INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR SOIL MECHANICS AND GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING This paper was downloaded from the Online Library of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). The library is available here: https://www.issmge.org/publications/online-library This is an open-access database that archives thousands of papers published under the Auspices of the ISSMGE and maintained by the Innovation and Development Committee of ISSMGE. The paper was published in the proceedings of the 12th Australia New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics and was edited by Graham Ramsey. The conference was held in Wellington, New Zealand, 22-25 February 2015. Rock engineering of cut slopes to provide resilience, Muldoon’s Corner realignment, Rimutaka Hill Road, Wellington P. Brabhaharan1, FIPENZ and D. L. Stewart2, MIPENZ 1Opus International Consultants Limited, P O Box 12-003, Wellington, New Zealand; Tel +64-4-471 7842, Fax +64-4-471 1397 email:
[email protected] 2Opus International Consultants Limited, P O Box 12-003, Wellington, New Zealand; Tel +64-4-471 7158, email:
[email protected] ABSTRACT A 1 km section of state highway on the important Wellington-Wairarapa link was realigned to improve safety, travel time and route security. The realignment of this section known as the Muldoon’s Corner is located in the mountainous Rimutaka Hills, and involved the construction of up to 55 m high cuttings, up to 45 m high reinforced soil embankments and retaining walls. The rock cuttings were formed in highly fractured Wellington Greywacke rocks comprising sandstone and argillite. Early in the investigation phase, the engineering geology reconnaissance and mapping identified fault zones and a potential evacuated landslide which may have been triggered by past earthquakes.