Skip to main content

Volvo trucks on the move at Lummen

Construction company Jan De Nul is using a fleet of Volvo machines for a key highway project in Belgium. The machines have been able to move 26,000m³/weekend on the project to upgrade a highway junction at Lummen, a small town 60km from Belgian capital Brussels. A fleet of 16 Volvo ADTs is being used for the work, to improve the intersection between the E313 and E314, which had become an accident blackspot. Designed some 50 years ago, the roads provide important links from Leuven, Antwerp and the port of Os
February 29, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Time constraints meant the productive Volvo machines fitted the bill for a Belgian highway project
Construction company 3150 Jan de Nul is using a fleet of 2394 Volvo machines for a key highway project in Belgium. The machines have been able to move 26,000m³/weekend on the project to upgrade a highway junction at Lummen, a small town 60km from Belgian capital Brussels.

A fleet of 16 Volvo ADTs is being used for the work, to improve the intersection between the E313 and E314, which had become an accident blackspot. Designed some 50 years ago, the roads provide important links from Leuven, Antwerp and the port of Ostend in the west, to the Netherlands in the north and Germany in the east.

One of the biggest challenges of the €10 million project has been cutting through the embankment supporting the E313 in two places, removing 14,000m³ of soil from the first point and 12,000m³ from the second, and building two concrete bridges.

The bridges, built on site, weigh 6,000tonnes each and stand 40m wide, 40m deep and almost 10m high. These have to be shunted into place using specialist hydraulic jacks before pavers relay the surfaces across the top. The contractor has had to ensure the entire first phase of the project could be completed within a single weekend so that the E313 could be re-opened in time for the Monday morning rush-hour.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New machines competing in ADT market
    February 19, 2013
    All-wheel-drive trucks for the Chinese market - Mike Woof reports. One noticeable development at the bauma China exhibition in Shanghai in late 2012 was the proliferation of ADT models. Doosan and Volvo showed some of their latest ADT variants alongside their latest excavators and are keen to highlight the benefits of ADTs for use on sites where traction or grade may be an issue for rigid trucks or on/off highway haulers. However Caterpillar chose to highlight its off-highway rigid trucks at bauma China, as
  • Roadtec machines rebuild key highway in Texas
    December 16, 2013
    In the middle of central Texas lies Blanco County, which is in the state’s Hill Country. West of Austin and north of San Antonio, the county is traversed by the Blanco River and the Pedernales River, and two major highways, US Highway 290 and US Highway 281. Because of the proximity to two major cities, the highways carry heavy traffic volumes and US 281 in particular was in need of repair.
  • Improved airport for Thimarafushi atoll
    August 29, 2014
    Thimarafushi forms part of the Thaa Atoll lying in the Indian Ocean but access has been limited in the past. However the construction of a new airport planned by the Maldives Government will help develop the tourist trade, boosting the local economy. Most visitors previously used the country’s two international airports, using these as hubs for flights to the country’s six domestic airports. This has limited travel to only a few of the country’s 1,192 islands, of which around 200 are inhabited. As a result,
  • Rebuilding a historic bridge linking the US and Canada
    March 8, 2016
    While many road authorities in North America are finding it difficult to stretch their bridge assets beyond half a century, one bridge is closing in on its centenary - David Arminas reports The international Peace Bridge, connecting the Canadian province of Ontario with the US state of New York, is 88 years young this year, and still going strong.