Stretching some 1,600km from Helsingborg in southern Sweden to just short of the Arctic Circle, the E4 is Sweden's second longest highway. The fantastic landscape provided the perfect backdrop for the new VÖGELE spray paver of Swedish contractor PEAB. As the road leads to the port of Lulea, it is also highly frequented by heavy goods traffic. The road building company took delivery of the SUPER 1800-2 with SprayJet Module in May 2007 and since has been paving thin wearing course more or less non-stop. Some 400,000m2 of carriageway were paved within the first 10 weeks.

Spray paver makes the most of its advantages

The total goods load transported on the E4 inevitably led to cracks and rutting. In order to eliminate these on the E4 highway, the wearing course was completely milled off. On sections that displayed particularly severe deformation, the binder course, too, was removed. The SUPER 1800-2 with SprayJet Module moved onto the job site to pave thin wearing course of just 2cm in both highway directions between Tornio and Lulea over a length of 22km. Taken all in all, 13,000 tonnes of mix and 300 tonnes of emulsion were required for the job. The emulsion with latex contained some 65% of bitumen and about 35% of water. It was spread on the milled asphalt base at a rate of 1kg per square metre.

Variable pave width also when spraying emulsion

On the section concerned, the E4 highway needed resurfacing on 3 lanes in a total width of 13m. Based on a maximum pave width of 5m when using the SUPER 1800-2 as a spray paver, thin wearing course was paved in three strips some 4.5m wide. This left the PEAB paving team sufficient margin to widen the strips for spandrels at crossroads and exits. Also in the areas of varying pave widths, tack coat was sprayed impeccably in front of the screed due to a design-related feature. A flexible link connecting the lateral spray bars and the screed provides for a variable angle to match the pave width.

Automatics for “Start of Job” and “End of Job”

At the beginning and the end of the section to be paved, the PEAB team made use of the automatics installed in the SUPER 1800-2 with SprayJet Module to switch spraying on and off. This helps the paving team do a clean job. Pressing a button on the display of the paver operator’s ErgoPlus® console is all it takes to select the “Start of Job” or “End of Job” function. By selecting the “Start of Job” function, the spray bars located in various places around the paver are activated in staggered intervals, so that spraying begins at exactly the desired point across the full pave width. Selecting the “End of Job” function, in turn, stops the process of spraying over the full width.

Everything under control thanks to ErgoPlus®

The ErgoPlus® operating concept eases the paving team’s work in many other respects, too. ErgoPlus® stands for simple, intuitive operation and convenient access to all points on the paver requiring servicing. Hans, the paver operator and Stig-Tommy and Kay, the screwmen, were quick to realize the advantages: “It's great operating the push-buttons without having to look at the console. Much impressed by the clear and logical arrangement of the controls.” Within their first 5 days, the team had already finished 8km of the new carriageway in full road with. Needless to say that the whole job was completed according to schedule. The task coming next for the SUPER 1800-2 will represent a kind of debut for the paving team of contractor PEAB. After almost three months, the machine will be used for the first time as a “normal” paver without SprayJet Module and pave conventional wearing course on a motorway near Göteborg.

Job Site Details

Paving thin wearing course on the E4 highway on a 22km section between Tornio and the port of Lulea, Sweden

Length of section: 22km

Width of section: 13m

Paving Details

Pave width: 4.5m

Layer thickness: 2cm

Paving Material

Tunnskiktskombination (TSK), a mix for thin layers with a low content of fine grains (maximum grain size 1.6mm)

Emulsion: with latex, containing some 65% of bitumen and some 35% of water

Emulsion spread rate: 1kg/m2

Equipment

SUPER 1800-2 Spray Paver with AB 500-2 Extending Screed in TV Version