Erosion and denudation always occur on loess side slopes and cutting slopes along expressway in Northwestern China. A new slope protecting technique named plant fiber protection was proposed. Materials applied in this method include loess near roadway

wheat straw

grass seed and so on. The materials were mixed with water and sprayed on the surface of the cutting slope to reduce the rain erosion. The field rainfall experiments on the plant fiber protected slope and bare slope were conducted at some section of Pingliang-Dingxi Expressway in Gansu province. The results showed that the connection and reinforcement effect from wheat straw can effectively intercept rain flow and decrease the sputter and runoff on slopes

and therefore

decrease erosion and denudation of slope. Compared with other mitigation measures

this method is relatively cheap and easy to construction. It also can green and beautify the roadway corridor. Thus it is an ideal way in mitigating rain erosion of cutting slopes in loess areas.