Widening Uruguay's Ruta 5 Highway

Concrete paving for roads is rare in the UK but more common across Europe, where organisations like EUPAVE promote its use for infrastructure projects. In the Americas, concrete is frequently preferred for road construction due to its durability and ability to withstand heavy traffic and extreme weather conditions. A recent project in Uruguay highlights this approach, with Wirtgen’s advanced concrete paving machines being used to widen a key section of the Ruta 5 highway.

A major road construction project in Uruguay is making use of advanced concrete paving equipment from Wirtgen to widen a key section of the Ruta 5 highway, which runs from Montevideo to the Brazilian border. The upgrade involves expanding a 75 km stretch of the highway from one lane to two lanes in each direction and rehabilitating the existing road surface.

Ruta 5 is one of Uruguay’s most important highways, connecting the capital with the northern city of Rivera on the Brazilian border. Widening this key route involves four contractors working together, using a range of equipment, including three Wirtgen SP 64 slipform pavers, two TCM 180 texture curing machines, and a John Deere JD 318G skid steer loader.

The Ruta 5 widening project covers two sections: a 30 km stretch from Peaje Mendoza to the city of Florida and a 45 km stretch from Florida to Sarandí Grande. Each lane has a paving width of between 3.9 and 5m, with a total paving width of 15.6m across the new dual carriageways. The concrete paving is 220mm thick, and the insertion of steel reinforcement is fully integrated into the machine’s operations.

Improving Efficiency with Integrated Dowel Bar Inserter (DBI)

Traditionally, concrete roadways are reinforced with dowel baskets or steel rebar mats, which are placed before the paving process begins. However, pre-placing these materials can be time-consuming and restricts vehicle movement on-site, especially on challenging terrain. The use of Wirtgen’s SP 64 slipform paver with an integrated dowel bar inserter (DBI) has helped to streamline this process.

“The SP 64 allows us to achieve much higher productivity than we could with our previous method of using vibrating screeds,” said Sebastián Trujillo, a machine operator from R&K – Berkes, one of the contractors involved.

The DBI automatically places dowel and tie bars at the correct locations during the paving process, which improves accuracy and increases efficiency. Additionally, the concrete can be offloaded directly in front of the machine, giving construction vehicles more room to manoeuvre.