The canton of Bern’s road office awarded in March the construction contract of the east branch of the A5 motorway bypass in Biel to a consortium of Walo Bertschinger, Specogna Bau and Porr Technobau und Umwelt. The east branch of Biel’s four-lane motorway bypass stretches for 4.9 km. It goes from the A5/A16 interchange in Champs-de-Boujean in the north and then takes the 2 x 1.5 km Büttenberg tunnel. After an open air section in Orpond, the motorway then runs though the 2 x 2.5 km Längholz tunnel. In Marais-de-Brügg in the south, an interchange will connect the east branch with the T6 semi-motorway to Lyss and Bern and with the future west branch, still under planning. Visit www.walo.ch, www.specogna.ch and www.ptu.atTo bore both tunnels, the consortium has placed an order with Herrenknecht for a 12.24 m-outer diameter EPB TBM. The internal diameter of the tunnel will be 11 m. The TBM is scheduled to commence boring the Büttenberg tunnel on 1st April, 2009. The machine will work from north to south, commencing with the east tube of the tunnel, then continuing with the east tube of the Langhölz tunnel before being brought back to the north portal of the Büttenberg tunnel to excavate the west bores of both tunnels. After approx. 1.5 km on its way through the Langhölz tunnel, the TBM will work in closed mode because of changing geology. The spoil will be extracted by a conveyor belt. The supplier has not been chosen yet. Visit www.herrenknecht.comPreliminary work is ongoing since July 2007 to install the worksite, build the eight portals using the cut-and-cover method and install 41 horizontal piles, 1.40 m in diameter, leaning on diaphragm walls to shape a sort of crossing bridge under the Biel-Olten line and allow the TBM to cross the line under a 4 m cover without cutting traffic. The first three test piles will be constructed in December. The east branch of Biel’s A5 motorway bypass will open in 2015. Read E-News Weekly 41/2007 & 4/2006. Visit www.a5-biel-bienne.ch 43/07.