Rio Blanco Landslide Failure Between Rifle and Meeker Colorado: Investigation, Design and Emergency Mitigation using Lightweight Expanded Polystyrene Fill

The Rio Blanco landslide is located on State Highway (SH) 13, between the semi‐rural towns of Rifle, Colorado and Meeker, Colorado. This paper will discuss the failure of a roadside embankment composed of fill March of 2008, which initiated an emergency response. The failure was approximately 800 feet in length along a section of roadway with a 6 percent climbing grade. The existing embankment fill is comprised of low to moderate plasticity clays and silty clay material that was borrowed from native soils in the project area. Unfortunately, the native clay soils lose cohesive strength when saturated and are prone to surficial slope failures. The embankment fill had been placed into a deeply incised drainage channel creating fill depths greater than 110 feet from the top of the roadway to the underlying claystone bedrock. The geotechnical investigation indicated this section of roadway had two modes of failure: oversteepened embankment slopes and deep seated instability of the filled area. The embankment fill slopes were placed at slope angles ranging from 2:1 to 1:1 (H:V). Periodic failure has been observed on these slopes when the ground is saturated. There was also a deep‐seated global failure mechanism that caused settlement, consolidation, and bearing failure of the entire embankment fill section. Inclinometer data indicated a deep‐seated, relatively flat‐lying failure surface was located between 30 and 40 feet below the base of the embankment fill and approximately 30 to 40 feet above the top of the bedrock. During the spring of 2008, the roadway distress became so great that vertical and lateral movement of the landslide required nearly constant maintenance by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). On occasion, the roadway would experience vertical displacements from 2 to 6 inches a day. This presentation addresses the geotechnical investigation, design, and construction of the emergency repair which subsequently occurred.

  • Corporate Authors:

    New York State Thruway Authority

    200 Southern Boulevard, P.O. Box 189
    Albany, NY  United States  12201-0189
  • Authors:
    • Arndt, Ben
    • Mertes, Pete
    • Seifipour, Bahram
  • Conference:
  • Publication Date: 2009

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: CD-ROM
  • Features: Figures; Maps; Photos;
  • Pagination: pp 49-61
  • Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 60th Highway Geology Symposium

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01142318
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Oct 21 2009 8:29AM