FOCUS ON ASPHALT
Paving in the widest tunnel in Switzerland: successful large-scale project with Vögele’s machine technology and WITOS Paving Plus process optimisation solution.
SMART ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE WIDEST TUNNEL IN SWITZERLAND LARGE-SCALE PROJECT INVOLVING VÖGELE’S PROCESS OPTIMISATION AND MACHINE TECHNOLOGY Optimum coordination and maximum efficiency were required for paving a width of 11.5 m in the Gubrist tunnel. As a driver of digital job sites, contractor Marti AG Solothurn Bauunternehmung put its money on Vögele’s WITOS Paving Plus software-based process optimisation solution. This networks all those involved in the process in real time and delivers numerous benefits, especially on big construction projects. The Gubrist tunnel is one of the most complex infrastructure projects in Switzerland, and 2022 will see the opening of the third bore of the tunnel - a 3.2 km long section - as part of Zurich's northern by-pass. With a diameter of 16 m, it is the largest tunnel bore in the country and is intended to relieve the chronic congestion of this section of road by providing three extra carriageways towards St. Gallen/Bern. The demands on the road construction process were correspondingly high. Despite the complex tunnel logistics, parallel working and heavy traffic, approximately 20,000 tonnes of asphalt had to be paved within a tight schedule, while also meeting stringent quality standards. For these reasons, contractor Marti AG Solothurn Bauunternehmung decided to approach the project using a digital road construction solution. “As one of the largest contractors in Switzerland, the Marti Group has been active in driving digitalisation in all areas of construction for years - from structural to civil engineering,” said Cedric Berrut, civil engineering operations manager. “For a project of this scale, it was obvious that we should use a solution which enables us not only to visualise planning digitally, but also to control job site processes actively,” he said.
plant manager to the paving supervisor and on to the paver operator and consists of a total of five modules. These allow job site planning, provision of mix, transport of mix, asphalt paving and subsequent process analysis to be managed by one single system in real time. Among other things, this facilitates just-in-time delivery to the site and continuous paving with no paver stoppages. The paving team can react specifically to disruptions to the process. “One advantage from our point of view is that as an integrated solution from the manufacturer of the machine, WITOS Paving Plus matches the paver perfectly,” Mr Berrut added. “This gives us immediate access to all the machine data.”
Networked system solution from the paver manufacturer
The contractor selected Vögele’s WITOS Paving Plus product. This software-based process optimisation solution networks all those involved in the project - from the construction manager to the mixing
40 Highway Engineering Australia | Jan/Feb 2022
WITOS Paving Plus job site module as timekeeper: the tablet PC gave the paving team a real-time overview of paving progress, laydown rate and mix delivery, enabling it to react quickly if required.
