A few weeks before the renovation of the "Königshainer Berge" highway tunnel on the A 4 (Dresden-Görlitz) begins, the new fire station not far from the east portal is ready for use. Over the next two years, it will be manned around the clock during traffic in one tunnel tube at a time - with six employees and two vehicles. "We will be at the scene of an emergency in the tunnel within five minutes of receiving an alarm," "Radio Lausitz" quoted the head of the plant fire department, Peter Seliger, as saying on Friday. Construction and equipment cost a good 3.6 million euros. The two fire engines were specially designed for use in the tunnel.
At 3281 meters long, the Königshainer Berge freeway tunnel is currently the third-longest freeway tunnel in Germany. It will soon become a bottleneck. Long-term renovation work will begin on April 11. Initially, the north tube will be fully closed until November. During this time, traffic will be routed in one lane in two-way traffic via the south tunnel. From April to November 2025, it will then be the turn of the other tunnel tube.
The tunnel with two lanes in each direction is located on the A4 between the Nieder Seifersdorf and Kodersdorf junctions (district of Görlitz). The structure was completed in 1999 and passes under the Königshainer Berge nature reserve. The tunnel is maintained once every three months and washed once a year. According to the federal highway company Autobahn GmbH, around 30,000 vehicles pass through the tunnel every day. 40 percent of these are heavy goods vehicles - the highest proportion in Germany, it said.
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