Abstract

Urban road collapse seriously threatens people’s lives and property. In recent years, with the accelerating pace of urbanization in China, the number of road collapse accidents (RCAs) has been increasing. Based on 334 RCAs in China’s inland cities from 2019 to 2020, this paper divided the severity of urban road collapse into five grades and analyzed the causes, risks, and countermeasures of urban road collapse. The results indicated that causes of RCAs include rainfall, underground pipe problems, construction in progress, geological environment, road aging, road overload, and unqualified backfilling. Rainfall and underground pipe problems cause 75% of RCAs, and the risk of RCAs caused by underground pipe problems is the greatest. Its calculated value is 6.13, which is 3.2 times that of construction in progress and 22 times that of unqualified backfilling. Construction in progress and geological environment problems are more likely to lead to RCAs with higher severity. Underground pipe problems, rainfall, construction in progress, and geological environmental problems are all more likely to cause RCAs in summer, resulting in 45.9% of RCAs occurring in summer. The risk of RCAs in June is the highest, and its calculated value is 1.5 times that in September and 25 times that in February. According to the calculated values and geographical location factors, China was divided into five regions. Finally, the countermeasures before and after road collapse were introduced.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Data Availability Statement

Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgments

This work was jointly supported by the Project Program of National Nature Science Foundation of China (51908061), the Project of China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group Co., Ltd. [2021KY34ZD(XJJ)-02], the Project on Social Development of Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Department (No. 2021SF-474), Key Laboratory of Urban Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education (TUL2020-01), and the Construction Science and Technology Project of Xi’an (No. SZJJ2019–23). We also acknowledge the editors for their valuable suggestions.

