Highways
Identifying existing and developing movements for highway infrastructure maintenance.
Subsidence on Highway I-15 in Las Vegas
Date: ongoing
Location: Las Vegas, United States
Event
Areas in and around Las Vegas are known for suffering from subsidence, caused by ground compaction due to drought or water extraction. This can impact highways and supporting structures.
Value.Space’s assessment
Value.Space’s satellite-based assessment for highway sections at the intersection of I-15 and state road 95 in Las Vegas identifies several movement clusters on different elements of highway infrastructure, such as on embankments and slopes at an intersection approach area, on an overpass, or bridge approach and supporting retaining wall. When moving differently from surrounding areas, these clusters can indicate accumulating structural stresses in roadway infrastructure.
Stenungsund Landslide Damage to Highway
Date: 23 September 2023
Location: Stenungsund, Sweden
Event
A significant landslide occurred on the E6 highway at Stenungsund, Sweden, destroying a section of the road, which connects Sweden and Norway. Several vehicles were caught in the landslide, with three individuals needing hospital treatment for minor injuries. Buildings and district heating lines in the area were also damaged because of the landslide.
Value.Space’s assessment
Value.Space's satellite-based movement survey of the Stenungsund landslide area for the two years preceding the incident revealed an area of notable bidirectional movement, where the top of the highway exerted pressure on the toe of the embankment. This indicated the accumulation of tensions typically associated with the development of landslide risks. The eventual landslide occurred precisely in the area identified as at-risk by Value.Space's assessment.
Denver-Boulder Highway Retaining Wall Collapse
Date: 11-15 July 2019
Location: Colorado, United States
Event
Cracks started to appear in the pavement of a section of I-36 Highway (Denver-Boulder Turnpike) just next to a bridge over a rail line on 11 July 2019. Over the following days, the cracks widened until the road retaining wall panels adjacent to the bridge fell on 15 July. The section of the highway was constructed just five years prior to the collapse. The Colorado Department of Transportation spent $17.6 million responding to the collapse and repairing the highway.
Value.Space’s assessment
Value.Space's satellite-based assessment of the highway section identified a bidirectional deformation cluster on the retaining wall at the exact area of collapse. The data timeline of the cluster shows divergent movement beginning in April 2017, more than two years before the retaining wall collapse.
