The development of an interactive computer model for managing geologic hazards databases is vital and long overdue. As highway rockslopes continue to age and become more unstable and earthen dams are subjected to ever increasing flood events, a more proactive management system is required in order to provide timely information to planners and emergency personnel on demand. In recent years, deaths have occurred associated with both highway rockslides and earthen dam failures in southwest Virginia.

In February 1991, a rockfall event occurred on Route U.S. 11 in the City of Radford, VA, which resulted indirectly in a highway accident and fatality. The incident made all parties aware that rockfalls from aging highway roadcuts within the city limits pose some threat to the motoring public (Watts et al., 1996). Additionally, in June 1995, the Timberlake dam in Lynchburg, VA, failed due to flash flooding from intense summer storms. Two people died on highways downstream of the dam, even though emergency personnel were on the scene. The lack of organized critical information about the dam, its downstream flood inundation zone, and its emergency action plan contributed to the tragedy. The outcome of the ensuing litigation is pending.

In the case of the City of Radford, a user-friendly interactive database containing structural stereonet analysis, digital images, hazardous slope conditions, and maintenance records would provide a proactive approach to rockslope maintenance by allowing the slopes to be ranked in terms of geologic and traffic conditions. Appropriate remediation measures can then be taken in the most cost-effective manner. In the case of the Timberlake dam failure, a database containing critical information about the dam, its upstream watershed characteristics, downstream flood inundation zones, and emergency action plan could have been accessed by state geologists and emergency dispatchers. Appropriate measures could have been taken to deal with the event as it was unfolding.