Cuttings: some design and construction considerations

Cuttings are excavations made into the natural ground in order to achieve a design formation level. Unlike embankments (Chapter 12), design is concerned solely with the properties of the in situ soils and rocks, which are usually undisturbed, except insofar as the excavation process itself may introduce disturbance. This may be important with rock slopes where blasting, if used, could fracture and weaken the host rock.

This chapter concentrates on geotechnical aspects of cutting design and construction. More general advice is given in the Highways Agency Advice Note HA 44/91 (HA, 1995) and a list of limit states appropriate to cutting design is detailed in Eurocode 7 (BSI, 2004).