Wirtgen Slipform Pavers Demonstrate Their Full Potential
With a speed limit of 150 km/h, the expressway is the fastest in India, and reduces the travel time between Mumbai and Nagpur from 16 to 8 hours. This calls for maximum concrete paving performance and highest quality paving results that ensure the comfort and safety of road users on their journey. Along the entire 701 km, a total of 16 Wirtgen SP 1600 slipform pavers are being deployed for laying the concrete pavement. Concrete is the ideal material for an ambitious project like this: it is cost-effective, extremely durable and requires very little maintenance. Pavement quality concrete (PQC) was laid at a width of 15 m and a thickness of 310 mm. The necessary reinforcement was provided by an automatic dowel bar inserter and three longitudinal tie bar inserters. The insertion of such dowel bars and tie bars ensures that cracks that invariably occur as a result of stresses and temperature fluctuations are diverted into the concrete pavement in a controlled manner.