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Motorists in India’s State of Maharastra will be assured of a smooth drive on the new National Highway 3 (NH3) as a huge ‘roll out’ of paving and compacting machines has enabled contractor SEW Construction, to achieve high quality finishes while elsewhere another pair of contractors, namely Leighton-OSE JV and Prakash Asphalting & Tolls Highways (PATH) successfully finished their projects in the States of Madhya Pradesh.
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UPGRADE
For the new 4-lane highway upgrade, the contractor is relying on its new paving and compaction train featuring two 9.7m tracked sensor pavers model F181C, four 9.1t tandem rollers model CC384HF, and two 27t pneumatic tyre roller model CP 271 all from the European brand Dynapac.
As a key Indian highway, NH3 stretches 1161km, linking Agra and Mumbai with 391km in the State of Maharastra.
The 85km long section under construction features some of the region’s most inhospitable terrain in summers with extreme high temperatures, which together with the high volume of ‘live’ traffic is providing a challenge for the contractor and the whole machine fleet.
According to Mr G. V. Rao, general manager of SEW Construction, despite being a a particularly busy section with continuous traffic on the existing lanes, the Dynapac train is allowing the contractor to complete the 18 month contract to a high standard ahead of schedule.
SCREEDING
In total, SEW anticipate laying 350,000 m³ of asphalt resulting in 800,000 metric tonnes of paving on the NH3 project.
“My main concern has been the quality of the surface and levelling,” he said, adding, “The rollers and screed tampers ensure a sensitivity of 1mm – far superior than other compaction equipment – which of course translates into excellent road finish.”
He also confirmed that meeting the specified asphalt thickness is of paramount importance for the contract, not only for the quality of surface finish but also for the cost of the project.
“The cost of asphalt has a major impact on the total project cost accounting for more than 50% of the total costs. Optimum use of the paving units is therefore essential.” he said.
Meanwhile, the Leighton – OSE (Oriental Structural Engineers) joint venture used a fleet of four F181C pavers and five CP142 rubber tyred rollers on another 78.5 km highway project in the State of Madhya Pradesh, Central India.
In a BOT contract valued at US$ 117 million (Rs 550 crores), the JV Bitumen Deputy Manager, Mr Ramesh Kumar Sinha, confirmed that the project is expected to require a total of 375,000 tonnes of bitumen.
Road construction features two layers of WMM to provide a 125 mm thickness and two layers of DBM (150 mm thickness) plus a 75 mm BC wearing coarse.
The new kit is meeting a daily paving and compaction workload of approximately 1000 tonnes. “We have been very pleased with the performance of the Dynapacs and anticipate completing the project ahead of schedule – no complaints!”
he concluded.
PATH
There’s more roadlaying fever in the region. Prakash Asphalting & Toll Highways (PATH) completed another 25 km section of the same project under sub contract from Leighton- OSE JV also in the region of Madhya Pradesh.
Once again, PATH worked a Dynapac tracked paver, model F141C day and night to ensure a smooth finish.
According to the paver operator, Mr Rafique, with more than 10 years operating experience with construction equipment, the F141C paver is laying up to 10,000 t of asphalt per week and provides 10 hours non – stop operation if required.
Featuring a very fine screed ensures a high levelling finish. “Separate switches for different operations also ensure no tripping,” added Rafique.
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