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A 115-Year-Old Walkway Beneath the River｜How Hamburg Brought Workers to the Port – The Old Elbe Tunnel

In 1911, Hamburg opened the Old Elbe Tunnel beneath the Elbe River, not for ships or cargo, but for the thousands of workers who crossed the river every day to reach the shipyards, docks, warehouses, and port industries of Steinwerder.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Hamburg’s port was expanding rapidly. Ferries were often delayed by fog, storms, ice, and heavy shipping traffic, while the nearest bridge required a detour of more than twelve kilometres. To solve this problem, Hamburg decided to do something unusual: instead of crossing the river, people would pass beneath it.

Built between 1907 and 1911 using compressed-air shield tunnelling, the project pushed contemporary engineering to its limits. Workers from Russia, Poland, Italy, and other parts of Europe laboured under high-pressure conditions beneath the riverbed. More than 700 workers suffered from decompression sickness, and three lost their lives. Behind the celebrated engineering achievement stood countless anonymous bodies whose labour made urban mobility possible.

The tunnel survived war, industrial transformation, and the container revolution. As fewer dockworkers were needed, its original function gradually faded. Yet Hamburg chose not to replace the tunnel. Instead, it restored and preserved it. More than 360,000 tiles were recreated, historical reliefs were restored, and modern safety systems were installed, allowing the tunnel to remain both a heritage monument and a living part of the city.

Today, cyclists, pedestrians, tourists, and local residents still pass through the white-tiled tunnel twenty-one metres beneath the riverbed. The Old Elbe Tunnel is more than a transportation facility. It is a reminder that cities are sustained not only by the ships visible on the water, but also by the hidden paths and forgotten workers that keep movement possible.