Extension of the Liuzhou to Nanning Highway

Author: Karina Lumholt

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is situated in South Central China and shares borders with Vietnam. Guangxi has a long history of trading with South East Asia, and the ASEAN countries are Guangxi’s major trading partners. Guangxi is promoted by China’s Central Government as a door opener to the ASEAN markets and connects with Southeast Asia through high-speed roads, railways, ports and airports, and highways have been built all over Guangxi to promote the region’s economic development.  

Nanning and Liuzhou are two major cities in Guangxi. Nanning is an important transport and logistic hub for China’s south-western markets with an inland river port, hub for road and railway networks and an airport that connects to regional and international destinations. The 193 kilometre highway between the two major cities will be reconstructed and extended from four lanes into eight lanes during the period of 2016 to 2018. This will bring the travel time between the two cities down to 2.5 hours.

First time the Leica PaveSmart 3D is used in China

The two-way eight-lane highway between Liuzhou and Nanning.

Guangxi Road and Bridge Engineering Group, provider of road, bridge, tunnel, subgrade, and municipal engineering construction services, has used two Leica PaveSmart 3D solutions and four iCON robot 61 in the project. It is the first time that the company uses 3D paving solutions, and it has completely changed the construction process.

“There is no need for manual setting and controlling of stringlines. Using the Leica Robot 61 total station to guide the precise digital construction work ensures that the paving construction is performed strictly according to the design and guarantees the smoothness and flatness of the spread,” Wei Jingguang, product manager at Guangxi Road and Bridge Engineering Group.

The two first Leica PaveSmart 3D solutions sold to the Chinese market.

The specifications in Guangxi Road and Bridge Engineering Group’s contract were a width of 42 metres, 4 per cent cement stabilised macadam base with a thickness of 20 centimetres and 5 per cent cement stabilised macadam base with a thickness of 38 cm. The design data are imported into the 3D solution, and the construction process system is automatically controlled, without the need to measure the sample and the reference line. This reduces the influence of human factors on the construction quality and ensures easier logistics on the job site.

“Working without excessive construction personnel and construction auxiliary personnel, greatly reduce the labour intensity. A clean and orderly construction site ensures the safety of both personnel and mechanical equipment,” says Wei.

Working 24/7

The construction work is implemented without traffic interruptions, and is being performed 24 hours a day.

"Compared to the traditional construction process, the use of Leica PaveSmart 3D solution is a real game-changer in the paving industry in China. We estimate that we have saved considerable project time and ensured consistent paving quality this by introducing the 3D technology to the Chinese market,” concludes Xing Lu, sales manager at Leica Geosystems Machine Control Business Department China Region.