Rural Roads Construction Hazards: An Emphasis on Mass Movements and Gullying (Case study: Sarab Township)

In recent decades, the development of communication and progress of technology has required, the extension of transportation networks. The quickly increasing performance of the development programs and environmental impact of human activities, in addition to the destruction of physical environment, intensify activities of morphogenic systems and cause geomorphic phenomena such as mass movements and gullying. This paper, uses aerial photographs and field surveys for the recognition of characteristics and active morphodynamic features in Sarab township, and emphasize the role of human activities intensifying different kinds of slope instabilities, and hazards relating to rural road construction. The results of this study show that the roads are susceptible units, being threatened by instability of slopes. Therfore, they bring about huge costs for maintenance and road repairs.