Hill Roads Research Articles

Problems Associated with the Implementation of Bioengineering in Hill Road Construction in Nepal

The landslide disaster, feeble geology, rapid deforestation, poor drainage system, and increase in mechanical strain have weakened the Krishna Bhir slope, Prithvi Highway, Dhading, Nepal. The objective of this article was to study the problems associated with bioengineering implementation in hill road construction with recommendations. For primary research, a map study, field observation, in-depth interview, focus group discussion, and questionnaire survey were used as an instrument for the field study. Published reports, papers, a thesis, database, manuals, and field observation were also reviewed. The landslide caused loss of property, ill effects on lifestyle, disturbance in the movement of goods and services, loss of availability of water due to damage to the water supply system, damage to the sewage disposal system, etc. During the construction period using the bioengineering technique, the major problem occurred during the installation of the bioengineered system (RII = 0.791), lack of training during construction (RII = 0.839), unavailability of space (RII = 0.817), inadequate supply of appropriate instruments (RII = 0.821) and improper selection of vegetation types (RII=0.839). The major problems were also seen during site monitoring and evaluation (RII= 0.853). Proper selection of plant species (RII=0.936) before implementation of the bioengineering technique is needed at hill roads, but the high installation costs (RII=0.841) could be the major limitation. Bioengineering application has a bright future if proper actions are taken in time. Solutions need to be formulated and implemented by understanding the major limitations of bioengineering techniques.

Wildlife at the crossroads: wild animal road kills due to vehicular collision on a mountainous highway in northwestern Himalayan region

Wildlife mortality due to vehicular collision is well known across the world and the number of such incidences is steadily rising in Himalaya as well. To assess the quantum of wildlife road kills, we conducted an intensive survey spanning 33 months along a mountainous National Highway 244 in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Forty-nine wild animal carcasses of 13 species of higher vertebrates were observed lying on the road, shoulders, edges, and valley slopes. These included seven mammals, four birds, and two reptiles. This survey, first of its kind in this part of the Himalaya would be helpful in understanding the underlying reasons of the rising wildlife fatalities on the hill roads, identifying susceptible hotspots, and developing measures to address this new threat to Himalayan wildlife. We recommend creating wildlife passages, raising speed halters, and placing warning signages in vulnerable sections to reduce the road-related wildlife mortality in such mountainous highways.

A Novel Mountain Driving Unity Simulated Environment for Autonomous Vehicles

The simulated driving environment provides a low cost and time-saving platform to test the performance of the autonomous vehicle by linkage with existing machine learning approaches. However, most of existing simulated driving environments focus on building flat roads in urban areas. Still, they neglected to endeavour the tough steep, curvy hill roads, such as mountain paths around suburban areas. In this study, by deploying in Unity engine, we developed the first complex mountain driving simulated environment with characterizing continuous curves and up/downhill. Then, two state-of-art reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms are used to train a vehicle agent and test the performance of autonomous vehicles in our developed simulated environment. Also, we set 5 different levels of vehicle's speeds and observe the cumulative rewards during the vehicle agent training. Our demonstration presents the developed environment supports for complex mountain scenario configurations and RL-based autonomous vehicles, and our findings show that the vehicle agent could achieve high cumulative rewards during the training stage, suggesting that our work is a potential new simulation environment for autonomous vehicles research. The demonstration video can be viewed via the link: https://youtu.be/0wSqGeCn-NU.

The impact of construction of hill roads on the environment, assessed using the multi-criteria approach

ABSTRACT The environmental impact assessment (EIA) in regard to road widening of a 26 km stretch in Reasi District of Jammu and Kashmir (Union Territory) has been studied. Impact on the environment included temperature, deforestation, rainfall, landslides, blasting, surface and groundwater, air and soil pollution, habitat change, historical and socio-environmental factors. The study indicates that buses are the highest emitters of Hartridge Smoke Unit (HSU) followed by light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial trucks and cars, and three-wheelers in that order. The study also established that the make and age of the vehicle had negligible impact on the observed values of HSU and the light absorption coefficient (k). With the help of multi-criteria tools, the EIA has been quantified for four alternatives of a road stretch using fourteen criteria. The results show that the impact of the construction of two-lane highways on the environment is high, but that it can also be mitigated effectively.

