New road: Protecting groundwater and sheet piling
Cautus Geo is monitoring the groundwater and the sheet piling for the new E39 motorway through Kristiansand.
Problem statement
In Kristiansand, a new E18/E39 is being built through the city. Construction began in 2024. Everything is due to be completed by 2029. The project involves more than just a new motorway. It also includes realignment of the railway line, new footpaths and cycle paths, new slip roads and a new road to the new container port. All this is taking place in close proximity to existing roads and buildings. 40,000 cars will pass through the construction site every single day until everything is completed in 2029. The construction work may lower the groundwater level. In addition, sheet pile walls are being erected to secure the new motorway.
Solution
Cautus Geo provides real-time data on the groundwater and the condition of the temporary steel pipe sheet pile walls – also known as sheet pile walls – which ensure the safe flow of traffic on the motorway through the city. Monitoring is carried out using a comprehensive system comprising 12 pore pressure gauges, SAA inclinometers, a total station, monitoring prisms, a settlement plate and load cells. The instrumentation collects data continuously. All measurement data is analysed in real time in Cautus Web, where it can be viewed as raw data on an ongoing basis.
The French company Eiffage Génie Civil is the main contractor for the major transport project in Kristiansand. The new main road through the city is 1.4 kilometres long and is a comprehensive and complex transport project. It involves more than just a new through road. New railway tracks, a new railway tunnel, new routes for pedestrians and cyclists, and roundabouts and junctions where trains pass beneath newly built roundabouts for local and long-distance traffic are also to be established. The project is estimated to cost 5.2 billion kroner. Everything is due to be completed by 2029.
Cautus Geo has set up a monitoring system using instrumentation. The system, which has been set up to monitor the steel pipe piles, will later be moved on to the next phase of the road construction project.
The Gartnerløkka–Kolsdalen section forms part of the transport package for the Kristiansand region and has been given the highest priority in Transport Package 3. The project is very extensive.
By 2029, everything will be ready. By then, seamless solutions will have been put in place for traffic on the E18/E39, good access and exit routes will have been secured, a new main cycle route through the city will have been built, a new railway line to the industrial area will have been secured, and a new road link to the port will have been established.
Customer
Eiffage Civil Engineering
Year
2025 – 2029
Location
Kristiansand
Application area
Technology
A falling groundwater level can cause settlement damage to buildings and infrastructure. We want to avoid this. That is why we monitor the groundwater as a safety and information measure. This monitoring provides us with real-time data on any changes taking place underground.
Project Director Francois Bonnafous at Eiffage Génie Civil
Contact person
Switchboard telephone +47 990 96 580 or e-mail salg@cautusgeo.com
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