References

Bei, B., Y. Xia, and W. Zhao. 2020. “Part of the road that collapsed at Jianhe intersection on Wuyi Road in Taiyuan city is under rush repair.” Accessed September 19, 2021. https://www.163.com/dy/article/FQRGQ6I605508W4F.html.
Chen, Y. A., R. Tang, J. Fang, and F. Kong. 2020. “Analysis on spatial-temporal law and causation of urban road collapse in China from 2014 to 2018.” Water Resour. Hydropower Eng. 51 (7): 108–116. https://doi.org/10.13928/j.cnki.wrahe.2020.07.014.
China Meteorological Administration. 2021. “China climate bulletin 2020.” Accessed April 7, 2022. https://zwgk.cma.gov.cn/zfxxgk/gknr/qxbg/202104/t20210406_3051288.html.
De Giorgi, L., and G. Leucci. 2014. “Detection of hazardous cavities below a road using combined geophysical methods.” Surv. Geophys. 35 (4): 1003–1021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-013-9277-4.
Du, C. L., Y. S. Zhou, F. P. Gan, and Y. X. Chen. 2020. “Investigation of karst collapses using integrated geophysical methods: An example from Conghua district, Guangzhou city, China.” Acta Carsologica 49 (2–3): 255–264. https://doi.org/10.3986/ac.v49i2-3.7786.
Gong, D. M., X. Sun, H. R. He, and Y. Q. Wang. 2018. “Design of distributed optical fiber micro-bend sensing system based on OTDR.” Exp. Technol. Manage. 35 (10): 80–83. https://doi.org/10.16791/j.cnki.sjg.2018.10.020.
Guo, L. F., S. Q. Chai, J. Y. Dong, Z. T. Xiao, and Q. Z. Yu. 2020. “A statistical analysis of urban road collapse accidents in China.” J. Eng. Manage. 34 (2): 49–54. https://doi.org/10.13991/j.cnki.jem.2020.02.010.
Guo, S. T. 2020. “Sudden road collapse occurred on Yuhua Road in Shijiazhuang.” www.huanqiu.com. Accessed September 19, 2021. https://society.huanqiu.com/article/3zVIKYvh8qH.
He, S. T. 2019. “The collapse of Keyun Road in Guangzhou City is expected to take two days for rescue construction.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://gd.sina.com.cn/news/2019-09-18/detail-iicezueu6538312.shtml.
Hou, T. 2020. “A large pit appeared on the road near the bus stop.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://m.gmw.cn/2020-09/22/content_1301594123.htm?source=sohu.
Hu, Y. H., Y. C. Bai, and H. J. Xu. 2016. “Analysis of reasons for urban road collapse and prevention and control countermeasures in recent decade of China.” Highway 61 (9): 130–135.
Jiang, D. W., J. H. Zhu, Y. Yu, and Y. X. Huang. 2020. “A road collapsed in Hangzhou and the bus changed lanes urgently.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://zj.sina.com.cn/news/2020-09-25/detail-iivhuipp6284528.shtml.
Kuliczkowska, E. 2016a. “An analysis of road pavement collapses and traffic safety hazards resulting from leaky sewers.” Balt. J. Road Bridge Eng. 11 (4): 251–258. https://doi.org/10.3846/bjrbe.2016.29.
Kuliczkowska, E. 2016b. “The interaction between road traffic safety and the condition of sewers laid under roads.” Transp. Res. Part D Transp. Environ. 48 (Oct): 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2016.08.025.
Lambert, D. W., G. L. Adams, B. Fodor, and L. E. Fennewald. 2013. “Use of electrical resistivity surveying to evaluate collapse potential related to road construction over a cave.” Carbonates Evaporites 28 (1–2): 215–219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-012-0109-2.
Li, Q. Q., and H. X. Gao. 2020. “A part of a non-motorized vehicle lane in Nanchong collapsed because of this.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://sc.people.com.cn/n2/2020/0810/c345458-34215166.html.
Ma, S. Z. 2020. “The municipal department rushed to repair the collapsed road in time.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://cgj.wuhu.gov.cn/gzyw/8255841.html.
Mao, X. P., and S. H. Huang. 2014. “Cause analysis of road collapse in Tianjin Municipality and its prevention and control countermeasures.” J. Natl. Disasters 23 (6): 218–226. https://doi.org/10.13577/j.jnd.2014.0627.
Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China. 2016. “Standard map services.” Accessed July 26, 2022. https://bzdt.ch.mnr.gov.cn.
Modern Traffic Management. 2002. “Road traffic accident treatment measures.” Accessed August 12, 2022. https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=XDJT200204032&DbName=CJFQ2002.
Na, X. Y., J. Yu, and J. Wang. 2019. “Effects of additional stress of foundation on urban road collapse.” Highway 64 (2): 8–12.
Nam, B. H., K. H. Stokoe, B. H. Cho, Y. J. Kim, and H. Youn. 2019. “A potential technology for road sinkhole assessment: The rolling dynamic deflectometer.” J. Test. Eval. 47 (3): 1658–1676. https://doi.org/10.1520/JTE20180003.
Peng, Q., and S. J. Xu. 2020. “A road in Beihai suddenly collapsed and a large truck almost fell into it when passing by.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://www.gxnews.com.cn/staticpages/20201026/newgx5f961138-19901139.shtml.
Peng, Y. C. 2020. “Detour reminder! A 2 m deep collapse occurred suddenly on Kaiyuan Road in Changsha.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://www.icswb.com/h/150/20201013/679921.html.
Qiu, X., and Y. L. Zhang. 2020. “The burst of a water pipe at the intersection of Huanghe Road and Fuzhou Street caused the road to collapse.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://news.nxtv.com.cn/nxnews/ycnews/2020-09-17/557679.html.
Ren, T. 2019. “Dahuayifang road collapsed and formed a large pit which has not been repaired for more than 10 days.” Accessed September 23, 2021. https://news.hsw.cn/system/2019/1112/1129168.shtml.
Shan, H. X., and D. Y. Song. 2019. “The sudden collapse of Nanning road in Guangxi City caused four people to fall into the pit.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://m.news.cctv.com/2019/12/25/ARTImPo0742vZmBA8rAsq7Qj191225.shtml.
Shi, L. L. 2019. “The official response to the road collapse caused by the underground excavation of the Xuzhou subway.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://district.ce.cn/newarea/roll/201907/29/t20190729_32743770.shtml.
Sun, J. B. 2020. “The number of lost connections in the collapse of Nanjie Road in Xining City reached 10.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://www.chinanews.com/sh/2020/01-14/9058977.shtml.
Wang, G. X., and J. Q. Zhang. 2020. “The underground sewage pipe ruptured in Huli District, Xiamen City, causing road collapse.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://www.taihainet.com/news/xmnews/shms/2020-05-15/2384872.html.
Wang, K. Y., and X. Liao. 2019. “Foundation pit construction in Baolong Plaza in Ningbo caused road collapse.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1627621188831163788&wfr=spider&for=pc.
Wang, Y. X., G. Shi, X. W. Tian, C. Y. Li, and H. Y. Cheng. 2020. “Experimental study on city road collapse under vibrating load.” Shock Vib. 2020 (Jan): 6074658. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6074658.
Wang, Z. X., K. P. Wang, and J. X. Kou. 2019. “The ground collapsed in Tangshan and a woman fell into the pit.” Accessed September 19, 2021. https://www.bjnews.com.cn/wevideo/2019/07/23/606897.html.
Xu, Y. Y. 2020. “The accumulation of water in a district in Hefei led to the flooding of cars.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://ah.ifeng.com/a/20200630/14376253_0.shtml.
Yang, L. 2020. “The road collapse in Haizhu District was caused by rain erosion and is being backfilled.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2020/03/31/711236.html.
Yao, Q. Y., H. G. Di, C. Ji, and S. H. Zhou. 2020. “Ground collapse caused by shield tunneling in sandy cobble stratum and its control measures.” Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ. 79 (10): 5599–5614. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-020-01878-9.
Ye, X. Y., and Y. Shi. 2020. “The South the road collapse on Haidian Road last night injured one person.” Accessed September 19, 2021. https://www.toutiao.com/i6841418397821960717.
Yu, X., and H. F. Yang. 2019. “Road collapse at intersection of Changsha Wanjiali Road and Changsha Avenue, no casualties.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://www.chinanews.com/sh/2019/12-22/9040137.shtml.
Yuan, J. 2020. “The Shuguang Road in Hefei has collapsed under the heavy rain and a big pit appeared on Langxi Road.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://ah.ifeng.com/a/20200610/14279269_0.shtml.
Zang, X. J., and T. T. Ning. 2019. “A road in Zhengzhou was collapsed by a muck truck and the ultimate cause of the collapse was determined.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://news.dahe.cn/2019/08-01/520126.html.
Zeng, Y. Z. 2019. “The basement under construction in a community in Nanchang suddenly collapsed in the morning.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://jx.ifeng.com/a/20190803/7638537_0.shtml.
Zhang, C. P., D. L. Zhang, M. S. Wang, Q. Q. Li, and S. C. Liu. 2010. “Catastrophe mechanism and control technology of ground collapse induced by urban tunneling.” Rock Soil Mech. 31 (S1): 303–309. https://doi.org/10.16285/j.rsm.2010.s1.041.
Zhang, W. J. 2020. “The sidewalk suddenly collapsed and formed a 4-meter deep pit.” Accessed October 2, 2021. https://m.gmw.cn/2020-08/06/content_1301433376.htm.
Zhang, Y. P. 2020. “Temporary traffic control was imposed on the collapse of Guanggu Road in Wuhan.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://3w.huanqiu.com/a/3c8c9f/403CcWjRLiL?agt=8.
Zhou, H., and C. Q. Mao. 2020. “Road collapse occurred in the busy area of Fuzhou.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_9185609.
Zhou, L. H. 2014. “The Group’s conclusions were questioned when billions of roads in Zhengzhou collapsed 15 times in half a year.” Accessed September 21, 2021. https://www.chinacourt.org/article/detail/2014/10/id/1458846.shtml.
Zhou, Y. B. 2020. “The collapse of the road at the intersection of Heping Road has been repaired.” Accessed September 19, 2021. https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1671483503780101503&wfr=spider&for=pc.
Zhu, D. P., and X. Zhang. 2020. “Road collapse at an intersection in Gulou District of Nanjing injured an old man.” Accessed September 20, 2021. https://js.people.com.cn/n2/2020/1107/c360303-34400895.html.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 36Issue 6December 2022

