Rock Cut Blasting Aesthetics Best Management Practices Phase II

Details

• Creators:
  Allen, Thomas J. ; Andrew, Richard ; White, Sylvia
• Corporate Creators:
  Yeh and Associates, Inc.
• Corporate Contributors:
  Colorado Department of Transportation. Office of Applied Research ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Corridors Excavation Geology Highway Safety Landscaping Preservation Presplitting (Blasting) Rockfall Rocks Rock Slopes Rounding Soil Stabilization Staining Toolbox Tools Traffic Mitigation Treatment Vegetation Viewshed Visual Impact Visual Perception

  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  CDOT-2021-02
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Colorado
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Colorado Department of Transportation. Applied Research & Innovations Branch
• Abstract:
  Rock excavations are necessary for construction of highways in transportation corridors that pass through Colorado’s mountains. Scenery along these corridors is an asset worthy of preservation and rock slope excavations can negatively impact the visual appeal of the natural landscape. The visual impacts from rock excavations can be mitigated by use of Best Management Practices (BMP) that result in more natural appearing excavated slopes. To be effective, the BMPs must be incorporated into the rock excavation design and implemented during construction. A literature review was conducted to assess the current state of practice for mitigating the visual impacts from rock excavations along highways. Field investigations were performed to document conditions at selected existing rock excavations. This report provides a description of commonly used Rock Excavation BMPs, a compilation of the selected existing rock excavation sites within Colorado that represent effective use of the BMPs, and a construction specification that provides a means to implement BMPs and control their use during construction. Commonly used BMPs consisting of blasting techniques and methods of landscape enhancement are presented as a “Toolbox” for use by planners, designers, and construction management staff. The compilation of representative excavation sites is presented as a searchable catalog of examples organized by Colorado highway corridor that includes notes on the design, construction and effectiveness of the BMPs used at each site. The specification was drafted in the standard format for CDOT Project Special Provisions and is intended to allow flexibility in the implementation of rock excavation BMPs as conditions are exposed during construction.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  219.10
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7fbc9838101bd1f1631d299f5feaca9fac94e51a979e40a6894606ded70e72da24919e5c4ef9d7dea86c93e8aad6bb13a40529b8d0c3b4b0093b55225fe0e19c
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/88579/dot_88579_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 75.13 MB ]