Warnow Tunnel

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The Warnow Tunnel (also known as the Warnow River Crossing and the Warnowquerung in German) is a 790m long road tunnel which connects the east and west bank of the Warnow river in the Hanseatic city of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany.

It is Germany's first toll road in modern times and was opened on 12 September 2003 by Federal Transport Minister Dr. Manfred Stolpe.

The tunnel was built using a technique known as Immersed Tube Construction: the main part of the tunnel consists of six prefabricated concrete conduits which were formed and poured in a temporary drydock nearby, floated out into the river and lowered into a dredged channel in the river bottom. This is a technique apparently pioneered in the Detroit River in construction of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel in 1930, and replicated for sub-aqueous tunnels ever since.

The 30-year operating concession is held by Warnowquerung GMBH & Co who are 70% by the Australian investment company Macquarie Infrastructure Group which operates many tolled roads worldwide.