31 July 2011

Landslide protection, New Zealand style

Posted by Dave Petley

During a journey over the stunning Arthur’s Pass, one of the three roads across the Southern Alps in New Zealand, today I came across two really nice examples of landslide mitigation works for the road.  First, protection from rockfalls in a steep gorge section:

Further down the road was this magnificent bridge, the Otira Viaduct:

This viaduct was completed in 1999, and sought to bypass a section of road that was both avalanche and landslide prone.  The Numahammers site has an image of the road before the viaduct was completed:

Now that must have been scary in heavy rain!