Tunnel construction in the mining tradition
04.06.2021 – Anyone building a tunnel just a few meters from the riverbed below the Main can't go wrong with a little superstition-based assistance. And so, in good mining tradition, the tunnel that is now being bored in Offenbach for the canal to the Main outlet has been given a name. This should ensure that the entire project goes well. As the tunnel does not yet exist, the huge excavation pit on the former Clariant parking lot on Mainstrasse was given a champagne bottle to represent the mighty drill head.
The tunnel sponsor was Melanie Gessner, Head of the Drainage Department at Stadtwerke Offenbach. She commissioned the work, which was financed by the City of Offenbach's own company. The work is being carried out by Sonntag Baugesellschaft, which hosted the naming ceremony in camera due to coronavirus.
Mayor Peter Freier was also present as the responsible department head. "Stadtservice, and in particular the drainage team under the leadership of Melanie Gessner, is very well positioned and, with the major Main outlet project, once again demonstrates the competence and professionalism with which even highly complex tasks are tackled and successfully completed."
Peter Walther, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Offenbach, also attended the extraordinary event: "The work of Stadtwerke Offenbach is often not visible to the public, although the Main outlet is currently one of our largest projects. That's why it's good that Sonntag is honoring the start of the construction work with an event like this."
Namesake Melanie Gessner smashes the champagne bottle
The drill head is a colossus with a diameter of 2.40 meters, a length of almost five meters and a weight of around 35 tons. On Wednesday, it was hoisted by crane into the approximately eight-meter-deep excavation pit. From there, it will be digging its way through the ground over the next few weeks, bearing the name "Melanie" and the Stadtwerke Offenbach logo. Tunnel sponsor Gessner had initially been a little reluctant to give the tunnel another name. But site manager Maximilian Vogt intervened sternly: Tradition demanded a namesake. And it couldn't be someone from Offenbach's history either, because she would actually have to give the name herself. Gessner was finally convinced by the origin of her own first name: "Melanie was the nickname of the Greek earth goddess Demeter - that actually fits quite well," she said.
Despite all the tradition, Gessner also reminded everyone before giving the name what the tunnel will be used for in the future in the growing city of Offenbach: "Here on the Main, one of the last sections of the large Bieber Nord collector sewer is being built, which has been laid for 18 years through half of Offenbach over a length of 5.7 kilometers. At the level of the excavation pit at the bottom of the Main, an outlet structure is being built in parallel, through which the water will drain directly into the river in the event of heavy rain. This will prevent the water from pushing up into the streets, for example." With the miner's greeting "Glückauf", she then confidently smashed the bottle on the drill head, which in future will uncover the tunnels for the sewer pipes with a diameter of more than two meters in her name.
Construction workers value traditions
Not every tunnel that Sonntag digs into the ground is given a name, says construction manager Vogt. "It mainly depends on the client - anyone building a pipeline through an uninhabited area is less likely to be interested. But in inner-city areas like here, we do this kind of thing more often in order to raise public awareness of the project." And the construction workers themselves also attach importance to continuing such traditions. For example, a figure of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of mining, is present at every tunnel construction: "You never know what awaits you underground."
Thanks to extensive preliminary investigations, it can at least be assumed that there will be no unpleasant surprises on the shorter section from the excavation pit under Mainstrasse and the Maindamm and the longer section up to the connection to the new sewer in Kettelerstrasse. In any case, it can't be down to drill head Melanie once the tradition has been fulfilled.
June 05, 2021