The 2.56 km-long fourth Elbe tunnel broke through safely on 1st March, 2000 after a harrowing 29 month drive. The 14.2 m-diameter Herrenknecht Mixshield, the largest ever built, worked at up to 14 m/day through extremely complex ground comprising gravel, granite blocks, sand, silt, tillite and mica silt under pressures of 5 bar with minimum cover of 7 m to the riverbed. A stonecrusher positioned behind the cutting wheel dealt with boulders up to 1.2 m-diameter, while an integrated active centre cutter with a diameter of 3 m located in the middle of the cutting wheel was able to drill independently up to 0.6 m ahead to prevent adhesion. Acoustic reflection measurements detected geological changes up to 40 m ahead of the machine. The 2,600 t, 3,200 kW machine will now be refurbished for a 3.2 km-long city motorway tunnel in Moscow. More from www.herrenknecht.com March 2000.Open invitation to tender, deadline 8th April, 2004 for core drills and ground investigation as part of a new Elbe river crossing in tunnel on the northwest bypass in Hamburg on highway A20. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=044535-2004, OJ S 52, or contact StraíŸenbauamt Itzehoe, Itzehoe, fax +49 4821662714. 13/04.Open invitation to tender, deadline 23rd August, 2004 for core drills and ground investigation as part of a new Elbe river crossing in tunnel on the northwest bypass in Hamburg on highway A20. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=118852-2004, OJ S 139, or contact StraíŸenbauamt Itzehoe, Itzehoe, fax +49 4821662714. 31-32/04.Open invitation to tender, deadline 29th September, 2004 for drainage works as part of the rehabilitation of the first tube of the Elbe tunnel. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=150709-2004, OJ S 176, or contact Behorde fur Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, Hamburg, fax +49 40428402641. E-mail dietmar.gehrt@bsu.hamburg.de or christoph.vater@bsu.hamburg.de 38/04.Open call for tenders, deadline 8th March, 2005 for execution of 24 core drills in the Elbe at 70 m under the water and testing plus 12 penetration testing in the Elbe, as part of the new Elbe crossing on the A20 northwest bypass. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=010391-2005, OJ S 11, or contact Landesbetrieb Strassenbau und Verkher Schleswig-Holstein, Itzehoe, fax +49 4821662714. 04/05.Negotiated procedure, 6th May, 2005 for project planning and design of the A20, northwest bypass in Hamburg, on its section running from the A20/K28 connection in east Drochtersen in Lower Saxony to the A20 / B431 in south Glueckstadt in Schleswig-Holstein nearby the Elbe tunnel crossing. The route section has a length of approx. 10.4 km, whereof approx. 6 km of tunnel. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=064984-2005, OJ S 67, or contact Landesbetrieb Strassenbau und Verkher S-H, Itzehoe, tel+ 49 4821662602 or 2632 or 2681. 15/05.Open call for tenders, deadline 23rd May, 2005 for exploration drilling for the new Elbe tunnel crossing on the A20 highway bypass. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=066437-2005, OJ S 69, or contact Landesbetrieb StraíŸenbau und Verkher Schleswig-Holstein, Itzehoe, fax +49 4821662714. 16/05.Negotiated procedure, deadline 21st November, 2005 for the draft design of the new Elb crossing for the A 20 northwest bypass in Hamburg, section from the K 28 in Lower Saxony to the B 431 in Schleswig-Holstein. It will be presumably a two-tube tunnel in loose material, built by TBM. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=200805-2005, OJ S 203, or contact Landesbetrieb StraíŸenbau und Verkehr Schleswig-Holstein, Itzehoe, fax +49 4821662714. 43/05.Elbe-Link Ingenieurgemeinschaft, a joint venture of IMS Ingenieurgesellschaft, Spiekerman, Boeger + Jaeckle and Babendererde Ingenieure, received a EUR1.3 million contract for the feasibility study of the northwest bypass of the A 20 in Hamburg, from the K 28 (Lower Saxony) to the B 431 (Schleswig-Holstein), including a possible Elb crossing in tunnel. The assignment encompasses the alternatives for length, construction method, planning of all engineering work, technical equipment, the production of a draft for the preferred variant, etc. Visit www.ims-ing.de, www.spiekermann.de, www.boeger-jaeckle.de and www.bab-ing.com 19/06.