Anti rolling back material design used for hill station vehicle

The motors advancements in cars, truck, is the foremost method of transportation nowadays. Using cars and other transport vehicles to drive through the hill places is tough. To evade chances of accident and opposite rollover in reverse of the car while it is in the halt position and start in the hill roads needs excellence in using clutch, brake and speeding up and that is difficult for drivers who have less experience. The system proposed here is done by the Arduino design allows the driver to handgrip the car without difficulty in the hill stations, and eludes unnecessary accidents. The detection and sensing is done automatically for the clutch, accelerator. The mode selection switch positions used in the system and the brake system are functioned immediately to get escape from any impact. The emergency system lets the vehicle to put on brakes in close chance meeting with further obstacles.

Slope stability and factor of safety analysis on different region of soil by using geo studio slope/w software

The one of the main trouble in the industry of construction is on account of topography nature and the weather conditions is Slope stability . Excavations, hill roads, railway lines, embankments, earth dams, open-cut mines, reservoirs and coastal slope stability these type of applications can come under the consideration of slope engineering. One of the frequent disaster is Slope failure which can generate great loss in property and life. The project namely “Slope Stability and Factor of safety analysis” gives analysis of Four region soil (Himalaya, Jammu and Punjab and on DTU, Delhi) using Geo Studio Slope/w software. The analysis for stability of earth structures can be get from a general software tool Slope/W which is design and develop accordingly. The main essential thing that must be taking care of in the slope stability is in order to undergo the mountainous region project. The study is focus on slope stability analysis for Himachal Jammu and Punjab State and Delhi soil slope using Slope/w. Slope failure has become one of the most frequent geological disaster along the road network in the hilly terrain of Himalayan Jammu , Punjab and Delhi regions that lead to huge loss of life, property and above all the environment. The process of slope stability is very important to defence of the slopes from failure and minimize the likelihood of failure of slopes. By helping Geo Studio(Slope/w) software, the factor of safety and slope stability slope stability will be analyzed.

Performance Assessment of Crash Barriers used in Road Safety: A Case Study of Malekhu Kurintar Section of the Prithvi Highway

Hill roads in Nepal are comprised of critical geometry and limited roadway clearances. It causes high number of runoff roadway type of accidents with single vehicle. These accidents often carry huge number of fatalities and severe injuries. Installation of crash barriers is the most effective way of preventing such accidents along hill roads. However, the existing practice of construction of crash barriers does not show the satisfactory results. Therefore, this research aimed at the evaluation of typical crash barriers constructed along the valley side of highway. Analysis of the road accident of Malekhu-Kurintar section of Prithvi Highway record shows that this section has relatively higher accident rate and most of the accidents are runoff roadway type. Further, these accidents are mainly caused due to either the absence or the failure of the crash barriers along the valley side of the highway. On the basis of field records, kinetic energy absorbed by the crash barriers and their deflections was investigated by application of computer based analysis tool ABAQUS V6.10. It has given satisfactory results on the deflection of W-beam and plum concrete barriers due to the impact of vehicle moving in various range of speed.

Application of controlled blasting technology in mountain excavation under complex conditions

The blasting conditions of the site leveling project of a green power and renewable energy limited company are extremely complex. There are construction facilities on both sides of the excavated hill, and expressways and county roads on the front of the excavated hill. In order to control the impact of rolling stones, blasting vibration, blasting flying stones on surrounding buildings, bridges and culverts, pre-embedded industrial water pipes, highways and roadbeds during the excavation of mountain bodies, precise controlled blasting and comprehensive vibration reduction techniques such as weak loosening, controlling the maximum single-shot (single-segment) charge, hole-by-hole blasting, dispersed charge sectional blasting, axial spacing and radial uncoupled charge are proposed. Pre-splitting blasting technology is used to stabilize the slope in slope engineering and trench blasting technology is used in excavation of cut-off ditch. The technology guarantees the normal opening of the frontal expressway and county road during the excavation operation, and does not affect the safe production of the company. This technology guarantees that the excavation of mountain body will not affect the normal opening of frontal expressway and county road, and will not affect the safety of production of the company.

A Survey on Awareness of Traffic Safety among Drivers in Delhi, India

Increasing number of road accidents coupled with increasing vehicle population means an increase in the number of aggressive road users resulting in incidence of road rage. Inexperienced drivers often experience anxiety due to their underdeveloped and declining skills, which influence their behaviour. To highlight the effectiveness of correct training on the drivers' performance, this research work was initiated at Traffic Psychological Laboratory in CSIR-CRRI. In this study, a purposive sample of two groups of 102 drivers was selected and they were administered the road sign test. Findings: The analysis of the data highlights that maximum level of awareness about road sign of driving on hill roads (89%), seat belts usage while driving (89%) the safe way of stopping during emergency (40%), safe place of parking the vehicle (39%) and road markings (27%). Overall, drivers have shown average and above average level of awareness 52% to 77%.

