Section 1: About this Manual

Purpose of the Manual

The purpose of this manual is to guide districts in geotechnical investigation and design for project development. Recommendations, background information, and examples for geotechnical designs are available on the
TxDOT website
.

Updates

Updates to this manual are summarized in the following table.
Table 1-1: Manual Revision History
Version
Publication Date
Summary of Changes
2000-1
August 2000
New Manual
2006-1
August 2006
Revision restructuring the manual to include policy and high-level procedures, with recommendations, examples, and background information now available on the
Internet
.
2012-1
December 2012
Clarification to policy previously established.
2018-1
March 2018
Clarification to policy previously established and updated material in Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
2020-1
March 2020
Clarification to policy previously established and updated material in Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Organization

Information in this manual is organized into the following chapters:
  1. Manual Overview. Introductory information on the purpose and organization of the manual.
  2. Soil Surveys. Requirements for conducting soil surveys for projects with bridges, retaining walls, slopes and embankments, sign structures, illumination, sound walls, and radio towers.
  3. Field Operations. Requirements for drilling, sampling, and field testing.
  4. Soil and Bedrock Logging. Description of material order, level of description, and classification.
  5. Foundation Design. Guidelines for selecting foundation types, drilled shafts, piling, and requirements for scour analysis.
  6. Retaining Walls. Requirements for retaining wall selection, layouts, design, and excavation support.
  7. Slope Stability. Requirements for slope stability design and analysis.

Feedback

Direct any questions or comments on the content of this manual to the Director of the Bridge Division, Texas Department of Transportation.