Skip to main content

Repair the wear in historic Béarn

The former province of Béarn in south-western France is tucked away on the eastern side of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Steeped in history, its strategic location controls access to easy passage into the Pyrénées Mountains, and it is said that during the Napoleonic wars, Wellington's army passed through 'the Béarn,' where it won an important battle at Orthez and set up a garrison at Pau on its way to Spain.
February 29, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Laffitte's new Cat AP655D large asphalt paver at work in Lac
The former province of Béarn in south-western France is tucked away on the eastern side of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Steeped in history, its strategic location controls access to easy passage into the Pyrénées Mountains, and it is said that during the Napoleonic wars, Wellington's army passed through 'the Béarn,' where it won an important battle at Orthez and set up a garrison at Pau on its way to Spain.

Today, the area supports a rich combination of industry, agriculture, and tourism, and keeping the infrastructure up-to-date is, in part, the job of the family-owned Laffitte enterprise, which employs 40 people and specialises in utility and public works.

With the help of French dealer 2154 Bergerat Monnoyeur, Laffitte recently took delivery of a new Cat AP655D large asphalt paver with an AS4251C screed with electric heat option. The contractor selected the zrubber track undercarriage to handle a variety of paving projects. Laffitte already owned and operated Cat compactors and hydraulic excavators.

According to 178 Caterpillar, the capabilities of the MTS undercarriage were tailor made to fit the geographic variety of the region, which includes rolling hills, valleys, gorges and spectacular mountainous terrain.

The Cat paving machine commissioning crew, led by Bergerat Monnoyeur technical expert Jean-François Lahargou and three additional dealer technicians, delivered the paver and set it to work for a two-day period. Its maiden challenge was to complete a parking lot project and its entry point in the town of Lac.

Despite the heat, crews and dealer technicians completed hands-on, on site training in all machine functions, operation and maintenance. They worked together to lay down a 60mm asphalt mat for a width of 5m, learning machine functions along the way, and on day two, crews moved to another site to lay down a 50mm thick mat (width 5m) for entry roads to a canoe/slalom course.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cat paving technologies lower operating costs
    April 17, 2013
    Caterpillar is incorporating a number of paving technologies into its compaction, cold planning and paving machinery in response to customer request for improved technology. This includes Cat Grade and Slope, standard on many Cat pavers and cold planers, which is engineered to help paving crews to precisely lay and mill material.
  • BOMAG paver at work in Germany
    August 25, 2021
    A compact asphalt paver from BOMAG has carried out surfacing work for an exhibition area in Germany. The redevelopment of the former Ledward Barracks at Schweinfurt in Lower Franconia is being carried out as the 26.2ha facility is turned into a public facility and exhibition area
  • THIS is a Paving Project– The I-15 CORE
    December 20, 2012
    Provo, Utah – The scope of the I-15 Corridor Expansion Project (I-15 CORE) in the state of Utah is nearly unprecedented because of the size of the project and the short completion deadline. Twenty-four miles (38.6 km) of removal and replacement of Interstate 15 between Lehi and Spanish Fork, widening the number of traveling lanes by two, for up to six lanes in each direction in 35 months. The new 364 lane miles (586 km) of concrete roadway will be slipformed 12 or 12.5 inches (305 or 318 mm) thick for a tot
  • Hot-to-hot paving upgrades Bremen City Airport runway
    September 30, 2013
    A new high quality runway surface has been laid at Bremen City Airport. This has provided a much-needed replacement at the airport as the old runway was laid over 20 years ago and was suffering from cracking and potholes. Laying the new surface required the airport to be closed, with the work having to be carried out in a tight time schedule. Contractor Heitkamp Erd- und Straßenbau was brought in to carry out the work as the firm had experience in runway rehabilitation projects having carried out pavemen