Hill Roads

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 Topics As PerSyllabus

1. Introduction
2. Special Consideration in HillRoad
3. Alignment of Hill Road Design: General Consideration, Route Location in
Hills
4. Special Structures in HillRoads
• Retaining Structures, River Training Structures, Landslide
Stabilization Structures and Gully ControlStructures
5. Geometric Design(Gradietents, Sight Distance Design and Types of Hair Pin
Bends, Different Types of Hill Road Cross-sections)

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 1. Introduction

• A hill road is usually defined on the basis of terrain.

• As per NRS the cross slope may be classified as:

• Hill road-one which passes through terrain with cross slope of 25% or more
i.e. mountainous or steep.

• There are sections along hill road with cross slope less than 25%, esp. when
the road follows riverroute.
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 Why Hill Road inNepal?
• Nepal area = 140,000 sq. kmapprox.

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• 66% covered with thinly/sparsely populated hills,mountains.

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• 90% population reside in hilly areas and depends on agro products
,for which transportation is a must

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• Hilly Areas Rich: in Natural Resources, Flora and Fauna  Importantto
launch development Projects (e.g. Hydropower, etc.), tourism, etc.

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• Hilly Regions  Extremes of Climatic Conditions, Difficult and Hazardous
Terrain, Topography and Vast High AltitudeAreas

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• Challenges of Hilly Areas: Floods, Landslides, Snowfall, etc.  Fairly
Weathered Roads Possible

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• Waterways, Railways, Airways  Even Not Possible or Verydifficult

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• Where Tunnels, Viaduct  Possible but Not Economical

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• For Transport, Economy, Social Reasons  Justify the Construction of Hill
Roads in the Hilly Regions.

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 Why Hill Road inNepal?

• Nepal area = 140,000 sq. km approx.

• 66% covered with thinly/sparsely populated hills, mountains.
• 90% population reside in hilly areas and depends on agro products.
• But Hilly Areas Rich: in Natural Resources, Flora and Fauna  Important to
launch development Projects (e.g. Hydropower, etc.), tourism,etc.
• Hilly Regions  Extremes of Climatic Conditions, Difficult and HazardousTerrain,
Topography and Vast HighAltitude Areas
• Challenges of Hilly Areas: Floods, Landslides, Snowfall, etc.  Fairly Weathered
Roads Possible
• Waterways, railways, airways  difficult
• Tunnels, Viaduct  Possible but Not Economical
• For Transport, Economy, Social Reasons  Justify the Construction of Hill Roads
in the HillyRegions.
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Design and Construction Problems of Hill
Roads

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1. Characterized by a highly broken relief with Widely Differing Elevations
and Steep Slopes, Deep Gorges and Several Watercourses 
Unnecessari increase in Road Length
ly

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2. Complex Geology  Different Rock Bed  Geology differs from place to
place  Assessment for road foundation is not easy

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3. Environmental impact  removal of vegetation etc.  stable slope may
change to unstable slope after roadconstruction

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4. Great Variation in hydrological condition  vary from place to place 
landslides, soil erosion  may lead to damages after roadconstruction

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5. New earth fill for road embankment may overload the relatively weak
underlying soil layer on hill slope  may trigger new andrecurrent slides

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6. Requires installation of various types of special various road structures 
cost may rise upto 50 - 60% of totalconstruction

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7. Steep slopes  high speed of surface runoff  provision of erosion
protection works

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8. Construction along relatively small approach stretches  different
construction technology may be needed

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9. Need of special safety precaution during hill road construction

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10. Frequent blasting

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11. Design of hairpin bends to getheights

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 Special Consideration in HillRoads

1. Selection of RoadAlignment
2. Special Geometric Standards
3. Cross-section Design
4. Design of Drainage Structures
5. Stability of Slopes

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Allignment Of Hill Roads
• The main objective of alignment selection is to establish
safe , easy , short and economical line of travel between
two points considering physical features and topography
• The alignment bewtween the selected points is decided
based on the administrative needs , develpemental needs
and obligatory points like bridge , Valleys , Saddles passes
etc
• Allingnment shall be based on the following

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 Factors Affecting Selection of Alignment

1. Temperature
• Parts with lower temperature variation are preferred. Valleys are the best choice as
the temperature is very favorable.
• North facing slopes have low temperature and cold conditions but can be adopted with
rigid pavements

• South and south west facing slopes have movement of warm and cold air streams
which caused unequal temperature fluctuation(Bad for pavements)
• Also these slopes have rapid rise of temperature causing fast melting of snow and thus
huge damage by flow therefore shall be avoided

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2. Rainfall
• Areas where rainfall water accumulates like low lands etc. shall be avoided
• Roads shall preferably passed through region of low rainfall
• The region from 1500 to 2500 have very heavy rainfall and thus leads to rapid erosion landslide etc. this shall be avoided asfar as possible

3. Atmospheric Pressure andWinds

• Atmospheric pressure decreases with increase in elevation
• For altitudes above 3000m multiple problems arises like
• High wind velocity
• Very low temperature
• Depth of frost penetration
• Above conditions leads to intensive rock weathering and damage to normal pavements therefore this elevation
shall be avoided if possible and if not special precaution shall be adopted
4. Geological Conditions
• Shall pass through stable rocks
• Avoid strata with Horizontal dip or with a dip towards the cut slope
 Route Location : a) River Route

• The location of a route along the river valley is known as river route.
• River route is frequently used in hill road due to comparatively gentle
gradient.

