Porr Infra to kit out Germany's second-longest Road Tunnel
The Porr bidding consortium won the tender for the construction project “A44, VKE 12, Tunnel Hirschhagen, Technische Ausstattung” at the turn of the year 2018/19. PORR Infra GmbH will be responsible for realising the contract for the client “Hessen Mobil Straßen- und Verkehrsmanagement”. The contract volume amounts to 31.5 million euros net; the new motorway tunnel near Kassel is set to open to traffic in spring 2022.
In the course of the new construction of the 5.2-km-long section of the A44, the two-tube Hirschhagen tunnel will play a leading role in traffic technology. The lot has a length of around 4.2 km (North tube 4147 m, South tunnel 4204 m). Upon completion, Hirschhagen Tunnel will edge out Neuhof Tunnel in East Hesse (1610 m; A66) to become the longest motorway tunnel in the State of Hesse. This will also make it Germany's second-longest motorway tunnel after Rennsteig Tunnel in Thuringia (7916 m; A71). The project will start in February 2019.
“This sophisticated traffic infrastructure project is a milestone for Porr in Germany. Thanks to the expansion of our product portfolio in 2018, the Porr Group – represented by Porr Infra GmbH – is a firm fixture on the German market in the field of electrical equipment for road tunnels,” said Gerhard Jelinek, Managing Director of Porr Infra.
Highly complex Technical Installation in Public Infrastructure Sector
Under the contract, the bidding consortium will handle the supply, installation and start-up of the entire electrical equipment, fittings and components needed to open the tunnel to public traffic. Included here, for example, are systems from the power supply to the steel construction, fire detection and prevention, through to the tunnel's ventilation and lighting, as well as traffic control including intelligent monitoring and transmitting all control signals via and to the tunnel's operations centre.
In light of the importance of safety considerations, the two tunnel tubes are linked by seven cross-passages accessible by vehicles and eight walkways. The fittings for these cross-passages are also part of the electrical equipment contract. Forecasts suggest that the average traffic impact on the whole section VKE 12 will be around 37 800 vehicles per day.