Distribution of Ethno Medicinal Plants Along Some Important Roads: A Case Study of Northern Mizoram

Mizoram state of India is part of the biodiversity hotspots of the world, the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot of South Asia which shows roadside rich diversity of flora. These floras are one of the source of carbon sink along the road and also source of medicinal resources for local villagers. India is world leader in the era of medical pluralism because it has strong evidence based biomedical sciences, as well as an immensely rich indigenous medical heritage of its own. Some works related to medicinal plants have been reported by some researchers in some districts and localized area in Mizoram. Till date no work has been reported on the diversity and ecology of medicinal flora growing along the Hill Roads in Mizoram. For listing of the medicinal plants along the roads four (4) major roads of northern part of Mizoram in three different locations were selected for the present study which were surveyed with team of experts for two consecutive years during the months of October to January (2017 & 2018) within 30m of the roads by traversing on foot on both side of the roads. Data on uses of the plants were collected through questionnaire, interviews and discussions with local people local Vadhya and old men and women community along the roads. During survey 318 traditional medicinal plants were recorded, out of which 170 are trees, 48 are shrubs and 100 are herbs. Status assessments of the plants indicate the fact that very few plants has been listed in IUCN list. Study reveals that distribution of these plants are being rare and endangered in their natural habitat due to several factors which need to be conserved and cultivated for their perpetual existence. Proper attention should be made during further capacity augmentation of these roads for conservation of these medicinal plants. The paper enlists the current diversity, habitat and ecology of the ethno medicinal plants and impact of road development on the flora along the road. The study is likely to help in further capacity augmentation/widening of these roads without harming the current diversity of the medicinal flora growing along the road.

Assessment of Diversity and Traditional Uses of Bryophytes Along Some Hill Roads in a Biodiversity Hot Spot Region of India-A Case Study of Mizoram

In India, the bryophytes are represented by 2562 taxa (1636 mosses, 887 liverworts and 39 hornworts). They usually inhabit narrow ecological niches with preference for damp and shady conditions. In Himalayas the bryophytes are rich in diversity and well represented due to prevailing of high rainfall and humidity. Eastern Himalayas are richest in bryophyte flora. Bryophytes are of great ecological importance, they are Pioneer of the land plants and the first plants to grow and colonize the barren rocks and lands. In India, the bryophytes are represented by 2562 taxa (1636 mosses, 887 liverworts and 39 hornworts). Along the Mizoram roads 76 species of bryophytes distributed over 29 families have been identified and recorded by the authors. These bryophytes provide vital ecosystem services like soil formation, habitat modification and nutrient cycling and are useful in pollution detection and monitoring. The flavonoids and terpenoids contained in majority of them show various biological activities with considerable potential of chemical and pharmaceutical properties. Road side village people in Mizoram generally use these bryophytes as medicines, vegetable and for prevention of soil erosion. It has been assessed that during road development these flora will be impacted and that will have impact on community settled along the road. Effort has been made in this paper to assess the diversity of bryophytes along the road corridors so that proper planning can be done during road development to save this natural resource.

Design and Fabrication of Automatic Brake in Vehicle

In this project work the design and construction of a model of automatic braking system for vehicles in hill station is to be developed. The mechanism has been developed to stop the vehicle from rolling back word when the vehicle is moving in the hill roads. This construction made of two phases in a first deigns of ratchet and pawl mechanism, frame, shaft, etc. is done and in second sensor selection and interference is done. Ratchet and pawl mechanism has been fabricated and assembly with sensor interface is tested. The proposed mechanism is to reverse break using ratchet gear. By reverse locking the differential is disengaged from the axle. Thus the power is directly transmitted to the axle and hence to the wheels. This will considerably reduce the power loss in some occasions when unwanted loss is happening due to the transmission if power from the shaft to the ratchet gear and then to the axle and hence to the wheels. So in mechanism the unwanted power loss in the due course of transmission through the gear wheel is reduced.

