The Master Plan
The objective of the Stadtmitte am Fluss project is to make the city centre of Saarbrücken more attractive. The idea is that the city will become a strong centre for the Saar region and compete with cities in the areas such as Trier, Mannheim and Metz. A master plan has been developed in less than two years which includes a plan for the future city and the numerous studies on which the plan is based.
The centre of the city on the banks of the River Saar must become more attractive: it must look better, be more accessible, be less noisy, and it should also have a varied range of shops and a safe living environment. The master plan implements these aims in two sub-projects: a tunnel for the motorway and the renovation of the Berliner Promenade. These projects are inseparable. Hans-Jürgen Koebnick: 'Without the tunnel, nobody will want to invest in the upgrading of the Berliner Promenade. But if there is no justification on urban planning grounds - in other words making the city centre more attractive - the tunnel will be an expensive project doomed to failure.'

The tunnel
Because the road is important for access to the city, it cannot just be diverted around the city. That is why the tunnel option was chosen. This will have a dramatic effect on the levels of noise produced by the road and drastically improve the look of the centre. Where the road is now, there will be plenty of room for green areas.

Two variants have been worked out for the tunnel. Both variants have separate tunnel sections for each direction. In one variant, these tunnel sections are positioned alongside each other (Parallel System). In the other, they are located on top of each other (Piggy-Back System).

The engineers prefer the Piggy-Back System, because this variant results in more space and has less effect on the flow of water in the Saar. The second consideration is an important one. When the water level is high, the Saar sometimes overflows, and there must not be any increase in the risk of flooding because of changes made on the banks of the river. Computer simulations have been used to determine the effect of various changes on the flow of the river and on the risk of flooding.

Another condition that the project has to meet is that two lanes of traffic have to be kept open in both directions during the construction of the tunnel. An extensive plan has been drawn up for the construction period in consultation with traffic planners. The road will be split up into sixteen sections which will be tackled in succession. An additional difficulty is the requirement that the flood road has to be in service during the construction period within two days when the water level is high.

The Berliner Promenade
The construction of the tunnel will already make the centre a lot more attractive; the noise of the cars, the smell and the ugly view will all go and the area will be much more pleasant to be in. But the Berliner Promenade on the other bank of the Saar will have to be tackled in order to make the city more attractive. In combination with the Bahnhofstrasse, a large shopping street behind it, the Berliner Promenade will be expected to make shopping in Saarbrücken enjoyable. There will be bars, restaurants and pavement terraces with views of the river. The precise details still have to be worked out here. On 23 February 2005, the award ceremony took place for a competition in which various architects submitted their ideas for the Berliner Promenade. Later, once it becomes clear that the plan will actually be implemented, there will be a second competition for even more detailed plans.

If the Stadtmitte am Fluss project reaches the implementation stage, current expectations are that it will be completed in mid-2010 and cost almost 154 million euros.