Studying accidents caused by landslides since 2015 by DGIM (GENCAT) has brought to our attention the importance of the landslides that happen on hillsides, outside of cutting slopes of the public domain areas, that affect road safety. Other than the vulnerability of the trace caused by these events, we need to be aware of the following: the scale of the processes (rocky outcropping that occupies large areas on natural slopes), the location of the outcropping outside the railway line, the conditioning access factors due to orography, the budget and time limitations when studying these events have forced the application of 3D modelling from drone images in order to support the traditional methods of data collection through surveys and the rock mass classification through the installation of geomechanical stations in the field. The experience gained from applying these processes has allowed us to establish a study system that is being currently applied to the network. The main qualities of the method, the critical analysis of the previous facts and the future lines of work that this team is facing, are the scope of this article.
Road infrastructures modify natural ground (raising, demolishing, or transforming) to have a platform that provides correct services. Those elements are named road assets and in the field of infrastructure are classified as: bridges, grading with excavation or filling and tunnels.
Nowadays, the private and public sector has developed, on these assets, different strategies, preventive or palliative determined by the scenario, for maintenance and improvement: site inspections, methodologic tools, etc. to assess and minimise the risk of failure.
Rockfall is a natural process that involves the detachment and rapid forward movement of a rock due to the gravity effect that occurs in stony areas exposed to weathering and other geological processes on natural or artificial slopes. Relief and slope are characteristics that define if the road infrastructure can be exposed to rockfalls or not. Even if the practice of the rockfall failure takes place outside the road infrastructure area should be a key point on the infrastructure investigation, even more, considering the constant change due to climate change and the difficulties of access and assessment.