Landslides Risk Assessment Along Roads: The Transportation Corridors of the “Dolomiti Lucane” (Basilicata)

This paper deals with mass movement risk assessment along roads using a modified qualitative method. In fact, one of the most important problems for transportation corridors is linked to the risk caused by natural phenomena like mass movements and landslides. These events could cause serious damage to people and properties. In particular the roads and motorways, more so than the other communication lines, assume an important role especially in the emergency conditions because their inefficiency could cause substantial damages connected to delays in rescue operations, creating other inconveniences such as social and economic problems. The applied method regards the use of exponential scoring functions allowing the assessment of landslide risk along roads. It has been applied to the three main transportation corridors of the Dolomiti Lucane, in Basilicata (Southern Italy). This method represents an important tool for the preliminary mapping of the landslides risk along roads, allowing researcher to identify the most dangerous slopes and the roads sections that need more detailed investigations and, later, urgent remedial works.