HOBAS® Safe and Sound under Hungarian Highway

The National Infrastructure Development Co. Ltd. is responsible for the support and coordination of all road construction projects in Hungary. Recently, some 100 km of highway were finished in the east and west of the country opening new tracks as the M3, M6 and M7.

The most noteworthy project is the construction of highways M6 and M60 between the two cities Szekszárd and Pécs where 80 km of road were established by the Mecsek Highway Consortium lead by the Austrian company Strabag AG. Further members of the consortium were COLAS SA (France), Bouygues Traveaux Publics SA (France), John Laing Infrastructure Ltd. (UK) and Intertoll-Europe Co. Ltd. (Hungary).

Running from Budapest in Hungary to the Croatian highway A5 in the Ivándárda at the Hungarian-Croatian boarder the M6 is furthermore a part of the so called V/C Helsinki corridor. Regarding the size of and international cooperation in this project it was no big surprise that it won the Project Finance International PPP (Public/Private Partnerships) Award 2008 for the region Europe-MiddleEast- Africa. Also HOBAS had its part in the constructions in the project and delivered CC-GRP WaterLine^® Pipes DN 1200 for the protection of a raw water supply line as well as CC-GRP SewerLine^® Pipes DN 700 running beneath the highway routes M60 and M6.

The design of the protection pipeline DN 1200 by HOBAS was based on a geological study of the soil. It has to withstand the heavy loads of trucks rolling along the M60 but was nevertheless light enough for a fast and trouble-free handling on site. The constructor Schumann-Fischer Ltd. had to keep a tight schedule installing the pipes and compacting the soil.

An already established concrete pipeline near Szekszárd transports purified water to the Danube. The hydrostatic and static condition of the line asked for it to be replaced where the line crosses beneath the M6 under the northern junction and exit of the highway. A relatively high salt concentration classified "aggressive II/1" according to Hungarian standards presumed optimal corrosion resistant pipe material. The high ground water levels were another issue which was overcome by pump draining the area through drilled holes along the excavated trench. Heavy rain falls in May did not facilitate this costly task and made a fast pipe installation all the more important. The city Szekszárd’s water company and the contractor COLAS chose the corrosion resistant HOBAS CC-GRP Pipe System for replacing the highway section of the concrete line. Alisca Bau developed a small trolley to speedily transport the light HOBAS Pipes into the 2.2 m concrete tunnel that had been built below the M6.

Pressure tests finalized the successful pipe projects and the Water Company of Szekszárd officially approved the new HOBAS Pressure Pipeline which will ensure the region’s safe water supply and discharge for the next decades.



Contact:
HOBAS Hungary Kft.
Népfürdő u. 22. A épület 5. emelet
1138 Budapest, Hungary
PH.: +36.1.23 60.818
Fax: +36.1.23 60.819
E-Mail: hobas.hungaria@hobas.com
Internet: www.hobas.com