Road construction sites normally come to a standstill during winter. The frostier the weather, the more difficult it is to manufacture and install asphalt. The Lemminkäinen company in the Danish town of Vandel, however, is proof that it can be done.

The motorway to the south of Vejle had been in a poor condition for some time. A winter marked by extreme sub-zero temperatures and vast quantities of ice and snow caused the road to collapse. Severe frost damage made it almost impossible to use the motorway. Immediate action was needed.

Carsten Lundhøj, Plant Manager in Vandel, explains the extraordinary measures that had to be introduced to enable the production of quality asphalt in the deepest winter: "We used insulation mats to protect the cold feed bins from the cold. A large heat blower beneath the cold feed bins prevented anything from freezing solid. Additionally, we sprayed each cold feed bin with a special anti-freeze agent to prevent caking. We insulated the burner's gas lines and used a heater to protect the pneumatic system and air-drying system from the cold."

These measures enabled the production of 17,000 tonnes of asphalt in Denmark in just two weeks without any major problems. The entire Ammann Universal asphalt mixing plant functioned flawlessly despite extreme atmospheric conditions.

The Finnish group of companies named Lemminkäinen was founded in 1910 and is one of Scandinavia's largest producers of asphalt.