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Steep valley between tatopani and jomsom (nepal), annapurnas, cliff, dirt road

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• Characteristics
1. Location: along a rivervalley
2. Most frequent case of hill road alignment
3. Comparatively gentle gradient
Merits
a. Serves the ruralsettlement
b. Low vehicle operating cost, availability of water and other construction materials
Demerits
a. Numerous horizontal curves
b. Construction of special retaining and protection of walls on the hill sides
c. Extensive earthwork
d. Construction of large number of cross drainage structures
e. Steep sloping hill side may be insufficiently stable
f. Massive river training and protection works on the river side.
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 b) Ridge Route
• The road usually follows the top section of the hill
system and crosses successively mountain pass.
• Geologically stable and comparatively mild slope sections are selected for
the artificial development of the route.
• A ridge route is characterized by very steep gradient, numerous sharp
curves including hair pin bends and the expensive rock works.

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 Ridge Route

Advantages
• Less amount of drainage structures
• Are most stable

Demerits
• Steep gradient, sharp curves including hair pin bends
• Expensive rock works, successive mountain pass
• Route climbs up continuously from the valley till mountain pass anddescends down
• Construction of special structures,tunnels, snow fences etc.

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Geometric Design

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 Cross-section Design
• Cross section of a road in hilly terrain is determined by:
o original ground slope of site,
o slope of the road formation,
o width of roadway,
o side drain size and

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 Various Configurations of Hill Road Cross Sections

1. Cut and fill

2. Bench type
3. Box cutting
4. Embankment with retaining walls
5. Semi bridge
6. Semi tunnel
7. Platforms

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 1) Cut andFill
• With a hill side slope of over 2%, a cut and fill road bed is the cheaper and
environment friendly type of construction.
• The fill mass is obtained from the cut material at the same location or
within free haul distance.

• To ensure adequate stability of embankment, benches are made on the

surface of the hill
side with a height of 0.5 m and a length varying 1.5 m to 3.0 m depending on
the slope.
• The settlement of the fillportion of road bedsometimes
causes the appearance of longitudinal cracks in the pavement.

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1. Cut and Fill

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 2) BenchType
• A cross section of the bench type although entailing some increase in earthwork ensures the complete
stability of the road bed, if hill side itself is stable.
• To avoid cracks in the pavement as result of settlement and consolidation it is preferred to locate roads on stable
hills cross slope exceeding 1 in 3 entirely in a cutting at the higher cost of making full bench.
• Roads with hard and costly pavement structures are to be preferably located in full bench while those with low
cost surface (WBM, gravel, earthen) be made with cut and fill road bed.

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 3) BoxCutting
• When the location of road bed is unstable or unstable along the hill side due to one or
other reason, the road bed is designed as trench type of cross section.
• In some cases It is introduced in order to meet the geometric design standards for given
category of road.
• Also when a road is ascending up the grade , the grade is reduced substantially by raising
formation line at the beginning with fill and lowering the same at the following section
with box cutting.
• This type of road bed increases earthwork to a large extent.
• This way, the length of road may be substantially reduced.

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4) Embankment with RetainingWalls

• If the natural cross slope of the

ground is too high then it is preferred
to form a retaining wall than an
embankment (Sometimes the
embankment might not be possible
at all)
• Proper analysis of soil and materials
properties shall be made to ensure
adequate stability of the retaining
structure

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 5) SemiBridge
• If the road is located across a steep hill slope  retaining wall may have to be of
substantial height.
• In such cases, in order to reduce the quantities of work, road bed with a semi bridge type
of structure may beconstructed.
• Part of the roadway is accommodated on bench cut and part on the semi bridge.

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 6) SemiTunnel
• When cutting into steep hills in stable rock faces the rock may be permitted to overhang
the road, reducing rockworks.
• Such a cross section is called a semi tunnel.
• Road in half tunneling is advantageous for high altitude hill roads as they do not get
blocked by snows.

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 7) Platform
• On the precipitous/very steep slopes, where shifting of the route into the hill side will lead
to enormous rock work, which would substantially increase the cost of road construction
and where semi tunnel cannot be constructed due to the geological condition, platforms are
usually cantilevered out of the rock on which road way is partially located.
8) Full Embankement
• When cross slope of the hill is very small, road may be in full embankment.
• Filling may be small orheavy.
• In case of heavy filling, retaining walls should be constructed on both the side of the
formation.

