Open-Pit Mine Garzweiler II

Tagebau Garzweiler is a well-known open-pit mine close to Düsseldorf, Germany. There have continuously been infrastructure adjustments around the mine to be able to ensure a smooth traffic while the exploitation progresses. The highway junction Jackerath has been a central hub ever since lignite mining of the 48 km² Garzweiler II sector started. 

As such, the motorway A44 had to be closed and dismantled while traffic was redirected via the A61. Since 2012, A44n is being rebuilt to redirect traffic back again when mining work expands to the road of A61 in 2018. 

This whole infrastructure project is being initiated by RWE, the electric utilities company who operates the mine. Its timeline is as follows: 

Timeline Re-Construction Highway Junction Jackerath

2005/2006: German Highway A44 disappears in the Garzweiler opencast mine. Instead all vehicles are getting redirected via the A61. 

2012: Construction of a highway A44n right through the opencast mine to rebuild the old route.

2018: A61 gets interrupted close to Garzweiler because the mine is getting expanded to this area. The traffic is getting redirected through the newly built road A44n. 

2035: Reconstruction of A61.

Current Construction Project A44n

The final phase of the construction of A44n started in the night of 3rd of July to 4th of July this year, when the paving phase began - carried out by Oevermann. 

Project Specs first night

Paving Equipment: Vögele Super 2100 Paver with MOBA-matic and Big Sonic-Ski leveling technology 

Paving Width: 11m

Installation Height: 11cm

Installation Length: 1,5km

Asphalt volume: 7000t

Starting Time: 18pm

Installation Time: 9h

What is astonishing about this project is the asphalt volume that needs to be handled. Usually, one asphalt plant can produce up to 2,000t of asphalt per shift (12h), depending on the mix. This means, in the current project there had to be approached several asphalt plants to ensure a proper paving process. Another challenge was the organization of a smooth transport and in-time arrival of the material. This is why the paving took place at night. To avoid the traffic of this metropolitan area close to Düsseldorf.  

Night jobs like this do not only require a thorough planning but also special equipment. When working with a string line, like in this project, the string cannot be seen from the paver at night. Instead, the team used a steering ski from MOBA. This solution is similar to what is known as “lane assistant” in the automotive industry. It assists the driver to keep track. The steering ski is a sensor, which assesses the distance of the sensor from the string. Keeping the same distance along the whole string, it automatically steers the paver into the right direction (see photo). 

The ground was leveled with a 3D grader system. Under this condition, the 4 sensor solution Big Sonic-Ski convinces with its advantages. Thanks to its averaging process, the system divides the unevenness of each layer by three or four. By this, it guarantees the maximum smoothness of the end result. Also, by ruling our irregularities, material can be saved. 

Oevermann is a construction company from Münster, Germany, with more than 110 years of experience in road construction. Thanks to a thoughtful organization, bundled competence and the use of tools like Big Sonic-Ski, the high quality road was built in the shortest possible time. Traffic will soon be redirected to and from Düsseldorf via this new road.