Continental to build a bridge over Hanover

• Construction of the new Continental headquarters continues apace
• Bridge connecting parts of the building to be completed in late September
• Sections of Hans-Böckler-Allee will be closed to traffic

Hanover, August 30, 2019 The construction of the new Continental corporate headquarters is making visible progress. The new Continental Campus will include eight buildings, connected with each other by four bridges. The longest of the bridges will extend over Hans-Böckler-Allee and span 71 meters. The steel construction of this bridge will be installed from September 27 to 30, 2019 – on a weekend so that rush hour will not be affected. The extensive work involved means that sections of Hans-Böckler-Allee will need to be closed to traffic.

Safety is the highest priority for Continental. In the period from Friday, September 27 starting at 6 p.m. to Monday, September 30 at 5 a.m., Hans-Böckler-Allee will be closed to traffic in both directions between Messeschnellweg/B3 and Clausewitzstraße. This applies to motor vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles as well as to light rail traffic.

The city of Hanover has already approved a detour plan for the last weekend of September. Detour signs will be posted for traffic headed out of the city from Marienstraße via Braunschweiger Platz, Bischofsholer Damm and Messeschnellweg to the intersection at Pferdeturm. For vehicles entering the city, the detour from the direction of Celle is via the Weidetor roundabout, Waldchaussee (which will be open during the closure of Hans-Böckler-Allee) and Fritz-Behrens-Allee. From the direction of the Fairground, traffic will be rerouted via the Bischofshol junction and Bischofsholer Damm. The route from the city center to Kleefeld in both directions will run via Bischofsholer Damm and Messeschnellweg. Because the Pferdeturm intersection on Messeschnellweg will be completely closed coming from the direction of Celle, it will not be possible to turn left to Kleefeld. To head in this direction, there will be a detour via the Weidetor roundabout and Karl-Wiechert-Allee.

Alternatively, pedestrians and cyclists can use the detour route that connects Hans-Böckler-Allee via Clausewitzstraße to the Stadtparkweg next to Bahndamm and via Kleestraße to Am Pferdeturm Street.

For the light rail lines 4 and 5, Üstra will run replacement buses between the stops “Freundallee” and “Roderbruch” (line 4) and between “Freundallee” and “Anderten” (line 5). They will run from September 27 at 9 p.m. to September 30 at 3:30 a.m. Line 11 is not affected and will run as normal.

Following the installation of the steel structure, the bridge will be covered by a protective enclosure for the remainder of the construction work. This protection is needed for the subsequent facade work. Hans-Böckler-Allee will have to be partially closed to traffic once again for this work, which is planned for the first weekend of October (October 4 to 6, 2019) in order to avoid rush hour traffic. There will be announcements nearer the time regarding the extent to which road users will be affected. The light rail traffic of the Üstra lines 4, 5 and 11 will not be affected.

After the bridge construction has been finished, the entire shell will be near completion. The topping-out ceremony will take place at the end of the year. Continental will celebrate its 150th anniversary in two years – by that time the Continental corporate headquarters at Pferdeturm should be occupied. The new headquarters were designed by the Munich-based architecture firm Henn and will contain enough space for 1,250 employees. It is possible to expand the capacity to 1,600 employees at some point in the future. The company site will comprise multiple buildings distributed across two campuses to the north and south of Hans-Böckler-Allee, close to Pferdeturm. The focus of the new company headquarters is on providing a state-of-the-art working world and a relaxing environment for employees. This includes, for example, park-like green spaces outside, a health center and a company-run daycare center for children. The site will also offer sufficient parking spaces for cars and bicycles in two parking garages.