This is a great video by Vermont DOT that describes how scaling is used as part of their mitigation efforts for rockfall. If you have never seen how high scaling works, this gives you a good perspective. Scalers use ropes to access the slope and work from the top down to test rocks with prybars and other tools to see if they are loose, bringing them down if they are. They also use airbags, pneumatic “pillows” that start flat and can slide into cracks and joints and be inflated using compressed air to push rocks off the slope.
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Rockfall: Characterization and Control
This fall, TRB will release Rockfall: Characterization and Control, which will address rockfall hazard identification and evaluation, investigation process, mitigation options, and maintenance and management programs. The 400 page publication will include a DVD with […]
Devil’s Slide Tunnel Update and First Attempts to Tame the Landslide
The Devil’s Slide Tunnel project is on schedule and on budget according to a news story at ABC7News.com from earlier in June. The video (shown after the break) has a few nice shots showing rock bolting, soil nailing at the portals, and the geologic mapping and laser scanning that happens at the tunnel face.
I also came across a very neat article about how the Ocean Shore Railroad Company was the first to try to cut into the slope along what is now PCH 1 at the Devil’s Slide back in the early 1900s. They were trying to connect the then rural farming community of Half-Moon Bay with San Francisco. The railroad fought the reoccurring landslide and serious rockfalls. Ocean Shore Railroad went bankrupt in 1922 and pulled up its rails, making room for the current highway. (Photo at left from halfmoonbaymemories.com)