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 Sight Distance
• On hill roads stopping sight distance is absolute minimum from safety angle
and must be ensured regardless of any other considerations.
• It would be a good practice if this value can be exceeded and visibility
corresponding to intermediate sight distance provided in as much length of
road as possible.
• If this is the case then the driver will be able to get reasonable opportunities
to overtake with caution and driving task becomes much easier.
• It is not normally feasible or practicable on hill roads to provide overtaking
sight distance.

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 Superelevation

• The limiting value of super elevation is as under:

a) In snow bound areas = 7%
b) In hilly areas not bound by snow = 10%
• In attaining the required super elevation, it should be ensured that the
longitudinal slope of the pavement edge compared to the center line (i.e. the
rate of change of super elevation) is not steeper than 1 in 150 for roads in
plain and rolling terrain and 1 in 60 in mountainous and steep terrain.

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 Gradient
• A study on dynamic characteristics for the truck indicates that:
If gradient is 4% the speed is 42 kmph
If gradient is 6% the speed is 32 kmph
If gradient is 8% the speed is 24 kmph

If the gradient chosen is 4% instead of 8%, the route will be double in length
but the speed will increase only 1.75 times. This indicates in spite of decrease
in gradient there is no gain in travel time.
Ruling Gradients of 7% , Limitng of 10% and Exceptional of 12% is used as
standard value

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 Vertical Curve
• Designed as square parabola.

• Length of vertical curve is controlled by sight distance requirements but

curves with greater length are aestheticallybetter.

• Curves should be provided at all grade change exceeding those indicated in

the table below and for satisfactoryappearance.

• Where horizontal and summit/crest curve overlap, the design should provide
for the required sight distance both in the vertical direction along the
pavement and in the horizontal direction on the inside of the curve.
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 Design of Hair PinBends
• In hilly regions difficult to avoid bends where direction of the road
reverse.

• In hill road alignment, hair pin bends are introduced particularly  when
necessary to attain height without covering substantial horizontaldistance.

• Hair pin bends  designed either as a Circular Curve with Transition at each
end or asa Compound Circular Curve.

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• Inner and outer edges of the roadway should be concentric with respect to
the center line of thepavement.

• Where a number of hair pin bends have to be introduced, a minimum

intervening distance of 60 m should be provided between the successive
bends to enable the driver to negotiate the alignment smoothly.

• At hair pin bends preferably the full roadway width should be surfaced.

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 Types of Hair PinBends
1) Symmetrical Hair Pin Bend

2) Asymmetrical Hari Pin Bend

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 Expression for Hair PinBends
• Simple expression may be derived based on the geometry of hair pin bends.
=T
In Rt. Angled ΔAEO

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 𝐴𝐸 𝑇+ 𝑚 𝑇+ 𝑚
In rt. angled Δ AEO, Cosβ = = , Then AO=
𝐴𝑂 𝐴𝑂 Cosβ
𝐹𝑂 𝑅 𝑅
In rt. angled ΔBFO, Sinβ = = , Then BO = Sinβ
𝐵𝑂 𝐴𝑂

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 Hill Side Drainage

• Adequate drainage facility should be provided across the road.

• Attempts should be made to align the roads in such a way where the
number of crossdrainage structures required are minimum.
• This will reduce the construction cost.

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 Special Structures in HillRoads
• Construction of hill roads involves manyspecial structures.

• These may include wide range of structures which are used to retain soil
mass to increase stability of road embankment slopes as well as natural hill
slopes to accommodate road bed in steep slope to penetrate deep through
mountain pass and so on.

• Special structures are also required to dissipate energy of surface water in

the hill road drainage system to provide snow avalanche control and
protection system, river training and erosion control to prevent scour under
cutting and the cutting by theriver.
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The following types of special structures are most frequently used in the hill
road in Nepal:

1. Retaining Structures
2. River Training Structures
3. Landslide Stabilization Structures/Slope Protection Structures/Slope
Stabilization Structures
4. Gully Control Structures
5. Erosion Control Structures
6. Drainage Structures

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 1. Retaining Structures
• A retaining structure is usually a wall constructed for the purpose of
supporting or retaining a vertical or nearly vertical earth bank which in turn
may support vertical loads.
• Provides adequate stability to the roadway and to the slope.
• Constructed on the hill side of the roadway
• Also provided to retain the earth mass roads where the embankment slope
or cut slope cannot be extended beyond roadway.
• Generally for hill slopes with gentle slope retaining structures may not be
required.(Unless there is lack of land)
• For steeper slopes relative economy of cost of earth cutting and retaining
structures has to becompared and decision shall be done accordingly.

