Soil water erosion on road embankments in eastern Spain

Road embankments erosion is a serious problem in Spain. By means of simulated rainfall experiments (45 mm h− 1 during one hour on 0.41 m2 plots) soil and water losses were measured on five road embankments located on the SW of the Valencia province, Spain. The bare road embankments, still under construction, contributed with 30 times more soil erosion than the vegetated ones. The measurements here presented demonstrate that road embankments are an important source of sediments, especially during the construction works, and it is recommended that restoration works should be undertaken after the road construction to reduce sediment removal, protect the road and avoid traffic accidents.