Rock Slope Stability Assessment Using Geomechanical Classification and its Application for Specific Slopes along Kodaikkanal-Palani Hill Road, Western Ghats, India

ABSTRACT Linear infrastructure networks like roads play a vital role in the socio-economic development of hill towns centered on tourism. Stability of the slopes along the hill roads are therefore a major concern and slope failures lead to disruption of traffic and loss of property/life or both. This study analyses the stability of cut-slopes along the Kodaikkanal – Palani hill road in the Western Ghats, India using rock mass classification systems like rock mass rating (RMR), slope mass rating (SMR) and continuous slope mass rating (CSMR). These geomechanical classifications provide a preliminary assessment of rock quality based on rock strength, discontinuity properties, hydrogeological condition of the slopes and slope stability based on the inherent rock strength parameters, discontinuity orientation and method of excavation. The results showed that both rock quality and discontinuity orientation contribute to type of failure in rock slopes with RMR > 40. SMR results are conservative while CSMR classification is matches more closely to the failures obtained from the field survey. CSMR classification represents continuous slope stability conditions and hence are more suitable for development of spatial database. Cutting of roads, thereby, steepening slopes has a definite influence on the stability of slopes.

Estimation of PCE values for hill roads in heterogeneous traffic conditions

The traffic operations of hill roads are an important aspect that needs to be understood. In order to ascertain the traffic performance, estimating the PCE values and capacities are critical. PCE values are dynamic and vary with small change in any of the influencing characteristics. These values and roadway capacities vary with the estimation method adopted in the analysis. This study aims to understand the influencing factors for estimation and eventually estimating the PCE values of different vehicle types on hill roads. This study includes a review of various methods for estimating PCEs followed by data collection on hill roads of the northeastern state of India (Meghalaya state). PCE values are estimated based on the three important methods identified. These are, (i) Speed-area method, (ii) modified density method, and (iii) area occupancy method. For the data sets analyzed under the prevailing traffic mix, the volumes were very low and the vehicles are predominantly cars, SUVs and trucks with negligible proportion of two wheelers. PCE values obtained from speed-area method are on the higher side for heavy vehicles and on lower side for motorized two wheelers compared with the modified density method and area occupancy methods. Modified density method and area occupancy methods show different PCE values yet these two methods confirm that in hilly terrains having low level of traffic volume, range of PCE values for heavy vehicles and motorized two wheelers decreases by a considerable extent.

Mitigation of environmental impacts due to ghat road formation in Palamalai Hills, South India, by optimizing cut and fill volumes using GPS and GIS techniques.

Formation of new roads generally brings about adverse impact on the environment, and in the case of hill roads, the impact is diverse and effective measures are required to mitigate it. The common problems in hill road formation are tree cutting, destruction of canopies, change in land use pattern, soil erosion, slope instability, induced landslides, invasion of foreign species, and so on. Removal of trees and vegetations causes rapid soil erosion, landslides, and invasion of foreign species posing danger to the survival of weak native species. Dumping of surplus earth materials on the valley side poses a significant threat to the environment as it would cause induced landslides. Using the cut earth for filling in road formation and dumping, the surplus cut earth in safe locations will reduce environmental degradation considerably. Conventionally, hill road alignments are finalized using traditional survey methods using ghat tracer, compass, and leveling surveys which require enormous complicated field and office works. Any revision to reduce the quantum of earthwork is difficult in this method due to its complex nature. In the present study at Palamalai Hills, South India, an alignment for a length of 7.95km was prepared by traditional methods using ghat tracer and total station instruments for survey works. The earthwork quantities were ascertained from the longitudinal profile of the alignment. A GPS survey was also conducted along the alignment to examine its utility in alignment modification. To modify the stretches, where the earthwork cutting and filling are above normal and unbalanced and result in surplus earth, repeated GPS surveys were conducted along different paths to optimize the earthwork. The earthwork quantities of the original alignment were analyzed, and its correlation with environmental effect and the usefulness of the GPS survey in this task are presented in this paper.

