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A GIS-Based Landslide Hazard Framework for Road Repair and Maintenance
Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering American University of Beirut salah@aub.edu.lb Ramzi Ramadan Graduate Student Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering American University of Beirut rramadan@inco.net.lb Hani Naghi Graduate Student Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering American University of Beirut ha18@aub.edu.lb | |
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ABSTRACT |
The task of effective and optimal resource allocation for road repair maintenance is typically a complex and at times subjective undertaking. In that context, the need for an objective decision support system relevant to the maintenance of a national road network is clear. The work presented in this paper discusses the inception and implementation of such a framework and tool, which integrate the strengths and capabilities of GIS. For the purpose of this research effort, a dynamic tool was developed within ArcGIS® that generates slope stability hazard maps and associated maintenance priority areas as a function of a number of specifically developed climatological, topographical, geotechnical and historical criteria. The proposed methodology was deployed and used in an actual real-world implementation. The study area lies in Lebanon, in the Mount-Lebanon province. Mount-Lebanon was specifically chosen as a case study, given the high degree of variability in topography, geology and rainfall precipitation regimes and the density and complexity of the road network. The global landslide risk zones were interactively generated by cross-referencing and combining various data coverages. Furthermore, a historic data record of actual slope instability occurrences was compiled over three years, and was incorporated in the framework. Based on the generated hazard maps, an optimized maintenance resource allocation scheme is proposed. The approach outlined in this paper could easily be extended to cover the whole Lebanese territory or any other geographical location for which the necessary data layers are developed.
Keywords: GIS; Slope Stability; Hazard Maps; Road Maintenance.
