Analysis of Slope Stability of road cut Slopes of Srinagar, Uttrakhand, India

Landslides are very frequent along the cut slopes of the road corridor in the Himalayas. NH58 is the major pilgrimage transportation route to Kedarnath and Badrinath in the Garhwal Himalayas. Every year this road experiences number of landslides causing lot of distress to locals and commuters. Stability assessment of road cut slopes along such highways is therefore very important. For the present study six sites have been selected from the road stretch of 16 kms from Srinagar to Sirobagarh, for the detailed geological and geotechnical investigation and evaluation of slope stability with different approaches. These sites are selected on the basis of differing lithology, varying slope morphology and difference in mode of failure and are analysed for their potential degree of stability using slope stability assessment techniques. The region falls in the close vicinity of major active thrust zones making the slopes inherently unstable. Geological Strength Index and Rock mass rating has been utilized for the assessment of rock mass strength, which is further been utilized for the evaluation of Slope Mass Rating and Continuous slope mass rating for the assessment of slope stability. Kinematic analysis was also employed to identify the potentially unfavourable planes. The results indicate that evaluated values of Continuous Slope Mass Rating give the better picture of slope stability assessment and can be utilized for assessing the stability of rock slopes in the Himalayan terrain.