Techniques for slope stability analysis: Site specific studies from Idukki district, Kerala

The occurrences of slope failures are frequent in Idukki district of Kerala state particularly along the road cuttings and hill slopes causing disruption in traffic, loss of lives and property. This demands a critical evaluation of stability of slopes along the hill roads. This paper deals with stability analysis of a typical hard rock profile at Chuzhappu and a lateritic profile at Kumili along the road connecting Kottayam and Kumili. A large number of factors have been examined and studied; the orientation of discontinuities has been identified as one of the major inherent factors influencing slope instability along Chuzhappu hard rock profile. These have been analysed carefully using stereographic/equal area projection technique in order to determine the vulnerability to slope failure and to understand the type of rock slide that can occur in this profile. The buoyant force of water acting along the discontinuities after heavy rain storm further aids the down slope movement. As the laterite slope is mostly homogeneous, Bishops method and Swedish method were adopted for stability analysis of laterite slope at Kumili. The study also examines the efficacy and applicability of the different methods employed in soil mechanics to assess the stability of laterite slope.The results obtained by this method are compared by actual field conditions. The stability assessment indicates that two sectors at Chuzhappu and one sector at Kumili profile are at the geo-technical threshold of failure, when piezometric head rises during rainstorm. The study indicates that these methods are highly useful in determining the Factor of Safety in profiles with similar geological setting.

Landslides in the Alaknanda Valley of Garhwal Himalaya, India

The occurrence of landslides is a recurring problem along the hill roads of Himalaya. Roads are often blocked due to landslides, which sometimes also leads to casualties. Identification of such unstable slopes is an imperative task to save life and property. The paper outlines features of major landslides along a National Highway in the Alaknanda valley of Garhwal Himalaya through photo documentation.

Half tunnels along hill roads of Himalaya—an innovative approach

Abstract ‘Half tunnels,’ which are excavated as overhangs within steep slopes of hard rocks, have an advantage over conventional full tunnels or open excavations in that they involve less cost and time. However, due to a lack of interest and their uncommon occurrence, the design and analysis of half tunnels have remained by and large unexplored. In the present paper, an effort has been made to study some of the half tunnels in the Middle and the Higher Himalaya in India. In addition to studying the geology of half tunnels, rock mass properties pertaining to Q and RMR for the rocks exposed around the half tunnel have been evaluated. The Markland test has been carried out to assess the probability of plane or wedge failures along the slopes in the half tunnel area. The results obtained have been again confirmed by analyzing the data with the help of a computer program uwedge . Both analyses suggest that the wedges are stable and that all the half tunnels analyzed are safe. Finite element analyses for different slopes and spans of half tunnels have been carried out to study the distribution of stresses around half tunnels. The range of maximum tensile stress concentration in the roof of half tunnels for different slopes is suggested.

Interactions between forest and landslide activity along new highways in the Kumaun Himalaya

Forest cover and landslide activity were surveyed along two hill roads crossing steep hillsides in the Kumaun Himalaya. The Kilbury Road is cut through reserved forest (29°24′N 79°28′E, altitude 2100 m). The Almora Bypass crosses a suburban fringe (29°16′N 79°40′E, altitude 1650 m). Tree canopy cover upslope of the road cut was 56.8% along the Kilbury Road and 14.1% along the Almora Bypass. Tree canopy cover downslope of the roadbed was 35.7% and 7.6% respectively. Ground vegetation cover downslope of the road was also much reduced. In 1990 (and 1985), landslides affected 80.9% (76.5%) of the roadcut in the forest and 42.5% (43.1%) along the suburban roadcut. Statistical correlation of forest cover and landslide attributes recorded for each 200 m reach of roadbed demonstrate that, in the suburban case study, forest cover correlates positively with landslide activity—because forest survives mainly on sites which are too steep and unstable for development. However, in reserved forest, negative correlations link forest cover and landslide activity. Correlation of the ratio between forest cover downslope and upslope of the road with environmental and landslide activity attributes produces little that is significant from the combined or Almora data sets. However, along the undeveloped forest road, low ratios, indicating a greater proportional reduction of tree cover downslope of the road, are significantly associated with steeper slopes, higher roadcuts, increased slumping onto the roadbed, and increased undermining of the roadcut by landslide and erosional processes.

Environmental correlations of landslide frequency along new highways in the Himalaya: Preliminary results

Variables which correlate with accelerated landslide activity are identifed in a study of two new hill roads at Almora and Nainital, U.P., India. Cumulatively, 32% of the roadcut is affected by rockfall and 27% by the slumping of rock and/or regolith. Correlation and discriminant analyses suggest that rockfalling may be predictable from measures of the frequency of enlarged joints in the roadcut supported by members of an inter-related complex of variables including slope angle, roadcut height, apparent dip, rock strength, and upslope vegetation cover. Direct measures of environmental instability, such as the undermining of the roadbed by erosion, were also shown to have value. However, the study found few useful environmental indicators of slumping. A positive relation between slumping and tree cover upslope may reflect the fact that forest survives as a relict landuse in locations which are undeveloped because of their instability.