Innovative wooden toll gantry across the S37 Klagenfurter Schnellstraße (expressway)

ASFINAG was able to sequester about 15 tons of  CO₂ by building its toll gantry from spruce and larch. The gantry was erected in collaboration with the HASSLACHER Group and Kapsch TrafficCom as part of the safety expansions on the S37. The use of wood as a renewable raw material in the targeted decarbonisation of the building industry is gaining more and more interest in the construction of motorways and expressways.

HASSLACHER Group delivers innovative wood products
The  "Green Gantry" across the S37 is the second large project in which wood is used as an infrastructure building material. For two years now, the road sign gantry has been in operation on the A2 Südautobahn (Southern Motorway) near Völkermarkt-Ost. This innovation was also developed and implemented by ASFINAG in collaboration with the HASSLACHER Group.

"The highly prefabricated wood construction was designed in such a way that it can not only be installed quickly, but also be removed just as easily. In case it's purpose changes, this way the used wood can be reused and the sequestered CO₂ remains in the material use," Georg Jeitler, Head of Quality & Innovation at the HASSLACHER Group, explains the reuse concept. 

Untreated wood from the region
The supporting core and thus the majority of the new toll gantry consist of glued laminated spruce. Larch was used for the weather-proof outer layer and can be repaired easily in the event of damage. The wooden gantry's life cycle is about 20 years and is comparable to conventional steel structures. The benefit compared to steel  lies in the fact that it sequesters fifteen tons of CO₂. The HASSLACHER Group delivered the highly prefabricated wooden construction to the construction site on the S37 with all steel parts and railings. Traffic technology company Forster took care of installing it on the expressway under supervision of ASFINAG and, due to its high degree of prefabrication, the process only took a few hours overnight.

ASFINAG sets new standards 
"For us, sustainable building is more than just a buzzword. We want to set new standards in this area," say the ASFINAG Directors Hartwig Hufnagl and Herbert Kasser. "Innovation is the motor for this. In the future, wood can play an essential role as a building material on motorways, too."

The Kapsch TrafficCom product meets all relevant norms and standard
Georg Kapsch, CEO von Kapsch TrafficCom, adds: "The Green Gantry meets all European standards and norms and even after the end of its life cycle, it's no environmental burden. Wood is the ideal building material as it has a carbon footprint that is up to twenty times smaller than that of steel, for sustainable traffic also means sustainable infrastructure."

The Green Gantry not only has a positive carbon balance, but is just as supportive and environmentally compatible as a conventional toll gantry. Moreover, it meets all relevant European norms and standards for toll gantries, is just as safe to use, easy to maintain and, once it has reached the end of its 20-year life cycle, can be removed and materially recycled without producing any additional environmental burdens.