Caverns Found and Explored During the Construction of Bridges, Viaducts, Roads and Railroads

Abstract

Caverns found in the foundations of bridges and viaducts have always posed a threat to the safety of the building. The area of the bridges over the Karst Rivers Dobra and Kamačnik on the A-6 motorway belongs to the Black Sea Hydrological Basin. Numerous caverns were discovered in the foundations of the viaducts “Zečeve Drage”, “Osojnik” and “Jezerane” but the most interesting is the discovery of a large hall under the “Kačjak 2” viaduct in the city of Rijeka. During the construction of roads and railways, numerous caverns were found and explored. Over 60 caverns were found at the junction of the A-1 and A-6 highways “Bosiljevo 2”. Due to the instability of the terrain, sometimes the cavern entrances had to be secured by installation of concrete or metal pipes. Hundreds of previously unknown caverns were explored and documented along the roads in the Dinaric Karst in Croatia.