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Fehmarnbelt: a New Green Link Between Germany and Denmark

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Fehmarnbelt: a New Green Link Between Germany and Denmark PROJECT FEHMARNBELT: A NEW GREEN LINK BETWEEN GERMANY AND DENMARK An aerial view of the Fehmarnbelt's site on the island of Fehmarn in Germany, situated adjacent to the Puttgarden ferry harbour. Photo Jan Kofod Winther Femern AS 6 TERRA ET AQUA The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link is a joint Danish and To be built in northern Europe and connect German transport Scandinavia with Germany, the Fehmarnbelt infrastructure will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel. The infrastructure will close a major gap in the project across the European transport network, reduce the risk of Fehmarnbelt. shipping collisions, energy consumption and create a new region in Europe, while also fostering the development of new nature and recreational landscapes by Working with Nature concepts. Presentation of the project The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link – the proposed eastern route between Germany and Denmark – has been planned for a long time in an effort to create a rapid connection between the two countries with a faster and shorter link (see Figure 1). It will also close a major gap in the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor which is part of the European transport network. Once opened, the journey for freight trains between Hamburg and Scandinavia will reduce by 160 kilometres. The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link is a joint Danish and German transport infrastructure project across the Fehmarnbelt. Denmark is responsible for the planning, construction and operation of the Fehmarn Fixed Link. To carry out this task, the government of Denmark has established the company Femern A/S which is 100% owned by the Danish State and represented by the Danish Ministry of Transport. The initial feasibility studies of the project were already conducted in the mid-1990s and eventually followed by the Danish-German treaty signed in 2008. The FIGURE 1 project was given the go-ahead in Denmark in The upcoming Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link will be the eastern alternative to the western route from 2015 and approved by Germany in 2019. The Hamburg over Funen and Zealand. The new green link will save time as well as energy. #154 - SPRING 2019 7 PROJECT project includes an immersed tunnel that will The journey to the immersed Reclamation areas are planned to run along run for 18 kilometres under the Fehmarnbelt tunnel both the German and Danish coastlines to use and connect Puttgarden (Fehmarn island, The immersed tunnel will be constructed the dredged material from the excavation of Germany) to Rødby (Lolland island, Denmark). by placing tunnel elements in a trench the tunnel trench. The size of the reclamation The maximum water depth will be about 30 dredged in the seabed (see Figure 2). The area on the German coastline has been metres and the tunnel has an estimated total proposed methodology for trench dredging minimised. Two larger reclaimed areas are construction cost of EUR 7 billion. comprises mechanical dredging using planned on the Danish coastline. Before the Backhoe Dredgers (BHD) up to 25 metres reclamation takes place, containment dykes The conceptual design of the link and its land and Grab Dredgers (GD) in deeper waters. A are to be constructed some 500 metres out reclamation was developed with the support Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) will from the coastline. of both environmental consultants DHI and be used to rip the clay before dredging with COWI, the technical consultants Ramboll- GD. The excavated material will be loaded The cut & cover sections of the immersed Arup-TEC and the landscape architects onto barges and transported for beneficial tunnel passes through the shoreline Schønherr. use to the inshore reclamation areas where reclamation areas on both the Danish and it will be unloaded by small BHDs. Some 19 German sides. The Fixed Link is a combined road and railway million m3 of sediment will be handled. connection carrying two lanes of road traffic Key requirements and a single, high speed rail track in each A bedding layer of gravel will form the One key requirement of this project is that it direction. When complete, it will be the third foundation of the elements. Each element has to be designed and constructed in largest marine infrastructure project in will initially be kept in place by depositing harmony with the landscape and its nature southern Scandinavia. It will supplement the locking fill followed by general fill. Finally, areas, thereby offering the opportunity to: first one, the Great Belt Link between the there will be a stone layer on top to protect • Re-establish/re-generate some of the Danish islands of Funen and Zealand which against damage from grounded ships or environmental values lost during the opened in 1998, and the second, the Øresund dragging anchors. The protection layer and construction of major dykes and Link which opened in 2000 and connects the top of the structure will stay below the reclamation works in the early 1900s; Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, with existing seabed level, apart from near the • Use the opportunity to create new Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö. Ten shore. However, at the very nearshore area, landscapes; million people will then be brought closer the seabed will be raised at the coastal • Incorporate the link into the landscape together, enlarging each country’s growth locations to incorporate the protection layer without visual harm; and region into one major regional centre. This will over a distance of approximately 500-700 • Make sustainable options a requirement. bring numerous opportunities for metres from the proposed coastline. Here, development, exchange of culture and the protection layer will be an extended Another requirement was that the Fixed Link business, trade and education, and so forth. armour rock layer. pose minimal navigation risks to the important When complete, it will be the third largest marine infrastructure project in southern Scandinavia. FIGURE 2 A cross section of the dredged trench with tunnel element and backfilling. 8 TERRA ET AQUA international navigation route connecting the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Finally, that the Fixed Link should have a minimal impact on the environment, particularly the water and salinity exchange through the project area. Understanding the environment To ensure the fulfilment of the above mentioned requirements, it is necessary to understand the existing environment, not only to minimise the potential impacts of the project but also to identify win-win opportunities to meet the project requirements. FIGURE 3 A detailed two-year survey programme was The geology of the Fehmarnbelt. undertaken using a combination of fixed measurement stations, vessel and air surveys, as well as modelling works to study the important hydraulic and ecosystem dredged material to regenerate the landscape. surface, flows through the Belt Sea and components. These included water quality, Some characteristic elements of the continues up into Kattegat. A layer of water benthic flora and fauna, fish, marine mammals Fehmarnbelt area are described below. with higher salinity from the North Sea forms and seabirds. With this information, it would be a lower layer. possible in the first instance to identify Geology sensitive areas. The understanding of the The landscape of the area was shaped by ice Environment and Nature environment also included analysis of the masses mainly during the last Ice Age. Since The Fehmarnbelt is a very dynamic area in potential impacts on the sensitive areas. the final retreat of glaciers from the terms of water exchange and sediment southwestern Baltic area, the Fehmarnbelt has transport, which forms different types of The effects on higher trophic levels such as been characterised by highly variable seabed substrate and forms, as well as birds and marine mammals were assessed sedimentary processes and environments coastal features such as cliffs and beaches. based on the outcome of these simulations. when the outflow from the Baltic Sea to Ecological modelling was used to quantify the Kattegat through the Great Belt and Øresund In the shallow areas, the benthic flora is impacts arising from spilled sediment on changed position several times. The present dominated by different flora communities water quality and benthic flora. The ecological day topography and bathymetry was formed by determined by the water depth (light model describes the relationship between the last Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 penetration) and substrates (mud, sand, hard dispersed sediment spill concentrations, light Before Present [B.P.], with varying water levels bottom). Red algae communities (Fursellaria, availability and primary producers, between in the period. Phycodrys, Delesseria species) are replaced nutrients, as well as the interrelationship and in less shallow water by brown algae (Fucus interspecific competition between three The upper subsoils in the Fehmarnbelt consist Sp). In water depths over 20 metres, algae distinct groups of producers: pelagic mainly of glacial meltwater sand covered by communities are rare. In wave-protected phytoplankton, benthic macroalgae and clays and topped by post glacial marine sand, lagoons and bays, red algae are replaced by rooted vegetation. gyttja and peat. Beneath these layers are eelgrass. Blue mussels dominate along the mostly glacial tills – also called boulder clay or Danish coast and are succeeded by The simulation of a realistic construction moraine clay – of different types with local amphipods (Bathyoireia and mussel scenario for the entire construction period and pockets of meltwater sand and silt (see Figure
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