Building roads in Norway with machine control solutions

Author: Karina Lumholt

Long distances, high mountains and harsh climate make road construction in Norway a serious challenge. Norway has, nevertheless, a well-developed road network and large investments are made into the Norwegian transport infrastructure. The Norwegian Public Road Administration, Statens Vegvesen and Nye Veier A/S are currently working on 18 road projects throughout Norway to ensure safer roads that can meet the requirements of the ever-increasing road traffic.

Hæhre best on technical solutions

Map over the road projects in Norway (source: Nye Veier).

Long-time customer of Leica Geosystems’ Machine Control Division, Hæhre A/S, has won two of the largest contracts.

1. The 43-kilometre expansion of the E6 motorway between Kolomoen and Arnkvern. The contract sum is 25 million Euros, and the project is expected to be finished in December 2020; and
2. The 18-km motorway on E18 between Rugtved and Dørdal. The contract is worth 25 million Euros and is expected to be finished in December 2019.

Established in 1974, Hæhre A/S is one of the largest construction companies in Norway. It employs a total of 2,700 employees, hereof 1,800 employees in the construction division.

Hæhre A/S has won the contracts because they were best on five out of six criteria:

• Price
• Environmental concerns
• Safety and health
• Technical solutions
• Implementation.

Hæhre is one of Leica Geosystems’ Machine Control Division biggest customers with more than 300 construction machines equipped with machine control solutions. The majority of these machines are excavators, drillers for blasting, and soil compactors.

Kim Eirik uses Leica ConX to synchronise and share data files with machines on site.

On Hæhre’s site office in Hamar, Kim Eirik Hagen works as data engineer and uses Leica iCON office to prepare the design files that he sends to the machines on the job site.

“I use ConX to synchronise with the machines on site to make sure that everybody is working with the latest updated files,” Eirik explains.

Machine control solutions built for the heavy construction industry

Blast drill holes made according to the Leica iCON iRD3 model

On the job site at Stathelle, excavators dig down to the rocky surface. Following the digitally defined drilling pattern, drill rigs are then used to drill holes into the rock for blasting.

Hans Raten Rosén works as a drill rig operator for Hæhre and is guided by the 3D drill pattern that is uploaded to his Leica iCON iRD3 solution on his drill rig SmartROC T40 from Atlas Copco. The depth of the drill hole is automatically controlled by the drilling solution – the split screen functionality guides the operator to place the tool point in the correct position.

The Leica MCP80 panel shows the split screen functionality of the drill pattern and the bullseye guidance of the tool point.

On another place on the job site, machine operator John Stakke is working with a FlexiRoc T35 drilling holes and preparing for blasting rock away to make space for a wider road. The FlexiRoc T35 does not have a cabin – Stakke is standing outside the machine remotely controlling the drilling process while closely following the drill pattern on the Leica MCP80 machine control panel.

The iCON iRD3 solution used on a drill rig without a cabin.

The Leica Geosystems machine control panels, specifically designed for the heavy construction industry, withstand the harsh conditions and extreme temperatures on construction sites.

Using ConX for compaction report generation

Using the ConX reporting module to generate compaction reports for as-built documentation.

After the blasting, the debris rock is used as road fill. The soil compactors equipped with Leica iCON roller solution are used for compaction of the ground and used extensively during winter to avoid that the ground freezes. The work progress is automatically logged with GNSS coordinates and transferred wirelessly via ConX.

Back in the office, Jonas Kleivbo works as a project engineer and explains how he receives as-built log point data from the soil compactor on the job site:

“Norway is an example of a country that has extensively implemented machine control in the heavy construction industry. Hæhre started using machine control solutions in 2001 on one machine - today the firm owns more than 300 machines equipped with machine control solutions from Leica Geosystems,” explained Pål-Eirik Senland, solution manager for the product marketing management team.