"The Südschnellweg is enormously important for Hanover as a traffic artery," PORR CEO Karl-Heinz Strauss, said. "It is used by tens of thousands of vehicles every day. Our job is to refurbish it under contract to the state roads authority and make it fit for the future so that traffic can flow safely and so the city gets some relief. After all, mobility is a key challenge for urban areas in particular."

One important part of the rehabilitation is replacing a 69-year-old bridge, whose remaining useful life is severely restricted in some areas.

The Südschnellweg with its two lanes in each direction was built in 1954, since when it has served as the sole efficient and flood-free connection from east to west in Hanover's south. In the course of the rehabilitation, the current bridge over Hildesheimer Straße and Schützenallee in the Döhren district will be replaced by an underpass. To facilitate this, the consortium will first erect a 940m-long temporary bridge parallel to the elevated road before demolishing the existing bridge. A 1100m-long road tunnel with ramp structures will then be built as an underpass beneath Hildesheimer Straße and Schützenallee.

Claude Jeutter, MD of PORR Deutschland, said: "We are proud to showcase the capabilities of our teams in structural engineering and special civil engineering, together with those of our consortium partner, in the state capital of Lower Saxony".

Martin Beese, MD of Hagedorn Hannover GmbH, added: "We are delighted to be part of this important major project and for our competencies and experience to win out."

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