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 Classification of Retaining Structure

Based on Materials Used:

i) Dry stone masonry
ii) Stone filled gabion wirecrates
iii) Stone masonry with cement sandmortar
iv) Composite (Dry Stone Masonry Filled in Cement Sand Mortar Masonry
Frame)
v) Plain Cement Concrete
vi) Reinforced Cement Concrete
vii) Timber (Crib walls)

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Dry Wall
Gaboin
Wall
 Gabion Walls
• Gabions are multi-celled, welded wire or rectangular wire mesh boxes, which are then
rockfilled, and used for construction of erosion control structures and to stabilize steep
slopes.
• Their applications include,
- Retaining walls,
- Bridge abutments,
- Wing walls,
- Culvert headwalls,
- Outlet aprons,
- Shore and beach protectionwalls, and
- Temporary check dams.

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RRM wall
RCC wall
 Crib Walls
• Crib walls have been made of various materials including
wood, concrete and evenplastic.
• The cribs are made of interlocking headers and stretchers
that are stacked like the walls of a log cabin.
• Crib walls are usually quite large and can be out of scale
and character with the surroundinglandscape.
• In addition, heavy construction equipment is required to
lay the courses, possiblyimpacting sensitive areas.
• It can be used for moderate heights of 4m to 6m.

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Based on Location with Respect to theRoadway
i) Hill Side or Valley Side RetainingWalls
ii) Revetment Walls or Breast Walls,etc.
iii) Toe walls
iv) Cut off Walls

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 Retaining Walls

• Used to retain soil, rock or other materials.

• Designed and constructed to sustain the earth pressure and wheel load.
• Constructed along the valley side as well as the hill side

GL2

BACK SOIL
GL1

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• Situations requiring the construction of retaining walls are:
i) In Valley sides to retain the embankment materials when where cutting
into hill is not economical or has to be restricted due to otherreasons
ii) Places where the valley side surfaces gets saturated in the monsoons and is
likely to result in slip taking a part of road with it.
iii) In hill side when the soil is too loose or there is vehicle load coming
from above
iv) Places where undercutting by a stream or other water course causes
damage to the valley side and the road.
v) In valley point where water flows over the road

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• Made of Dry Stone Masonry, Gabion, Stone Masonry with Cement Mortar
or Concrete.
• No problem of backfill drainage  in case of Dry Stone or Gabion Box
Retaining Walls
• In case of Stone Masonry in Cement Mortar Joint
• Weeps Holes  are provided at specific interval to facilitate backfill
drainage
• Compacted Backfill with crushed aggregates or river gravel are provided for
backfill to prevent choking of weepholes.

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 Revetment or BreastWalls
• Revetment walls are known as Breast Walls. They are not meant to take the road and
retain the soil mass but to prevent the cut slope or fill slope made of loose eroding soils
from further slip or erosion.
• These walls are sloped towards cut or fill slope and are not intended to resist overturning
or sliding.
• Provided on the inner side of the road to give support to the loose and unreliable soil of
the cut up hill side.
• Such walls perform the followingfunctions:
a) Keep the road edge defined and also protect the drain to some extent.
b) The hill slope to the extent of breast wall height will remain protected from slips and
any slide above this height will flow over the top of the breast wall.
c) It would not allow continuity of the flowing mass of soil and would thus facilitate the
clearance ofslides.
d) Assistance in drainage fro hill slope through weep holes in breast wall on to the side
drain in front of wall. 132
 Toe Wall
• If the sloping length is too long it is preferable to construct a toe wall as to
support the embankment. Where the cutting slope is steep and contains
loose soils, slips are likely to occur.
• Simillarly When culverts/scuppers are constructed and waterfalls above
the retaining walls on the valley side to a considerable height, in the form
of free fall, there is considerable erosion at the toe of the retaining wall.
• In order to check this, one or a series of toe walls are constructed in order
to break the water force so that the retaining wall does not get eroded.
Cut off walls
• In some cases, similar structures called Cut off walls/Check Walls are
required in the stream bed on the upstream side of the road to reduce the
flow of debris which blocks the road.
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Based on Structural Scheme (Principal Type of RetainingWalls)

(a)Conventional Retaining Walls

i) Gravity Walls
ii) Semi-Gravity Walls
iii) Cantilever Walls Counterfort Walls
iv) Buttressed Walls
v) Crib Walls
(b) Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) Walls
(c) Reinforced SoilWalls

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Conventional
Retaining
Walls

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 1. Gravity Retaining Walls
• Gravity walls are the earliest known retaining structures.
• Constructed with plain concrete or stone masonry. They are built
from solid concrete or rock rubble mortared together.

• They depend on their own weight and any soil resting on the
masonry for stability.
• This type of construction is not economical for high walls.
• Gravity walls are economical for heights up to 3 m (10 feet).

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 2. Semi-gravity Walls
o Not as heavy as gravity walls.
o A small amount of reinforcement is used for reducing the mass of concrete or minimizing
the size of wallsections.
o A specialized form of gravity walls is a semi-gravity retaining wall.
o These have some tension reinforcing steel included so as to minimize the thickness of
the wall without requiring extensivereinforcement.
o They are a blend of the gravity wall and the cantilever wall designs.

