The construction pit for the U5 will run right through the Goldbek Canal in Hamburg-Winterhude. What residents and water sports enthusiasts need to know now.
The Goldbek Canal in Hamburg-Winterhude will be closed in the early 2030s. The closure will be at the level of the Barmbek road bridge because the U5 is being expanded there, the Hochbahn said in response to a request from t-online. The subsoil in this section of the U5 is therefore unsuitable for underground construction, which is why the Hochbahn will use an open construction method.
This means that an excavation pit will be created between the Borgweg and Jarrestraße stops, which will be almost a kilometre long and will run along Barmbeker Straße.
However, Barmbeker Strasse crosses the Goldbek Canal, and according to Hochbahn, the long construction pit will also run across the canal. The canal will be closed at this point for one and a half years, but it is not yet clear when exactly. Overall, the construction work on this section of the route will take two to three years.
A spokeswoman for the railway told t-online that water sports enthusiasts can continue to use the canal away from the barrier. However, if they want to get from one end of the canal to the other, for example to get from the Outer Alster to the Stadtparksee, they would have to go around the section, for example via the Mühlenkamp, Osterbek and Stichkanal.
To ensure that water and wild animals can continue to flow and swim through the canal, Hochbahn says it wants to build a small bridge over the construction pit. This will also allow the water level on both sides of the pit to be equalized. The bridge also includes an otter berm, i.e. an artificial strip of shore that otters can use to cross the construction site.
