Vögele smoothes the way at Icelandic runway

Navitronic Plus, Vögele's 3D machine control system, has been used in a paving project as part of the extension of Iceland's Akureyri Airport.

The runway had to be lengthened and the existing section rehabilitated to accommodate larger aircraft.

Joint venture, Hladbaer-Colas led the rehabilitation of the old runway, which, over the years has developed surface irregularities. Height differences of as much as 200 mm needed to be levelled out in the course of the rehabilitation work.

With a population of 17000, Akureyri is Iceland's fourth largest town and the most important service centre in the north of the country. The airport is not only important for the economy, but also increasingly so for tourism.

Prior to Vögele's pavers starting work, a compact Wirtgen W 350 cold milling machine removed about half of the surface undulations. The paving team then placed a 10 mm level regulating layer of (0/16) open-graded asphalt with a 5,7% binder content with its Super 1800-2, fitted with an AB 500-2 TV extending screed.

The paver then placed a 50 mm thick wearing course in widths between 4 and 5 m using open-graded asphalt with a (0/11) grain size. The company said paving in varying widths was carried out in order to avoid creating the longitudinal joints of this course right above those of the level regulating layer.

Hladbaer-Colas placed nine strips, always working from the outside in. Each of the 2000 m strips had to be completed in just one day so that the runway could be used for air traffic the following morning.

A spokesman for Vögele said without 3D machine control, reference wires would have had to be installed. He added, "This way of proceeding would not only have been more costly, but also extremely difficult and time-consuming."

The company added at least 18 km of reference wire would have been required at an estimated cost of about € 50000.

The width of the runway and landing strip at Akureyri Airport is 45 m. In addition there are 7,5 m wide hard shoulders on each side - making a total width of 60 m.

Vögele stated Navitronic Plus not only fully automatically controls the pavement's grade and slope, but also the screed's position and the paver's direction of motion.