Landslide Ground Investigations
Road Closures in UK due to Landslides and Landslip.
A57 Snake Pass closes again for landslide ground investigations
A57 landslide ground investigations
Travel between Manchester and Sheffield will see ongoing delays as the A57 Snake Pass is closed again in September due to three landslides, The route was closed by the council for four weeks in February this year after it suffered three landslides due to heavy rainfall during Storm Eunice and Storm Franklin.
Two of the ground movement locations were already being monitored but the third – the most serious failure – was a new landslide. The current closure will allow for further site investigations and a design solution to this latest landslip.
The A57, known as the Snake Pass, in Derbyshire has closed again to allow specialist contractors to carry out an investigation into the causes of a landslide earlier this year.
Read More About A57 Snake Pass Closure and Site Investigations
Derby Telegraph features News Article on Five-mile stretch of A57 Snake Pass to close to all vehicles for four weeks.
Derbyshire has a number of roads closed due to landslips in the Derbyshire Times the Highways Chiefs explains why:
Derbyshire County Council says the county is particularly prone to landslips due to its geology.
“The causes of landslips can be from scour, climate change, saturation, impact or fire,” a spokesperson said.
“Water from rainfall is often a driving factor and when combined with climate changes, the effects can be sudden and enormous, like we have seen recently at Snake Pass.
“We carry out laser scanning to several slip sites to monitor change. Some landslips remain in a stable condition for years so we can carry out minor surfacing repairs to keep them open.
The Derbyshire roads closed by landslips – and why they keep happening on our highways
Snowdonia landslide sees A498 road closed
A landslide has blocked a busy road in Snowdonia for several days.
The stretch of road on the A498 between the Penygwryd Hotel and Beddgelert, in Gwynedd, was hit by a landslide on Friday, North Wales police said.
Rocks and muddy water spilled onto the road after heavy rain and strong winds in the area.
Diversions have been put in place until debris can be removed from the road, with motorists advised to avoid the area.
Devon; Mudslide sees A358 road closed 16 Aug 2022 Reported in Metro
Landslide Ground Investigations.
In the last month there has been another bout of road closures throughout the UK due to landslip and landslides. The resultant road closures cause disruption, frustration and delays. Landslides can also cause serious issues for railways and a potential hazard to people and properties.
At Earth Environmental & Geotechnical we have experience of an extensive range of Geotechnical services including Landslide Ground Investigations to prevent and mitigate landslip, landslides and slope stability.
- Site Investigation
- Subsidence Surveys
- Slope Stability Assessments
- Earthworks Modelling
- Remediation Design
We work with civil engineers, local authorities, property developers and construction companies to develop pragmatic solutions for sites that require an understanding of the ground conditions, the risks posed, relative cost and technical merits of a wide range of novel and civil engineering based techniques.
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Email: headoffice@earthenvironmental.co.uk
Tel: 0161 975 6088
More Information on Landslides
What causes a Landslide?
A number of factors can trigger a landslide including heavy rainfall, geological conditions, and land use. Landslide, in the geotechnical engineering view, is the problem of slope stability on unsaturated soil, the strength of unsaturated soil is changed during the water infiltration in soil mass. Many of the road closures in the UK due to landslides happen after storms or heavy periods of rainfall. Indeed in some areas the Highways and local authorities take preventative measures and close areas prone to landslides when heavy rain is forecast. e.g A83 in Scotland closed 3rd October 2022
What is a Landslide?
Landslide is a broad term that encompasses five “mass wasting” modes, including falls, topples, slides, spreads, and flows. These movements are even further categorised based on geological material (bedrock, debris, or earth).
When the force of gravity acting on a slope exceeds the resisting forces of a slope, the slope will fail and a landslide occurs.
External factors can lead to landslides happening, including:
- Water-saturated slope materials through heavy rains or snowmelt
- Erosion especially at the bottom of the slope
- Slope angle
- Rock type
- Grain size
- Arrangement of Rock layers
- Strength of material weakened
- Freeze – Thaw
- Earthquakes, especially of magnitude 4.0 or greater
- Excess weight from snow and rain accumulation, stockpiling of materials, waste piles, or man-made structures
A landslide can happen suddenly or more slowly over long periods of time, it is a mass movement of material, such as rock, earth or debris, down a slope and can have dramatic effects of infrastructure and people.
Whilst a landslide may be the result of just one factor it is frequently a combination of a few.
For example Earth Environmental & Geotechnical (Southern) Ltd were commissioned to undertake a Geotechnical Appraisal of a cliff collapse in Cornwall. The Geotechnical Appraisal was to assess for cliff stability of a site near Watergate Bay in Newquay, Cornwall. The investigation found that the landslide “fall” was the result of a combination of factors including, rock type, rock structure and introduction of water into the cliff face (during unseasonably wet weather).
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