Use of the Alaska Geotechnical Asset Management Database in Evaluation of Retaining Structures After an Earthquake

Abstract

Since 2010, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, U.S., has been a leader in the development of geotechnical asset management (GAM) as part of a proactive approach to identify and rate the condition of geotechnical infrastructure. Efforts have included, for example, a retaining structure database that has cataloged retaining structures throughout Alaska. On November 30, 2018, a moment magnitude (M_W) 7.1 earthquake struck southcentral Alaska, home of more than half of the state’s population. Damage to infrastructure was significant in several roadway corridors in the region. The GAM database was utilized as an important tool to assist in the identification of earthquake damaged retaining structures. Lessons learned from this effort are outlined in this paper. They include discussion on the elements of the database that were effective and others that may be improved on in the future. The information gathered from the field observations was also collected in such a manner that it could be added to the GAM database in the future as another snapshot in time for the retaining structures evaluated after the earthquake.