Favourite picture: Road construction in Siberia

Autonomous district of Jamal-Nenzen, Siberia. It is minus 32 degrees outside. White smoke is coming from the tipper bodies of the more than 20 Actros vehicles used for road construction here in winter 2007. The warm exhaust emissions are directed into the tipper body and released again into the surroundings through openings at the end of the body – this is an old custom in the area. Otherwise, the load would freeze to the metal of the body assembly.

The Actros 3341 AK 6x6 with equipment for Siberia: all-wheel drive, all-terrain tyres. Two sets of two twin tyres protrude out of the side wings: the track width is 2.85 metres – 35 centimetres more than normal. The powerhorses thus sit better on the road and can deal with even serious road undulations as well as being able to master just about any terrain. The vehicles are designed for extreme loads, for temperatures down to minus 55 degrees Celsius. The tippers cover almost 40 kilometres: at a speed of 40 to 75 kilometres per hour depending on traffic, weather and track conditions. Then they suddenly reach the end of the road, made from countless concrete slabs aligned one after the otherHere, they unload: the Meiller tipper truck body stretches its limbs, sand piles out of the body. Low-loaders and bulldozers layer the sand in banks on which the road can continue to be laid, branching off all the time in new directions through the never-ending tundra.

Photos: Nico Krauss

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