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Groundwater and highways interaction: past and present experiences of highway construction in Slovenia

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

During the planning, designing, construction, operation and maintenance of highways, groundwater can be of important environmental and constructional constraint that can significantly influence the safety operation of traffic and of big influence on the operational costs of highways. To classify and conceptualize the relation between groundwater and highways, three important groups of problems can be determined: groundwater protection from highway influences, protection of highway from groundwater and economic use of groundwater for highway operation. In the present study, groundwater management strategies are represented during all life cycles of highways. Greater emphasis is given to groundwater protection and field hydrogeological investigations for proper groundwater management related to the highway. The approach adopted in Slovenia and the role of hydrogeology is given as an illustration.

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Acknowledgements

The work presented in the paper was carried out within the project Urban Hydrogeology the Impact of Infrastructure Objects on Groundwater, financed by The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of RS (project no. L-1-3107-0215-01). The support of Slovene highway authorities and their technical staff, especially Andrej Locniskar, during the years of hydrogeological investigations is greatly acknowledged.

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  1. Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dimiceva 14, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Mihael Brencic

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  1. Mihael Brencic
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Correspondence to Mihael Brencic.

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Brencic, M. Groundwater and highways interaction: past and present experiences of highway construction in Slovenia. Environ Geol 49, 804–813 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0174-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0174-8

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