An embankment is a raised wall, bank or mound made of earth or stones, that are used to hold back water or carry a roadway. A

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

, railway line, or

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

is normally raised onto an embankment made of compacted soil (typically clay or rock-based) to avoid a change in level required by the

terrain Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

, the alternatives being either to have an unacceptable change in level or detour to follow a contour. A

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the sca ...

is used for the same purpose where the land is originally higher than required.

Materials

Embankments are often constructed using material obtained from a cutting. Embankments need to be constructed using non-aerated and waterproofed, compacted (or entirely non-porous) material to provide adequate support to the formation and a long-term level surface with stability. An example material for road embankment building is sand-bentonite mixture often used as a protective to protect underground utility cables and pipelines.

Intersection of embankments

To intersect an embankment without a high flyover, a series of tunnels can consist of a section of high

tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (also called UTS, tensile strength, TS, ultimate strength or F_\text in notation) is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials, the ultimate ...

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

(typically built of brick and/or metal) or pair of facing

abutments An abutment is the Bridge#Structure types, substructure at the ends of a bridge Span (architecture), span or dam supporting its Bridge#Structure types, superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and l ...

for a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

Notable embankments

* Burnley Embankment: The largest canal embankment in Britain. * Harsimus Stem Embankment: The remains of a railway built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States * Stanley Embankment: A railway, road and cycleway that connects the Island of Anglesey and Holy Island, Wales. It carries the

North Wales Coast Line The North Wales Main Line ( or ; ), also known as the North Wales Coast Line (), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, England, running from Crewe on the West Coast Main Line to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey. The lin ...

and the

A5 road A5 Road may refer to: ;Africa * A5 highway (Nigeria), a road connecting Lagos and Ibadan * A5 road (Zimbabwe), a road connecting Harare and Bulawayo ;Americas * Quebec Autoroute 5, a road in Quebec, Canada * County Route A5 (California) or Bowm ...

Materials

Intersection of embankments

Notable embankments

See also

Notes

References

Further reading