A Highway Section Close to an Active Fault – Seismic Risk Assessment and Design Considerations

Design of motorway corridors in areas with high seismic activity require special consideration of earthquake related hazards, especially when long tunnels or bridges are foreseen. A 21 km long section of the existing Patras-Athens-Thessaloniki (PATHE) highway is realigned to cross a narrow strip of coastal land, which has been formed by the continuous action of an active fault. Seismic hazard considerations along with environmental and social constrains were the main factors for the selection of the preferred highway alignment and for the conceptual design of the various engineering structures along the highway alignment. The paper contains a presentation of the seismic hazard issues of the project and a summary of some of the design solutions adopted.