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 3. Cantilever Retaining Walls
• Made of reinforced concrete and consist of a relatively thin stem and a base slab.
o Base slab is thecantilever portion.
o Base is also divided into two parts, the heel and toe.
o Heel is the part of the base under the backfill.
o Toe isthe other part of the base.
o Resists pressure due to its bending action.
• Use much less concrete than monolithic gravity walls, but require more design and careful
construction.
• Generally economical up to about 8m (25 ft.) to 10m (32 ft.) in height.
• Can be precast in a factory or formed on site.
• More convenient and relatively economical for design.
• Rankine’s and Coulomb’s theories can be used to find active earth pressure on the wall.

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 4. Counterfort Walls

o Similar to cantilever walls except they have thin vertical concrete webs at regular
intervals along the backside of the wall. These webs are known as counterforts.
o Counterforts tie the slab and base together, and the purpose of them is to reduce the
shear forces and bending moments imposed on the wall by the soil. A secondary effect is
to increase the weight of the wall from the added concrete.
o Can be precast or formed on site.
o More economical than cantilever walls for heights above 8 m (25 ft).
o Wall can be used for much longer lengths as compared to cantilever wall.

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• It is just like a cantilever wall but much longer as compared to cantilever wall. If it is to be
used for even longer distances some supports are provided to it at required intervals.
• Counterforts that tie the wall and the base slab together. The purpose of the counterforts
is to reduce the shear and the bending moments.

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 5. Buttressed Walls
o Similar to counterfort walls except the brackets or buttress walls are provided on the
opposite side of thebackfill.
• slab stems are used at some interval to tie the base slab and stem in order to reduce the
shear force and bending moment for more economical design

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 Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) Walls

• These walls are among the most economical, and most commonly constructed.
• Contrary to other types, the MSE walls are supported by the soil, and not the
other way around.
• They are supported by selected fills (granular) and held together by
reinforcements, which can be either metallic strips or plastic meshes.
• The MSE Categoriesare
A) Panel Walls,
B) Concrete Block Walls,and
C) Temporary Earth Walls

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Panel
Walls

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Concrete
Block walls

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Temporary Earth Walls
• Nowadays, the main components of these types of walls are
• Backfill—which is granularsoil
• Reinforcement in the backfill
• A cover (or skin) on the front face
• The reinforcement can be thin galvanized steel strips, geogrid, or geotextile for
descriptions of geogrid andgeotextile).
• In most cases, precast concrete slabs are used as skin. The slabs are grooved to fit
into each other so that soil cannot flow between the joints.
• Thin galvanized steel also can be used as skin when the reinforcements are
metallic strips.
• When metal skins are used, they are bolted together, and reinforcing strips are
placed between theskins.
• These walls are relatively flexible and can sustain large horizontal and vertical
displacement without muchdamage.

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 Reinforced Soil Walls
• It is a composite construction material in which the strength of fill is
enhanced through addition of inextensible tensile reinforcement in the form
of strips, sheets, grids or geotextiles.
• The technique of construction is quite suitable for hilly areas mainly due to
the following reasons:
i) The fill materials which consists of mainly granular material is easily
available in all parts of the hilly areas from cutting of hill side during
construction of roads.
ii) These involve minimum alteration in natural slopes since the emphasis is
on avoiding the cutting ofnatural slope.
iii) The land width or actual embankment width required is less.
iv) This is cost effective and environmentfriendly.
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2. River Training Structures

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 River Training
• 'River training' refers to the structural measures which are taken to improve a river and its banks.
• River training is an important component in the prevention and mitigation of flash floods and
general flood control, as well as in other activities such as ensuring safe passage of a flood under
a bridge or protecting a road or railway embankement.

Objective of RiverTraining
• Todeflect the river from a bank and stop its erosion.
• To provide protection work along the banks of river, so that it may not damage and submerge
cultivated and inhabitedlands.
• To provide the minimum width of river required at the site of the bridge, so that the bridge can be
constructedeconomically.
• If the navigation is to be done in river, river training works provide greater depth of water for this
purpose.

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• BUTFOR ROADS
• To prevent out-flanking of bridges or other such types of construction works across
the river and to train the river to flow in straight reach both u/s and d/s at the site of
the bridge.
• In Alluvial Rivers, the water flows in large width and has the tendency to erode side
banks and submerge side areas.(By changing Course)
• While designing bridges across such rivers, it is very difficult to decide the position
of river due to uncertainty about the direction oftheir flow.
• There is always a danger that it may erode its one bank and change its course and
may start flowing outside the constructed work.
• Under these conditions , it is take immediate measure to protect the banks.
• At such places some special types of works are needed and known as “River Training
Works”.

