On blasting rock for a highway, and scoring grooves into the rock

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Why does a finished highway --specifically the part where they cut through a hill-- include vertical score lines all up and down the rising walls of rock that rim both sides of the highway?

I'm told it's drainage and it prevents ice buildup, but I still don't understand it.
 

waylander

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Possibly it is where they drilled the holes for the explosives that blasted out the rock
 

alleycat

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It's left over from the drilling and blasting required for mass rock excavation.