Afghanistan is a landlocked, mountainous country in south-central Asia. Regional and national highways are critical for shipments between the capitol and Northern provinces and between the Indian sub continent and central Asian countries. Most of Afghanistan's highways pass through a series of mountains that impose harsh traveling conditions to travelers. The capacity to build highways with high level of engineering and construction proficiency has been lost during the past three decades of wars and conflicts. Poor maintenance, lack of technical capacity, and lack of construction standards (codes) have created many hazards along Afghanistan's highways. Rock falls/slides, landslides, and failure of protective structures result in losses of life and property and operation interruption. In this paper, we discuss processes or problems that cause rock falls/slides, landslides, and failure of protective structures and then propose sustainable mitigation methods for reducing the hazards. We discuss the feasibility and effectiveness of scaling, rock bolting, shotcrete, mesh, retaining walls, various types of barriers, and use of local materials for protective structures. Implementation of each of these remedial methods presents challenges for cost, sustainability, safety, and capacity of the work force.
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