• To prevent the river from damaging highway and railway formation, bridges and
other structures near the river 187
Types of River Training Works/River Bank Protection Structures

1. Guide Bunds or Levees or Marginal Embankments

2. Spurs (Groynes)
3. Marginal Bunds
4. Closure Bunds
5. Assisted Cut-offs
6. Pitching of Banks and SubsidingAprons
7. Pitched Islands
8. Silts and Closing Dykes

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 Guide Bunds/Banks
Necessity:
• Guide bunds are meant to confine and guide the river flow through the
structure without causing damage to it and its approaches.
• They also prevent the out flankingof the structure.

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 Types of Guide Bunds
• Can either be divergent upstream or parallel.
• According to geometrical shape, the guide bunds may be straight or elliptical.

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 Spurs
• When the river starts erosion of bank and changing of its course, the spurs or spurs are
constructed to deflect the current away from the bank.

• Spurs are the structures built transverse to the river flow extending from the river bank.

• If spurs are built in series, the bank can be completely protected.

• A spur is a structure constructed transverse to the river flow and is projected form the
bank into the river.

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 Types of Spurs /Groynes

i) Permeable Spurs
ii) Impermeable Spurs

• Permeable Spurs - useful when concentration of suspended sediment load

is heavy; they allow water to pass through.
• Impermeable Spurs are made of solid core, constructed of stones or earth
and stones with exposed faces protected by pitching. These spurs can with
stand severe attack better than permeable spurs.

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ii) Spurs may be classified as
(a) Repelling (Deflecting)
(b) Attracting and
(c) Neutral (Sedimenting).
• Repelling (Deflecting) Spurs are those which incline upstream at an angle of 60 degree to
70 degree to the river course and deflect the current towards the opposite bank. They
cause silting in still water on theupstream pocket.
• Attracting Spurs incline downstream and make the deep channel flow continuously along
their noses. They cause scour just on the downstream side of the head due to turbulence.
The river flow is attracted towards thespur.
• Normal (Holding or Sedimenting) Spurs are those which are built at right angles to the
bank to keep the stream in a particular position and promote silting between the spurs.
They have practically no effect on the diversion of the current and are mostly used for
training of rivers for navigationalpurposes.

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iii) Spurs are also classified as
• Full Height Spurs and
• Where top level is higher than HFL, it is called a full height spur.
• Part Height Spurs.
• Where top level is below than HFL, it is called a part height spur.

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Narayani river

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 Marginal Bunds
• Marginal bunds are provided to contain the spread of the river when the river in flood
spills over its banks upstream of the bridge site over wide area and likely to spill in the
neighbouring water courses or cause other damages.
• The marginal bund should normally be built well away from the active area of the river.
• The slope should be well protected by turfing.
• Where a marginal bund has to be built in the active area of the river, it should be
protected with pitching andapron.
• The earth for the construction of marginal bund should preferably be obtained form the
river side.
• The upper end of the marginal bund should be anchored into high ground wellabove HFL.
• Marginal bunds should be inspected every year along with the annual bridge inspection
and necessary repairs should be carried out before the onset of monsoon.
• Cattle crossing and rodent holes across the marginal bund should be specially watched
and deficiencies made good.

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 Assisted Cut- Offs
• Sometimes when very heavy meandering develops near bridges and there is a danger
of its encroaching too heavily into the still water area or otherwise dangerously
approaching the railway embankment, it becomes necessary to dig a cut-off channel
which will ultimately develop and help in the diversion of water through it.
• To effect economy, a pilot channel cut is usually made when there is low flow in the
river and full development of the channel takes place during the flood.

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• This cut off channel shouldpreferably have
(i) at least three times the river’s straight regime slope and
(ii) the upstream end should take off from where the bed load of main channel has less
than the average amount of coarse material i. e. from the active part of the channel
where the velocity ismore.

• The entrance to the pilot cut should be bell shaped to facilitate entry of water.
• Cut off should be planned with care taking all relevant factors into account

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 Protection of ApproachBanks
1. Approach banks of bridges may be subjected to severe attack under the following
conditions:

i) When the HFL at the bridge is very high and there is spill beyond the normal flow
channel.
ii) When the stream meets a main river just downstream of the bridge.
iii) In the case of bridges with insufficient water way.
iv) The wave action on the approach bank of bridges situated in a lake/large tank bed
may have a detrimentaleffect.

• In all the above cases the pitching of the approach bank upto HFL with sufficient free
board is an effective solution. Provision of toe wall and narrow apron in some cases will
also be useful.

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RRM Riprap

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C

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2. If deep borrow pits are dug near the toe of approach banks, the water
flows through these pits and forms a gradually deepening water course
which may eventually threaten the safety of the approach bank. In this
case it will be useful to put rubble "T" spurs across the flow to reduce
the velocity and expedite silting ofthe course.

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3. Landslide Stabilization Structures/Slope Protection
Structures/Slope StabilizationStructures

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 Landslides
• If a mass of earth moves along a definite plane or surface the failure is
termed as Landslide.
• Large block known as a slump block moves during the landslide.
• The scar above a landslide is easilyvisible.
• They can occur along a slope where the internal resistance of the rocks are
reduced or they loose their holdingcapacity.
• Common after earthquakes or after removal of part of the slope due to
construction, particularly for construction of roads.

