S


ince Giles Potter, MD of Potter Plant Hire started work on the A1 widening from Leeming to


Barton, thousands of hours of Trimble®


3D machine controlled earthworks have been completed.


Once a 19.3 km stretch of dual carriageway, the section of the A1 has been transformed into a three-lane motorway, complete with a 15km local access road, nearing completion. For the A1M2 consortium, a joint venture between main contractors Carillion and Morgan Sindall, the project has been full of firsts, using a full range of technologies.


At its busiest, the project had up to 40 pieces of equipment in operation at any one time and


boasted the largest and most integrated 3D enabled mixed fleet ever seen on a road job in England. Together with Trimble enabled A1M2 surveyors, the very latest in 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) modelling techniques has been used on the job, to ensure complete traceability of the key earthworks stages of the project.


As the project now draws to a close, Finning News caught up with Giles to understand the impact the technology has had on the delivery of the new highway. Giles: “The task at hand was significant to say the least, with 1,600,000m3


of


earthworks excavation and 1,570,000m3


of deposition spread


across the site followed by the exacting placement of 1,000,000


tonnes of dry stone to form the base for 650,000 tonnes of pavement.


“Over the course of the project we used 3D machine control on Cat® dozers, graders and excavators and a range of other equipment to perform various tasks.


These included formation through to fine grading, of the road surface to a millimetre tolerance and grading of the banks and bunds. Aggregate Industries even used a Trimble 3D enabled asphalt paver to lay the road surface. “In total we clocked up thousands of hours of machine operation, including major loading and hauling operations, which was a staggering achievement. Throughout the works we collaborated with the A1L2B team, its surveyors and


“ COMPLETING A 3D MACHINE CONTROL HIGHWAYS JOURNEY 14


BY MODELING EARTHWORKS IN A BIM STYLE MODEL BEFORE WORK BEGAN, THE A1L2B TEAM IDENTIFIED WHERE WE COULD EXCAVATE AND PLACE MATERIAL ACROSS THE SITE.


”


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