BUILDING THE NECKAR VALLEY BRIDGE

An FAE MTH/HP-225 busy at the construction site for a major German infrastructure project

A spectacular bridge is under construction near Karlsruhe, in the German state of Baden Württemberg. The Hochbrücke Horb, or Horb High Bridge, will be 2,100 meters long, with a roadway 70 meters high, and cost €167 million. A special web page explains all the construction stages for this major infrastructure project, which should open to traffic in 2026.

The bridge will be the main component of the new Horb bypass. In the future, drivers on Federal Highway B32 will be able to use the new bridge to bypass the city center.

The entire project involves building the Neckar Valley Bridge, widening and modifying Federal Highway B32 at Rauschbart and building the overpass at the intersection of L396 and B32 in Nordstetten.

The company Gfrörer has been using its FAE MTH/HP since 2023 to stabilize the soil and reduce the grain of the bridge embankments and the backfill areas underneath it.

Based in Empfingen, Gfrörer has been serving the Stuttgart area since 1924 and employs around 400 people. In 2022, the company purchased its FAE MTH with an optional hydraulic front hood and has been using it with a Fendt 1042 tractor for the current project.

Tractor operator Ruben Schittenhelm gave us some interesting insights into the construction site and the work done.
“We worked on a 150,000 m3 area, processing the stony soil until the grain was reduced to 0–63 mm. We then used a binder to improve the soil further,” he explained. “We processed the chalky soil to a working depth of 45 cm, moving about 0.5 km/h and consuming 75 liters of fuel per hour.”

What does he think about the MTH?
“The MTH is a very sturdy machine, and we are happy with its performance. It mixed the different materials (soils, stones, binder) well. We are especially impressed by the reduction of the grain size of the processed material. We were able to reduce it to the exact size we needed,” Schittenhelm concluded.

The MTH/HP has proved to be a valuable asset at the construction site and will be with Gfrörer for many more projects.