The bus route at Gausel

Have you seen a nicer steel wall? It shows the forest that stood here before and it lights up for all road users on Gausel.

A new stage of Bussveien, Rogaland's largest public transport project, has been opened. The steel wall is part of the decoration and Nordic Steel is a proud contributor to the project.

Just up from the underpass built at Nådlandsbråtet is a 140 square meter wall. From a distance, the wall looks like it is decorated with trees in a forest. If you look closely, the wall is full of small holes.

- The steel art wall shows a picture of the forest that stood here before. With the lighting or natural sun, the overall experience becomes fantastic, says Jan Emil Reinertsen, project manager at Risa AS.

Nordic Steel's contract is with the general contractor for the Bussveien between Gausel station and Nådlandsbråtet, Risa AS.

- The collaboration with Nordic Steel has been great and we have come up with very good solutions, says Reinertsen.

Complete wall with lighting

Bjørn Erik Ualand is head of the transport department at Nordic Steel, which has delivered a complete product to Risa and Rogaland county council. - We contacted lighting designers and are very happy to deliver such a good solution. It has been a really exciting project to be part of.

The steel wall is attached to a framework in galvanized carbon steel. The plates that are attached to the wall are in aluminium. Here, the pattern that forms a forest is punched into the plates. Nordic Steel has been responsible for production, lighting and assembly.

- We made a drawing and pattern for the steel wall directly from a photograph. It is impressive to see that the pattern came out so well in the plates. It shows well even in the dark, says Jarl Ove Andersen, project manager at Nordic Steel.

The spotlights have stencils that can be replaced with different patterns and colors. During the official opening of the project, the design lighting was showcased in fantastic colors and variations.

Art instead of scrap

The steel wall hides a sheet pile wall. It is steep in the terrain behind, where there used to be a forest, and the pile wall holds the slope in place. The steel wall is assembled on site.

- All the fasteners for the steel wall were first mounted on the outside of the sheet pile wall. The sheet pile wall was then covered with shotcrete. The steel frame and aluminum plates were fitted at the very end, explains Andersen.

The developer, Rogaland County Council, is satisfied with the special details that come with the Bussveien project.

- We are proud to be able to deliver a facility of good quality with distinctive details such as the decorations in the underpasses, steel plates with a picture of the nearby forest with its own associated lighting, retaining walls in natural stone, rain beds and fine stairs in granite. The solutions have not been expensive either, and we have used local suppliers, says Åsne Nord-Varhaug, project manager in Rogaland County Municipality.

Facts about Bussveien:

· One of the largest transport projects in Norway

· Part of the Bymiljøpakken, and an important project to get more people to travel environmentally friendly

· The bus route ensures that the bus has better accessibility and that good solutions are built for those who cycle and walk

· A total of 50 kilometers of bus route is being developed divided into several sub-projects

· The section on county road 44 Gausel station and Nådlandsbråtet opened on 8 December 2022

· Gausel station – The Nådlandsbråtet took two years to build and was built within the framework of NOK 167 million

· Rogaland County Municipality is the client for the project

· Risa AS has been the general contractor for the project