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Kerenzerberg, Highway A3, Glarus Nord

Rockfall Protection - Kerenzerberg, Highway A3, Glarus Nord 2015

View of Highway A3 seen through the ROCCO® ringnet

Rockfall Protection - Kerenzerberg, Highway A3, Glarus Nord 2015

RXE-8000 with an an impressive height of 7.0 meters

Rockfall Protection - Kerenzerberg, Highway A3, Glarus Nord 2015

RXE barrier protecting infrastructure

Rockfall Protection - Kerenzerberg, Highway A3, Glarus Nord 2015

Traffic protected on road and railway

Rockfall Protection - Kerenzerberg, Highway A3, Glarus Nord 2015

RXE type barriers and TECCO® System: two systems supporting each other

Rockfall Protection - Kerenzerberg, Highway A3, Glarus Nord 2015

Location: Walensee, Switzerland Federal Office of Topography, Bern, Switzerland National Map 1:50'000

 

System length

14 m - 62 m

 

Year of installation

2015

Initial situation

Highway A3 was opened in 1964 as a 2-lane road passing through the topographic bottleneck of the Walensee. The Walensee is one of the main thoroughfares between the Swiss plains and the mountainous regions and ski resorts. The roadway has always been exposed to rockfall and rockslides from the beginning. In 1986, due to increased traffic volume, one of the most frequented tunnels was expanded to four lanes. Naturally, geohazard protection measures were required to be installed along with the roadway expansion.

In 2012 it became apparent to the Swiss Federal Roads Office FEDRO that several hot spots for geohazards would require immediate maintenance to keep Highway A3 open. The identified hot spots include various tunnel entrances, steep slopes and sheer rock faces along the roadway. The project planning phase began in 2013, and by the end of 2015 the first protection systems of Geobrugg’s newest generation were installed.

Official project name at the FEDRO, Federal Office for Roads: Glarus Nord

Overall costs of the protection project (estimated in 2014): 11 Mio. Swiss Francs

Description

This description only details the northwest oriented tunnel entrances of Ofenegg and Kerenzerberg.

The overall project included a portfolio of Geobrugg flexible barrier systems protection measures to contain rockfall events. The selection was based on extensive rockfall analysis, taking into account bouncing heights as well as energy impacts. System strength, height and line lengths were set to maximize safety and optimize cost-effectiveness.

Above the two tunnel entrances the following Geobrugg rockfall protection systems were installed in geographical order from southwest to northeast:

  • Barrier 1 :   RXE-500, height 3 m, length 31 m
  • Barrier 2 :   RXE-500, height 3 m, length 26 m
  • Barrier 3 :   RXI-150, height 4 m, length 55 m
  • Barrier 4 :   RXI-025, height 2.5 m, length 14 m
  • Barrier 5 :   RXE-1000, height 4 m, length 25 m
  • Barrier 8b : RXI-150, height 4 m, length 17 m
  • Barrier 8c : RXE-1000, height 4 m, length 25 m
  • Barrier 9 :   RXE-8000, height 7 m, length 62 m
  • Barrier 10 : RXE-3000, height 5 m, length 50 m

More information:
Movie of the 2015 RXE-8000 installation
Slope protection of this site "Muehlehorn"

Customer

FEDRO Federal Roads Office, Switzerland

Contractor

CRESTAGEO, Chur, Switzerland

Protected object

Road, Railway

Corrosion protection

Galvanized, GEOBRUGG SUPERCOATING

Engineering

Project Partners Ltd Consulting Engineers, Grancia-Lugano, Switzerland

Other installed applications

Slope Stability

Your local contact

Kevin H. Coyle
 

Kevin H. Coyle

Regional Manager Northeast

Natural Hazards
Hydraulic Engineering
Geobrugg North America, LLC,3 Beaudet Terr,Columbia CT 06237 / United States Regional Manager Northeast

E-Mail

Saleh Feidi
 

Saleh Feidi

Regional Manager California

Natural Hazards
Hydraulic Engineering
Geobrugg North America, LLC,8921 Emperor Ave.,San Gabriel, California 91775 / United States Regional Manager California

E-Mail

John Kalejta
 

John Kalejta

Regional Manager Central US

Natural Hazards
Hydraulic Engineering
Geobrugg North America, LLC,3215 67th Avenue Pl,Greeley CO 80634 / United States Regional Manager Central US

E-Mail

Bob Lyne
 

Bob Lyne

Regional Manager Southeast

Natural Hazards
Hydraulic Engineering
Geobrugg North America, LLC,8004 Windspray Drive,Summerfield NC 27358 / United States Regional Manager Southeast

E-Mail

Pierce Runnels, Civil Engineer
   

Pierce Runnels

General Manager Geobrugg North America

Natural Hazards
Geobrugg North America, LLC,22 Centro Algodones , Civil Engineer General Manager Geobrugg North America

E-Mail

Tim Shevlin
 

Tim Shevlin

Sales Director

Natural Hazards
Geobrugg North America, LLC,Salem OR 97302 / United States Sales Director

E-Mail