The purpose of this study is to implement a rock fall hazard rating system to the cut slopes along Kizilcahamam-Gerede segment of D750 (Ankara-istanbul) Highway. The rating system developed by the Tennessee Department of Transportation was assessed for thirty six cut slopes which were selected based on a reconnaissance survey along D750 highway, between Kurtbogazi Dam (50 km northwest of Ankara) and AktaS village (15 km to Gerede town of Bolu province). The stages of the investigation consist of project conception, field investigations and application of this system, assessment and presentation of data. The cut slopes were classified by implementing this method which requires a scoring on an exponential scale assigned to various parameters related to the site and roadway geometry and geologic characteristics. The rating process was completed at two stages: Preliminary and Detailed Rating. Based on the Tennessee RHRS, nineteen cutslopes were assessed according to these two stages while the other seventeen cut slopes were able to be classified only with the preliminary rating stage. Different modes of slope failure (planar, wedge, toppling, rock fall with differential weathering, raveling) throughout the selected segments of the highway were investigated and the slope and highway related parameters such as slope height, ditch effectiveness, average vehicle risk, road width, percent desicion site distance and rockfall history were identified for these nineteen cut slopes. After the scoring process was completed all cut slopes were classified based on their hazard ratings from the point of the problems that they may cause in transportation. According to the rules of Tennessee RHRS, a total of thirty five cut slopes were rated. Among these slopes, nineteen of them are rated as A slopes which are considered to be potentially hazardous, while a total of seven are rated as C slopes which pose no danger. In placing a slope into a B category, it is considered that they are not as prone as A slopes to create a danger and a total of nine B slopes are detected. The detailed rating is accomplished for these nineteen A slopes and as a result of the scorings, it has been seen that the final RHRS scores range from 164 to 591. The slopes with scores over 500 can be counted as more hazardous slopes since they get very high scores both from site and roadway geometry and geologic hazard part.

The development of an interactive computer model for managing geologic hazards databases is vital and long overdue. As highway rockslopes continue to age and become more unstable and earthen dams are subjected to ever increasing flood events, a more proactive management system is required in order to provide timely information to planners and emergency personnel on demand. In recent years, deaths have occurred associated with both highway rockslides and earthen dam failures in southwest Virginia. In February 1991, a rockfall event occurred on Route U.S. 11 in the City of Radford, VA, which resulted indirectly in a highway accident and fatality. The incident made all parties aware that rockfalls from aging highway roadcuts within the city limits pose some threat to the motoring public (Watts et al., 1996). Additionally, in June 1995, the Timberlake dam in Lynchburg, VA, failed due to flash flooding from intense summer storms. Two people died on highways downstream of the dam, even though emergency personnel were on the scene. The lack of organized critical information about the dam, its downstream flood inundation zone, and its emergency action plan contributed to the tragedy. The outcome of the ensuing litigation is pending. In the case of the City of Radford, a user-friendly interactive database containing structural stereonet analysis, digital images, hazardous slope conditions, and maintenance records would provide a proactive approach to rockslope maintenance by allowing the slopes to be ranked in terms of geologic and traffic conditions. Appropriate remediation measures can then be taken in the most cost-effective manner. In the case of the Timberlake dam failure, a database containing critical information about the dam, its upstream watershed characteristics, downstream flood inundation zones, and emergency action plan could have been accessed by state geologists and emergency dispatchers. Appropriate measures could have been taken to deal with the event as it was unfolding. / Master of Science

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