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• During the movement landslide can result into the:
• Debris Slides or Slump - are failure of
unconsolidated material on a surface; Rock Slides
or Rock Falls – where movement of large rock
block rolls

• They are also common along the steep banks of

rivers, lakes etc.

• Pore Water Pressure is the key to monitoring

landslides. Shear strength (a resisting force)
decreases and the weight (a driving force
increases).
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 Causes of Landslides
1) Landslide Triggers
(i) Cloud burst (200-1000mm/day)
(ii) Uncontrolled flow of water on slope surface from over flooded steep gullies.
(iii) Toe cutting may activate failure by overtopping of rock blocks or slides in
colluvium.
(iv) Earthquake
(v) Blasting
(vi) Flash flood due toglacial lake outbursts

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2) Causes

A) Man MadeCauses
(i) Deforestation
(ii) Blasting quarrying
(iii) Hill cutting
(iv) Irrigation of paddy fields, water storage ponds
(v) Undermining, tunnelling
(vi) Vehicle vibration in hillroads
B) Erosion Process
(i) Blocking of naturaldrainage
(ii) High flow velocities in steepgullies
C) Pore water pressure
D) Geological conditions
(i) Minéral composition, rock type, structureetc.
(Shrestha B.D,2000)

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 Preventive Measures

• The main factors which contribute to landslides are Slope, water content, geological
structure, unconsolidated or loose sediments, lithology and human interference.
• Effect of Water: Make proper drainage network for quick removal of percolating moisture
or rain water by constructing ditches and water ways along the slope
• Slope:Retaining wall may be constructed against the slopes, which can prevents rolling
down of material. Terracing of the slope is an effective measure.
• Geological structures: Weak planes or zones may covered or grouted to prevent
percolation of water, this increases the compaction of loose material.

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 Landslide Stabilization Structures

1) Water Management and Stabilization Measures/ Structures

a) French Drain – Stone Tributary Drain
b) Masonry Surface Drain
c) Stone Pitching
d) Gabion Tributary Drain

• Management of drainage is important for the control of landslides.

• Drainage management alone has significantly improved the stability of
Medium and Large Landslide-proneSlopes.

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 Landslide Stabilization Structures
2) Slope stabilizing techniques
a. Scaling : Loose and unstable parts of the slope are removed

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b. Concrete spraying (Shortcreting) :
• Slope is stabilized by spraying of concrete over the surface
• The sprayed concrete penetrates to the depths of the rock mass and forms
ones solid block , thus prevents landslides
Rock bolting / Nailing :
• Loose surficial matters are tied to the lower lying rocks by use of rock bolt or
nails
 3) Bioengineering Structures for Slope Stabilization
• Soil Bioengineering is a useful and effective technology for slope stabilization and soil
conservation.
• Soil bioengineering is defined as “the use of living plant materials to construct structures
that perform an engineering function”.
• The technology is now widely used for slope stabilization and soil conservation in many
countries that experience slopeinstability.
• In addition to slope stabilization, soil bioengineering structures are also used to control
gully and river bankerosion.
• Gullies commonly occur on landslides and fill slopes if treatment is not given in time and
landslides are also triggered by undercutting from river and channel erosion.

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Functions of vegetation (Bioengineering)

Catch
Support
Armor
Reinforce
Anchor
Drain
 Types of Bio Engineering Structures
(a)Vegetative Retaining Walls
• Soil bioengineering retaining walls are effective in stabilizing slips and small landslides.
• Different types of soil bioengineering retaining walls have been used for stabilizing
landslides in different parts of the world.
• Among these, the most common soil bioengineering retaining walls are vegetated soft
gabions, live brushwood, VegetatedGeotextileRetainingWall and timber cribwalls.
• The vegetated soft gabion and live brushwood retaining walls are also combined with
gabion, stone masonry and concrete walls to reduced cost of engineering structures for
slope stabilization.
• The selection of the type of bioengineering retaining wall for a particular site depends on
the availability of the material required at the particular site and for the favored
construction method.
 Vegetated Soft Gabion RetainingWall

• This retaining structure utilizes empty used bags of synthetic fiber or jute,
generally available in the market at cheaprates.
• The ruble cleared from the toe of the landslide is used for filling the bags for
the construction of vegetated soft gabionwalls.
• The filled bags are used as building blocks like bricks to construct the
retaining wall (Figure 1).
• The foundation is excavated at the toe of the landslide by removing the
debris.
• The first layer of bags is placed length wise across the length of the retaining
wall.

