Abstract
When earthquakes strike, expressways function as emergency traffic routes for disaster relief and, therefore, quickly restoring their functions as “lines to connect points” is a must. In order to answer this need, expressway embankments must be quake-resistant, but currently, there are no effective rational ways to verify the earthquake-resistance of existing embankments. In this document, we will report on the required level of embankment performance from a management point of view and study results of the verification method selected based, in principle, on the following points: that it is comparatively simple to execute, the study procedure is systematic, the embankments for study are selected based on the fundamental conditions of the embankments, and the allowed displacement is decided following the recovery scenario created based on the amount of recovery work needed. Potions of expressways that were damaged by past disasters and actual model routes were selected based on the above criteria to check the effectiveness of the verification method when applied on actual expressway embankments. Through these studies we were able establish a rational and practical method of verification where we can systematically select the embankment for study, determine the residual displacement and set the allowable displacement.
