On the road again

In November 2021, the Austrian highways operator Asfinag completed upgrading work on a section of the S6 Semmering expressway. The renovation of this section included work on 31 bridges with a total surface area of 8,700 square metres as well as resurfacing of 125,000 square metres of open road. Major noise mitigation work was also carried out.
As part of the upgrade work on the Wartberg tunnel, Asfinag decided to clad the walls with thin ceramic panels. The project is part of a pilot scheme aimed at investigating whether the solution brings short- and long-term management benefits.
For the occasion, Cotto d’Este produced a custom-made Kerlite 3 plus, ultra-thin glass-fibre reinforced laminated porcelain stoneware panel in a 300×100 cm size using an exclusive technology capable of increasing the panel’s elasticity and strength. The walls of the 160-metre-long tunnel were tiled with more than 1,300 square metres of these white panels.
The flexibility of the Kerlite panels enabled them to adapt to the roof curvature while delivering optimal acoustic comfort, intrinsic fire resistance, durability, greater ease of maintenance and cleaning compared to traditional finishes, and improved light reflection, resulting in improved safety for motorists driving through the tunnels.
This is not the first time the company has been involved in a motorway infrastructure project. Back in 2015, Kerlite panels were used for the infrastructure project of the “Base Tunnel” of the Variante di Valico on Italy’s A1 Autostrada del Sole, one of the largest structures of its kind in Europe.