Repaving Chang’an Avenue

On 1 October China celebrated the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with a national holiday and a mass military parade along Beijing's Chang'an Avenue and across Tiananmen Square.

In preparation for the celebrations, a 26 km long and 40 m wide section of the 10 lane, 40 km long Chang'an Avenue was repaved between March and August this year.

Vice general manager of contractor Beijing Xin Wang Road and Bridge Company, Liu Yong said, "When we built the Jin Jin Tang highway back in 1987, we used the Volvo ABG411 paver, so we have a long standing relationship with Volvo.

"Volvo's construction equipment is dependable, its pavers are versatile and its compactors are highly reliable," he said.

To make the most of a three hour overnight paving slot, three ABG 8820 tracked pavers, each with a 13 m paving width, worked simultaneously to resurface each side of the road with two 40 mm layers of asphalt. "The surface needed to be made durable enough to withstand the loads of the military hardware during the parade, so this necessitated a double layer of special asphalt," said Mr Yong.