For today’s Freising Friday we journey back to January 2018. A new highway bypass being constructed around the west side of Freising includes a 750-meter (let’s call that half a mile) tunnel. When the crews working on each side broke through in the middle, the public was invited to marvel. Of course we went, because how often does one get to walk through subterranean construction sites without the cops being called?
Ten thousand people were there that day.
One thing not necessarily unique to Bavaria that you probably won’t find in U.S. public works projects (if you know of one, let me know!): St. Barbara, the patroness of explosives, civil engineers, miners, artillery soldiers, and tunnel-builders (link in English), was given a prominent place to watch over the workers.
The tunnel and the road through it were completed in the fall of 2020, but because of The Actual Situation there was no public celebration. You can see pictures on the city’s website. The entire bypass is expected to open to traffic in the fall of 2021.
Neat!