The Øresund Tunnel

For the time being over three million inhabitants of Copenhagen and Malmö still have to cross the Øresund by ferry. In two years time however the trip will only take 10 minutes.

A giant project will make this possible linking the two Scandinavian cities. The massive combined system consisting of a bridge, a tunnel and an artificial island is supposed to bring together the region in the year 2000 and lead to economic growth and expansion. The most exciting challenge for experts is the construction of the tunnel for which the so-called sinking procedure is used in a tunnel construction for the first time. This procedure means that 20 elements 176 m long each are built and installed one after the other. A lot of care must be taken over the application of the concrete in particular. We are talking about 2,700 m³ of concrete necessary for the elements which must be applied in one operation within 40 hours.

To obtain crack-free concrete despite the harsh climate in Denmark all work is carried out in huge halls at 20 °C. For the following injection of stress cracks the ZTV-RISS certified WEBAC PU injection foam resin and WEBAC_® 1405 are used.
Up to now all work has been implemented on schedule. The whole business will be really thrilling in the end: When the weather report predicts good weather and a quiet sea for three days in a row the last element shall be installed, closed with site concrete and the link will be inaugurated by an open cross-country race on June 8th in the year 2000.