In the course of the construction of a new hotel complex, the building owner expressed the wish that his hotel guests have direct access to the Wörthersee lakeside from the hotel. Since the road runs directly along the lakeshore at this point, it was suggested to divert the road through a tunnel underneath the hotel complex.
The straight steel culvert is 144.70m long and was designed for two-lane truck traffic. The project was completed in 2000 and opened for traffic.

This arch near Linz was renovated in 2001 in collaboration with the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). Using winches and an excavator, the elliptical section was inserted into the existing structure on a guiding device constructed from railway tracks. Before inserting the section, a framework also consisting of rail tracks was mounted on the ceiling for uplift restraint during the filling-in process.

To prevent any formation of cavities at the top of the culvert and the arch, two inspection openings were drilled from above through the embankment into the arch and reinforced with pipe coils. These openings could be used both for inspection and for any necessary topping up of the filling material. The project was carried out by the ÖBB and completed in 2001.

In 2001, the Bridge Construction Department of the Upper Austrian Provincial Government discovered that this structure was in need of repair and decided to implement renovation measures. In order to avoid impeding traffic flow, the arch renovation method was chosen for this project. The culverts were inserted into the reinforced concrete frame on a guiding device and cast in flow concrete.

The interesting engineering aspect of this construction project is the controlled uplift of the steel culverts. In order to avoid the need for a special uplift restraint construction, it was decided to allow the culvert to rise to the lower edge of the reinforced concrete frame during casting. Additionally, the corrugated steel section was pressed against the side walls of the reinforced concrete frame as a result of controlled deformation of the culvert in width, also caused by the uplift forces. This wedging effect ensured a stable position of the section during the subsequent filling stages. This construction project was carried out by the Hausruckviertel Bridges Department of Upper Austria and completed in 2002.

After the tunnel complex was taken by the Soviet Army, detonations were carried out mainly at tunnel crossing points, leading to the formation of very large cavities several hundred cubic meters in volume. As the entire hillside in which these passages are located consists primarily of quartz sand, subsequent flow over the last 60 years enlarged these cavities to such an extent causing a need for action, especially in the vicinity of houses and roads.

Since walking through the two cavities selected for repair purposes would be required in the future, a renovation project using steel culverts was prepared and proposed jointly with the ILF construction consulting agency in Innsbruck. This project was finally implemented in autumn 2002.

Under difficult conditions, two elliptical sections were assembled and inserted into the tunnel complex; one of the sections even had two bends close after one another, which added to the installation difficulties. The steel pipe culverts fitted with sealing bands were anchored against the reinforced concrete floor with tension booms as uplift restraints. The entire boxed-out cavity with the inserted culvert was then filled with insulating material in several stages. We would like to use this opportunity for thanking STRABAG AG, who kindly provided most of the pictorial information.