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• A 15cm thick soil layer is placed on the bags and branches of the living woody
plants and rooted seedlings are placed above the soil layer in such a way that
their basal (butt) ends reaches the mother soil of the slope.
• The soil is placed on the brush‐hedge layers and compacted well.
• Above the brush layer another layer of bags is placed width wise by giving a
step of 20‐35cm.
• The soil from the upslope is scrapped for filling the space behind the bags and
compacted properly.
• A second layer of brush layer treatment is given above the bags as explained
above.
• The process is repeated till the required height of the retaining wall is
reached.
• After rooting and sprouting, thick vegetation is established at the toe of the
landslide (Photo 1a, 1b and 1c). By the time the synthetic bags rot the
vegetation is established and the slope is stabilized permanently.
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 Live Brushwood Retaining Wall
• For establishing live brushwood retaining walls, poles of tree species such as Marmele sp. (Amare fuik),
Jatropha sp., Cordia spp. and Ficus spp. are driven at the toe of a small landslide at 1m spacing across the toe
of the slope.
• The length of the poles should be 1.5m (minimum). Brushwood bundles having 15cm diameter from any
tree, bush or grass species available near the site are prepared and placed along the uphill side of the poles.
• Coconut or palm leaves along with their stalks are the best suited material for this purpose.
• The soil is pushed from the upslope and firmly packed behind the brushwood bundles or coconut leave
stalks.
• After attaining 30cm height, brush layering treatment is carried out by using the brushwood of trees species
with high growth. The placed brushwood is covered with soil which is then compacted.
• Only 10cm length of the tail ends of the brushwood is projected out of the brushwood wall. Brushwood
bundles or palm leaves are again placed above brush layer treatment and the soil is filled as described
above.
• The second layer of brushwood is placed and the process is repeated till the top of the poles is reached
(Photos 2, 3 and 4). If the pole is less than the required height of the retaining wall, another live brush
retaining wall is established after giving a step of 1m.
• The poles and the fresh brushwood used in brush layers quickly sprout, creating a live vegetation retaining
wall. By the

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 Vegetated Geotextile Retaining Wall
• Geo‐textile rolls are used for constructing vegetated geo‐textile retaining walls.
Coconut fiber and jute is also used for weaving the biodegradable geo‐textile sheets.
After removing the debris from the toe of landslide the geo‐textile sheet is spread
across a width of 1.5m. The remaining portion of the sheet is rolled and kept at the
outer edge. The soil is pushed down from the cut slope and placed over the sheet
and compacted well. The depth of the soil over the sheet is kept at 1m and itsouter
face is given a batter of 1 (horizontal):8 (vertical). The remaining roll of the sheet is
overlapped on the compacted soil towards the cut slope. It is better to sowseeds of
native grasses on outer face of the soil before covering it with the sheet. A 20cm
thick layer of soil is placed on the sheet and covered with a 1.6m long brushwood
layer extending it beyond the overlapped sheet to ensure adequate rooting takes
place. A thin soil layer is placed over the brush layer and compacted before placing
another geo‐grid sheet with the same procedure as described above. At each layer a
step of 35cm is given (Figure 3). The brushwood sprouts in the wet season. The
roots reinforce the soil and make it strong to resist the shearing forces working on it.
In Timor‐Leste vegetated geo‐textile walls could be constructed with sheets made
from coconut fiber.
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 Vegetated Timber Crib Wall
• Crib walls should be built from round poles or square timber held together by
nails or bolts.
• Crib walls are placed at an angle of no more than 1:8 (horizontal: vertical)
inclining toward the upslope.
• Wooden crib walls should not be higher than 3m. For construction of the wall,
the first row of footers is placed in touch with the cut slope and parallel to it.
• The second row is placed at 1.5m distance parallel to the first row.
• The length of the footers depends on the available length of the poles.
• The headers are 1.5‐2m long and are placed across the footers at 2m distance.
• During the crib wall construction, branches of living plants should be placed in
the open spaces between the poles in such a way that less than 10cm length
protrude from thewall.
• When the fill material is damped into openings between the poles, large hollow
spaces should be avoided to ensure that the branches are in touch with the soil
and will root properly.
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 (b) Bally Revetments
• In weak /wet sliding area, revetments of ballies/bamboos driven vertically and ties
horizontally in rows parallel to the road along the hill slopes above and below the
formation level to provide the temporary stability to the slope.
• Sometimes the temporary revetment is enough to stabilize the slopes
permanently, these areprovided.
• In case they are not sufficient these can be replaced by breast walls of masonry
• The revetment is made with selected varieties of fresh cut ballies, which take
roots quickly under wet conditions, it provides vegetation cover and adds to
stability to the slope.

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(C) Live check dams

Check dams are formed by using plants

(d) Brush layering
Road Side Bio-engineering for
landslide stabilization
Jute netting for
grass plantation

Landslide
stabilisation
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Treatment for non-cohesive fill slope

Brush layering after monsoon of the same year

Treatments for wet slumps

Sub-soil drains and brush

Sub-surface drain and brush layering after monsoon of
layering during construction the same year
PHOTOGRAPHS
Dharan-Dhankuta-Hile Road

169
Dharan-
Dhankuta

170
Dhankuta-Hile
Road

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