
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004270817
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Short

MORE SLIDES LIKELY, SAY GEOLOGIST

Rock slides like the one last month on Interstate 64 at Afton Mountain will become more common unless precautions are taken, says a geology professor who wrote a book on landslides in Virginia.

Chester Watts, director of Radford University's school for engineering geosciences, said weathering of rock slopes has weakened many of the road cuts build decades ago in the Blue Ridge and Alleghany mountains to make way for interstates 64, 81 and 77.

Watts, author of computer programs used internationally for rock slide analysis and of "Landslides in Virginia," visited the Afton Mountain rock slide with state highway department officials.

As with a rock slide in Interatate 77 near Fancy Gap last year, the Afton Mountain slide caused traffic to be rerouted while workers used heave machinery to move the rubble.

"The best solution is for the state to begin a rock slide inventory, similar to the one being carried out in Oregon, in order to prioritize the most dangerous cuts," Watts said.

State officials are seeking money to conduct suce an inventory, he said.

Once the most dangerous areas are identified, workers can reshape the cuts above the highway, which can be extremely expensive, he said. Watts helped the highway department in work on a 270-foot slope near Broadway that cost $1 million.

Other measures include erecting barriers, widening shoulders and deepening roadside drainage ditches to catch rock fall, he said.

The Afton site has a considerable history of landslides.

by CNB