Night-time paving against the backdrop of a German fairytale castle

• The Vögele SUPER 1800-5 X paver was used for night-time resurfacing of the steep access road to Neuschwanstein Castle to avoid disrupting visitors.

• Its integrated Light Package Plus provided powerful, targeted illumination, eliminating the need for separate lighting equipment and saving setup time.

• The SmartWheel steering system allowed precise control in the road's curves, ensuring a high-quality, even pavement.

• The AB 600 extending screed offered efficient heating, high pre-compaction, and quiet operation, enabling smooth and quiet night paving.

New Vögele paver refurbishes Kutschenstrasse

In order not to disrupt visitor operations at Neuschwanstein Castle, work could only be carried out at night. The contractor therefore opted for the Vögele SUPER 1800-5 X paver with the integrated Light Package Plus.

Neuschwanstein Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and probably the most famous tourist attraction in Germany. A good portion of the approximately 1.4 million visitors each year make the climb to the castle by horse-drawn carriage. This is because, apart from emergency and maintenance vehicles, only they are allowed to drive on the steep, winding road. However, the horses’ iron-shod hooves put a lot of strain on the asphalt. The Bavarian Palace Administration therefore ordered the rehabilitation of the surface course along the entire length of 1.3 km.

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High performance and traction

Steep inclines, hardly any room to manoeuvre, darkness: the conditions for rehabilitating the pavement rehabilitation the access road were difficult. That is why the construction company opted for the SUPER 1800-5 X road paver. With its 129 kW power output, high traction, compact dimensions and integrated lighting, it was perfectly tailored to the requirements.

Sensitive control in the curves

First, the team milled around 7,000 m² of asphalt surface with a Wirtgen W 100 CFi cold milling machine. Then the Vögele Universal Class paver laid approximately 800 t of surface course material over three nights in a width varying from 5 to 6 m and a thickness of around 4 cm. Given the curves, the new SmartWheel steering system was extremely helpful: The rotary control on the ErgoPlus 5 paver operator’s console enables particularly sensitive control. In combination with the SmartWheel on the screed control console, the paving team was able to achieve a high-quality and even paving result even in curves.

Good lighting, less set-up time

During night-time paving, the SUPER 1800-5 X also scored points with its new Plus lighting package, which includes various lighting elements: lighting integrated into the canopy and the crossbar of the control panel, LEDs on the levelling cylinders, three flexibly positionable headlights and powerful, permanently integrated LEDs in a specially developed canopy extension. They ensure optimum illumination across a pave width of up to 10 m and up to 4 m behind the screed. The light output is comparable to that of lighting balloons, but they do not need to be transported or assembled separately. “This saved us a lot of setup time here on the jobsite,” says Senior Site Manager of construction contractor Geiger Hoch- und Tiefbau GmbH & Co. KG Stefan Keller. “With Light Package Plus, we were able to illuminate all relevant paver and work areas in a targeted manner, thereby ensuring maximum safety even in the dark.”

Set-up and start at the push of a button

The Paver Access Control (PAC) function was also practical: This enabled the paving team to start up the SUPER 1800-5 X from the floor and activate the lighting before even stepping onto the paver operator’s platform. Operators used the control unit on the fixed-width screed to start all initial steps at the push of a button, such as switching on the lighting, starting the diesel engine, booting the machine control system, raising and locking the hardtop, and lowering the fixed-width screed at the touch of a button. At the end of work, they brought the road paver into the travel position in the same way.

High pre-compaction, quiet paving

The AB 600 extending screed of the latest generation achieves high pre-compaction values. All components that come into contact with the material are constantly heated, which ensured a homogeneous surface structure. Compared to the previous model, the new extending screed can be heated even more efficiently and is significantly quieter in operation thanks to structural optimisations. Together with the noise-optimised drive concept of the SUPER 1800-5 X, the paving team enabled quiet night-time paving.