Like other transportation assets, slopes along highway roadsides must be regularly maintained to ensure stability and long-term performance. However, the natural variations and characteristics of each slope can make it difficult to identify where maintenance activities are needed most.
To prioritize its maintenance efforts more effectively, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation worked with researchers to develop a statistical model that combined current geographic information with historical data on a section of Wisconsin highway to predict the likelihood of slope failure. This model and framework could potentially be scaled to help engineers across the state.
Read the research brief: Geotechnical Asset Management for Slopes, November 2022
Image source: BGC Engineering