Synthesis Report on the Use and Design of Snow Sheds to Protect Transportation Corridors Against Avalanches

Details

• Creators:
  Hendrikx, Jordy ; Jones, Alan ; Schauer, Andrew ; Buhler, Ryan
• Corporate Creators:
  Montana State University (Bozeman, Mont). Department of Earth Sciences ; Dynamic Avalanche Consulting, Revelstoke, BC, Canada
• Corporate Contributors:
  Colorado. Department of Transportation. Applied Research & Innovations Branch ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Avalanches Regulation Risk Snow Standards Traffic Mitigation Transportation Corridors
• Publication/ Report Number:
  CDOT-2020-13
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Norway ; Switzerland
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Colorado. Dept. of Transportation. Applied Research and Innovation Branch
• Abstract:
  This report provides a synthesis on the use and design of snow sheds to protect transportation corridors against avalanches. This report summarizes the various snow shed designs and standards, regulation environment, construction and operational costs, risk, benefits, loading considerations, operational and design considerations, and alternate methods employed when snow sheds are no longer needed, or when alternative long-term mitigation measures are employed. This report documents designs that are currently in use on transportation corridors, have been proposed, and those that are being designed in North America. We have documented differences in construction approaches, additional mitigation considerations (e.g. deflection berms), and the resulting residual risk to the transportation corridor. We also show examples from international jurisdictions, including Switzerland and Norway, for consideration for potential future snow shed designs in North America. Transportation corridors throughout the world employ a variety of snow shed designs to protect against snow avalanches. The design, cost, and residual risk is a function of a number of factors, including the character of the avalanches, the location of the corridor relative to the avalanche path, the frequency of avalanche debris on the corridor, the volume of traffic, and the engineering design and associated regulations determining the construction and operations of these structures. To help clearly illustrate these issues we have used three case studies and present a synthesis table to conclude.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  5337.08
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:51d7fa3f535682e94e9be6d027717fcce7cbf42bc648a07e442f85b5833692e4579eb69084ce0731f7575bd9174ed17ed6a31dc1d68c1f8b0c07c963259d4f34
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/88623/dot_88623_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 22.47 MB ]