Due to its striking shape, the 7,750 ft. tall Niesen in the Bernese Oberland also is known as the "Pyramid of the Alps".
In order to prepare the popular mountain destination south of Lake Thun for the summer season, the path between the mountain station and the mountain restaurant had to be renovated. The 558 ft. route is used for food and beverage transportation and is frequented by approximately 1,000 people every day in the high season.
Tricky task
As the summit of the Niesen can only be reached by funicular or helicopter, the construction site logistics were a major challenge. Due to the high quality requirements, the surface course had to be laid by machine in a width of six to 14 ft.. In addition, the weather conditions were very difficult due to the altitude and exposed location. As a result of the low temperatures, the paving team had only a narrow time window each day for the paving work.
Paver Transport by Cable Car
In order to pave the new surface course efficiently and to a high standard, the contractor, Marti AG Bern, opted for the Mini 500 from Vögele. The manufacturer's smallest road paver model is predestined for applications where narrow pave widths, compact dimensions, low weight and high paving quality are required, according to Vögele.
With a transport length of 8.5 ft., a width of 3 ft. and a weight of 1.54 tons, the site team was able to transport the paver to the mountain station using the Niesen cable car. The Niesenbahn is one of the longest funicular railroads in the world and climbs at a gradient of 68 percent in some places up to the mountain station.
"The job was spectacular even before the actual paving," said Iwan Hachen, paving foreman. "Transporting a road paver by cable car is not an everyday occurrence for us either. The MINI 500 is extremely compact and was extremely practical in terms of the requirements for this project."
Material Feed by Helicopter
Another challenge was the delivery of materials. The contractor used a helicopter to transport the hot asphalt to the paver as quickly as possible. It took the mix from the Thermo trucks 2300 ft. below the construction site and transferred it directly into the material hopper of the Mini 500 at intervals of just under four minutes.
Equipped with the AB 135 extending screed, including bolt-on extensions, the Vögele paver paved the 1.6 in. thick surface course over a width of 5.9 ft. — in several strips in some cases. The closely timed material transfer enabled a constant paving process. This enabled the construction team to complete the surfacing work, including the paving of the verge, in just two days.
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