History

Received: Mar 5, 2022
Accepted: Jun 15, 2022
Published online: Sep 7, 2022
Published in print: Dec 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 7, 2023

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

ASCE Technical Topics:

Authors

Affiliations

Ph.D. Engineer, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Xi’an Univ. of Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710048, China; Civil Engineer, State Key Laboratory of Rail Transit Engineering Informatization (FSDI), China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group Co., Ltd., Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710043, China. Email: [email protected]
Jianwei Zhang [email protected]
Postgraduate Student, School of Highway, Chang’an Univ., Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710064, China (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Postgraduate Student, School of Highway, Chang’an Univ., Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710064, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2497-1763. Email: [email protected]
Junling Qiu [email protected]
Lecturer, School of Highway, Chang’an Univ., Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710064, China. Email: [email protected]
Yujian Zhong [email protected]
Civil Engineer, State Key Laboratory of Rail Transit Engineering Informatization (FSDI), China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group Co., Ltd., Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710043, China. Email: [email protected]
Chunxia Guo [email protected]
Lecturer, School of Science, Xi’an Univ. of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710055, China. Email: [email protected]
Wencai Zhao [email protected]
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Highway, Chang’an Univ., Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710064, China. Email: [email protected]
Kunjie Tang [email protected]
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Highway, Chang’an Univ., Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710064, China. Email: [email protected]
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Highway, Chang’an Univ., Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710064, China. Email: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share