Kapsch TrafficCom has announced that it has now fully installed its first ever fully operational Green Gantry, made mainly of wood, for Austrian roadway operator ASFINAG.
First announced in 2022, the Green Gantry is now fully installed and operational on a road in the southern most Austrian state of Carinthia, marking a new phase of sustainable traffic infrastructure, while meeting all relevant European norms and standards
Unlike traditional toll gantries made from steel or aluminum, which are associated with significant emissions due to their manufacturing and recycling processes, the Kapsch TrafficCom-designed Green Gantry is constructed from renewable timber.
This sustainable material not only supports the same functional capabilities as conventional gantries but also provides notable environmental benefits: The Green Gantry in Carinthia saves 15 tons of CO2, while comparable steel gantries cause up to 30 tons of CO2 during production.
“Our Green Gantry not only has a positive CO2 balance, it has the same load-bearing capacity and an even better environmental impact as a traditional gantry,” says Michael Weber, head of sales EMENA at Kapsch TrafficCom, explains. “In addition, it meets all relevant European norms and standards for gantries, so it is equally safe to deploy and to maintain, and after its lifetime of at least 20 years, it can be dismantled and re-used without causing additional pollution.”
A statement from say ASFINAG board members Hartwig Hufnagl and Herbert Kasser reads: “For us, sustainable construction is not just an empty slogan; we want to set new standards in this area. Innovations are the driving force behind this. Wood as a building material can also play an important role on the motorway in the future.”
The load-bearing core and therefore the majority of the new gantry is made of glued and laminated spruce timber. Weather-resistant larch wood was used for the outer layer, which can be easily repaired in case of damage. The highly prefabricated wood construction was completed and delivered to the building site by the Hasslacher group. The installation of the gantry on the highway was managed by ASFINAG together with traffic technology specialist Forster and, due to it’s high degree of prefabrication, took only about one day.
The electricity for operating the gantry equipment comes from its own photovoltaic system. In order to ensure system functionality in bad weather and at night, a battery storage system was also installed
