Rockfall in New Jersey: A Proactive and Collaborative Approach

In heavily traveled New Jersey, a single rockfall event has the potential to cause serious injuries and costly damages. Within a landscape of budget constraints and competing project priorities, the NJDOT, working with the consultant community, has been successful in developing and implementing a proactive rockfall mitigation approach. NJDOT’s Engineering Geology unit and Project Management group have partnered in the development of a multi-year Rockfall Mitigation Program that advances projects for remediation that have been prioritized in NJDOT’s rockfall hazard management system. Every rock slope and situation is unique, and there are numerous possible rockfall mitigation techniques. In the concept development phase, NJDOT subject matter experts work closely with consulting engineering geology experts to evaluate the rockfall hazards and project constraints, and then build a consensus with the stakeholders regarding the preferred mitigation alternative. This collaborative approach helps streamline the subsequent project phases by reducing or eliminating re-work and facilitating an efficient path to final design and construction to stretch available project dollars.