Distress, Failure, and Mitigation of Inuvik Airport Access Road: Fid-Bau Portal

Distress, Failure, and Mitigation of Inuvik Airport Access Road

Hsieh, E. / Tchekhovski, A. / Soliman, M. / An, B.

The Inuvik Airport access road is a section of the Dempster Highway which extends from the Inuvik Airport to the junction of MacKenzie Road within the town of Inuvik. As a result of an increase in the mean annual air temperature of approximately 3°C to 4°C over the last five decades, the active layer thickness within road embankments in the region has increased considerably. The increase of the active layer led to intensifying various earth processes on the road surface and embankment slopes. In recent years, distress/failures of embankment slopes had been observed at various sections along the Inuvik Airport access road. Numerous transverse cracks were encountered at intervals of 10 m to 40 m along the entire length of the investigated road. Several embankment failures were also observed. Failure of the embankments led to the formation of water ponds and thaw movements/settlement of native terrain. Field investigations via boreholes were carried out to evaluate the causes of the earth processes causing road embankment distress and to develop geotechnical recommendations for the rehabilitation of damaged portions of the road. Rehabilitation methods included excavation of the damaged sections, placement of insulation, and backfilling the excavation with gravel. The paper summarizes the findings of the existing permafrost conditions from the field investigation and demonstrates various types of earth processes observed during the site reconnaissance. The paper also provides rehabilitation options for the damaged embankments.