A
cut, in the context of earthmoving, generally means the removal of soil or rock material. When used in reference to transportation routes, it has the more particular meaning of removal directed along the line of a canal, railway, or roadway, in order to reduce the grade of the route. For example,
Railway Age's Comprehensive Railroad Dictionary defines a cut as "a passage cut for the roadway through an obstacle of rock or dirt."
Cuts can be created by multiple passes of a
graderA grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, a maintainer, or a motor grader, is a construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface. Typical models have three axles, with the engine and cab situated above the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third...
,
scraperIn civil engineering, a wheel tractor-scraper is a piece of heavy equipment used for earthmoving. The rear part has a vertically moveable hopper with a sharp horizontal front edge. The hopper can be hydraulically lowered and raised. When the hopper is lowered, the front edge cuts into the soil or...
or
excavatorAn excavator is a heavy equipment consisting of an articulated arm , bucket and cab mounted on a pivot atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels...
, or by blasting.
Discussion
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A
cut, in the context of earthmoving, generally means the removal of soil or rock material. When used in reference to transportation routes, it has the more particular meaning of removal directed along the line of a canal, railway, or roadway, in order to reduce the grade of the route. For example,
Railway Age's Comprehensive Railroad Dictionary defines a cut as "a passage cut for the roadway through an obstacle of rock or dirt."
Cuts can be created by multiple passes of a
graderA grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, a maintainer, or a motor grader, is a construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface. Typical models have three axles, with the engine and cab situated above the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third...
,
scraperIn civil engineering, a wheel tractor-scraper is a piece of heavy equipment used for earthmoving. The rear part has a vertically moveable hopper with a sharp horizontal front edge. The hopper can be hydraulically lowered and raised. When the hopper is lowered, the front edge cuts into the soil or...
or
excavatorAn excavator is a heavy equipment consisting of an articulated arm , bucket and cab mounted on a pivot atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels...
, or by blasting. One unusual means of creating a cut is to remove the roof of a tunnel through
daylightingDaylighting a tunnel is to remove its "roof" or overlying rock and soil, thus exposing the railway or roadway to daylight. This could also be seen as converting the tunnel to a railway or roadway cut...
. Material removed from cuts is ideally balanced by material needed for
fillsCut and Fill in earthmoving is the process of constructing a railway, road or canal whereby the amount of material from cuts roughly matches the amount of fill needed to make nearby embankments, so minimizing the amount of construction labor...
along the same route, but this is not always the case when cut material is unsuitable for use as fill.
Types of cut
There are at least two types of cut,
sidehill cut and
through cut. The former permits passage of a transportation route alongside of or around a hill, where the slope is transverse to the roadway. A sidehill cut can be formed through removal only, cutting on the high side balanced by filling on the low side, or less commonly, by building up fill to achieve a flat surface for the route. In contrast, through cuts require removal of material where the adjacent grade is higher on both sides of the route. In this case, "little or no material can be excavated by sidecasting", i.e., removed material cannot be dumped alongside the route.
See also
- Cut-and-cover
- Cut and fill
Cut and Fill in earthmoving is the process of constructing a railway, road or canal whereby the amount of material from cuts roughly matches the amount of fill needed to make nearby embankments, so minimizing the amount of construction labor...
- Cutting (transportation)
In civil engineering, a cutting or cut is where part of a hill or mountain is cut out to make way for a road or rail line. It is in cut and fill construction used to keep the route straight and/or flat, where the comparative cost or practicality of alternate solutions is too prohibitive...
- Daylighting (streams)
In urban design and urban planning, daylighting is the redirection of a stream into an above-ground channel. Typically, the goal is to restore a stream of water to a more natural state...
- Daylighting (tunnels)
Daylighting a tunnel is to remove its "roof" or overlying rock and soil, thus exposing the railway or roadway to daylight. This could also be seen as converting the tunnel to a railway or roadway cut...
- Duffy's Cut
Duffy's Cut is the name given to a stretch of railroad tracks some 30 miles west of Philadelphia and originally built for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in the summer and fall of 1832. Railroad contractor Philip Duffy hired 57 Irish immigrants to lay this line through the area's densely...
- Slope
- Trench
-Agriculture:Trenches have long been used to carry water. Trenches can be used for draining purposes, leading water away from a swamp or wetland that is to be dried out. Likewise they can be used for irrigation purposes, directing water into dry areas...