client, the tunnel is processed into the high in-situ groundwater completely via cut-and-cover construction, for reasons of optimisation of the embedment depth. It is built as a two-cell frame structure with measurements of 29-34 m x 6-9 m and a total length of 1.200 m. Three lanes for each direction are arranged, construed for a maximum allowed speed of 80 km/h. The opening amounts to 13 m, the opening height > 4,70 m and the longitudinal gradient is specified with a maximum of 1,25 %, the cross slope with a maximum of 3,5 %.

Particular challenges with the planning consist, apart from the mastering of the high groundwater level, also of the consideration of geometric discontinuities as a consequence of the existing traffic network and the location of the Berne, a throng of the Emscher. For example, directly at the beginning of the planning segment, the planned motorway trench does not only cross below the ”Altenessener Straße”, but also crosses over the already existing underground railway tunnel (building lot 34).

The planning commission for the project planning in section 3 - civil engineering structures and in section 4 - traffic installations, as well as the specialist planning in section 1 - structural planning and in section 2 - technical equipment (incl. ventilation), each for the service phases 1 and 2 (basic evaluation and pre-planning) according to HOAI (Official Scale of Fees for Services by Architects and Engineers) was awarded by the national road construction department of North Rhine-Westphalia to the bidding consortium A52 tunnel, consisting of, in total, three partners with us as technical coordinator.