Old Elbe Tunnel
Encyclopedia
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The 426 m (1,398 ft) long tunnel was a technical sensation; 24 m (80 ft) beneath the surface, two tubes with 6 m (20 ft) diameter connect central Hamburg with the docks and shipyards on the south side of the river Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
. This meant a big improvement for tens of thousands of workers in one of the busiest harbours in the world.
Four huge lifts on either side of the tunnel carried pedestrians, carriages and motor vehicles to the bottom. They are still in operation, though due to the limited capacity by today's standards, other bridges and tunnels have been built and taken over most of the traffic.
In 2008 approx 300.000 cars, 63.000 bicycles and 700.000 pedestrians used the tunnel. The tunnel is opened 24 hours for pedestrians and bicycles. For motorized vehicles opening times are currently Monday to Friday from 5.20 AM to 8.00 PM, on Saturdays from 5.20 AM to 4.00 PM.
Maintenance works are planned for 2009 and 2010 for the west bore and for 2010 and 2011 for the east bore.
History
On July 22, 1907 the construction of the tunnel started to connect the quarters of St. PauliSt. Pauli
St. Pauli , located in the Hamburg-Mitte borough, is one of the 105 quarters of the city of Hamburg, Germany. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the Landungsbrücken are a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. Pauli contains a world famous red light district around the street Reeperbahn...
near the Landungsbrücken
Landungsbrücken
The St. Pauli Landungsbrücken , part of the Hamburg Harbour, are in the quarter St. Pauli of Hamburg, Germany, between the lower harbor and the Fischmarkt directly on the Elbe River. The Landungsbrücken today are a major tourist attraction and a central transportation hub, with S-Bahn, U-Bahn and...
and Steinwerder.
Work was done under pressure because the tunnel was below the water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...
of the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
. This type of building technique was used in the 19th century, in large engineering excavations , such as with the pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
s of bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s and with tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
s, where caisson
Caisson (engineering)
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a retaining, watertight structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. These are constructed such that the water can be pumped out, keeping the working...
s under pressure were used to keep water from flooding the excavations, such as the foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
But workers who spend time in high-pressure atmospheric pressure conditions are at risk when they return to the lower pressure outside the caisson
Caisson (engineering)
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a retaining, watertight structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. These are constructed such that the water can be pumped out, keeping the working...
without slowly reducing the surrounding pressure. Due to the problems associated with decompression sickness
Decompression sickness
Decompression sickness describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurization...
, many of the men working on the Elbe tunnel were affected by, what was known at the time, Caisson's Disease. Three men died, 74 suffered severe cases and more than 600 came down with light symptoms among 4,400 workers.
The tunnel opened on September 7, 1911.
Modern usage
In the tunnel an art exhibition (ElbArt ) and a long-distance runningRunning
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
event Elbtunnel-Marathon
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...
(website of the organiser ) are taking place. In 2008 the tunnel participated in the Tag des offenen Denkmals (Day of the open heritage site), a Germany-wide annual event sponsored by the Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz, that opens cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
sites to the public.
Media
The old tunnel has featured in several films including The Odessa FileThe ODESSA File (film)
The Odessa File is a 1974 film adaptation of the thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, about a struggle between a young German reporter and the ODESSA, an organization for ex-Nazis. The film stars Jon Voight and was directed by Ronald Neame, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber.- Plot :The plot opens...
, $ (film)
$ (film)
$, also known as Dollars and in the UK as The Heist, is a 1971 American caper film starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The movie was written and directed by Richard Brooks and produced by M.J. Frankovich. The supporting cast includes Gert Fröbe, Robert...
, and The American Friend
The American Friend
The American Friend is a 1977 film by Wim Wenders, loosely adapted from the novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith. The film is of the neo-noir genre, and features Dennis Hopper as career criminal Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Zimmermann, a terminally ill picture framer whom Ripley...
(Der Amerikanische Freund).
Decoration
The tunnel walls are decorated with glazed terra cottaGlazed architectural terra-cotta
Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a ceramic masonry building material popular in the United States from the late 19th century until the 1930s, and still one of the most common building materials found in U.S. urban environments...
ornaments displaying items related to the Elbe river. While mostly fish or crabs, a few show different items like waste and rats, too.