The Nablus – Al-Bathan Road was widened,
reconstructed and rehabilitated in 2009 by Nablus
Public Works and Housing Directorate (PWHD - Nablus). Between 2010 and
2012 and based on observations by PWHD - Nablus,
there were some road defects in several places and especially at Station 2+100.
Some minor remediations were carried out to fix these defects. These defects can be described as longitudinal
cracks along the eastern side of the road, in addition to initial sliding of
this part of the road. In March 2012, PWHD - Nablus
attempted to fix the defects at station 2+100 by replacing the soil and using
big boulders to support the road. Unfortunately, large settlement occurred in
the part of the road under maintenance and more sliding and slope instability
occurred in the road at station 2+100.
Necessary studies to find out the causes and to overcome this
problem were carried out. This included surveying of the area, geotechnical
studies (digging out trial pits and performing
geophysical seismic exploration), in addition to slope stability analysis. It
was found that the main causes of landslides were types of soils at the site,
high slopes, water, especially rainfall and changing of weights (cut and
fills). After causes of landslides were determined, engineering solutions to
overcome landslides were suggested. The solutions included reducing the weight
at the top of slope, flattening the slope, improving the soil of the side slope
by using selected fill, supporting the lower part of the slope by using big
boulders, installing drainage system all over the area including the upper and
lower parts of the area, and planting the site with special types of trees.
Finally, land use policy should be created for Palestine, especially, for sites
of high slopes and those of which have previous occurrence of landslides, and
this is encountered under Palestinian planning strategies.