Trends and challenges in earthworks for transportation infrastructures

Advances in Transportation Geotechnics II deals with the geotechnics of roads, railways and airfields. Providing economic and sustainable transportation infrastructures for societies is highly dependent on progress made in this field. These contributions to the 2nd International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics (Hokkaido, Japan, 10-12 September 2012), held under the auspices of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), cover a broad range of technical topics, including those addressed by the first conference held in Nottingham, UK in 2008.The work of ISSMGE and particularly of the technical committees related with transportation geotechnics has been particularly attentive to industry issues affecting the design, construction, and management of transport infrastructures. These issues represents a major step forward in increase life-time and serviceability of transport infrastructures (roads, railways and airports) that is essential to reduce maintenance and consequently save costs and contribute for the quality of life. A major concern affecting these aspects is the earthworks that may represent up to 30% or even 40% of the construction costs. In this context, the challenge ahead of geotechnical transportation engineering is to ensure key quality measurements for all products and apply sustainable practices in using materials at construction sites. These aspects will be covered in this lecture through research and practical examples and demonstration projects