Tunnels for Building the Mühlviertler Expressway
In Upper Austria the 22 km long Mühlviertler Expressway (S10) from Unterweitersdorf via Freistadt to the national boundary with South Bohemia near Wullawitz is being produced to develop the Mühlviertel and relieve the B10 (more than 20,000 vehicles per day) in 4 construction stages with 6 contract sections. With total investments of 718 million euros, this is currently the Asfinag’s biggest construction project. Work began in 2009 and the S10 is due to be completed in late 2015.
In mid-May 2013, the second bore for the 1.8 km long Neumarkt Tunnel was broken through in the Unterweitersdorf-Freistadt North section. This trenchless section produced by the NATM is 1.3 km long. The tunnel is scheduled to be lined by the end of 2014 and once it is opened, the existing bore will be redeveloped by the end of 2015. Work is hampered by local traffic. Investment costs of 61 million euros have been earmarked for the Neumarkt Tunnel.
Construction operations on the 9 km long Neumarkt contract section, of which 6.5 km runs underground, started back in November 2011. This also involves the 4.4 km long Götschka Tunnel, the first bore of which (in the direction of Linz) was broken through at the beginning of September 2013 enabling work to forge ahead on lining the tunnel. 25,000 m³ of shotcrete, 500 t of structural steel mesh, more than 17,000 anchors and 51,000 m of tunnel arches were used. The excavated material amounted to 0.55 million m³. The second bore (towards Freistadt) is due to be broken through in early 2014. ⇥G.B.
