Evaluation of soil resources for sustained vegetative cover of cut-slopes along I-70 near Straight Creek.

Details

• Creators:
  Claassen, Vic
• Corporate Creators:
  Colorado. Dept. of Transportation. Research Branch
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Interstate highways
  • Vegetation control
  • Revegetation
  • Native plants
  • Nitrogen
  • Slope stability
  • Decomposed rock
  • Soil components
  • Soil stabilization
• Publication/ Report Number:
  CDOT-2013-14
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Colorado
• Corporate Publisher:
  Colorado. Dept. of Transportation
• NTL Classification:
  NTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION ; NTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
• Abstract:
  Revegetation of high elevation decomposed granite cut-slopes often requires repeated applications of soil ; amendments to attain sustained vegetative cover. Plant transects from slopes west of the Eisenhower Tunnel from ; 2007 to 2012 showed that cover was generally stable during this period. Soil fertility tests indicated that nutrients are ; generally low but still comparable to disturbed-but-revegetated reference plots. Soil organic matter and slow-release ; forms of nitrogen (N) may be a potential limiting factor. The N release rates of several common CDOT soil ; amendments were evaluated in a multi-year, field incubation experiment. Test results indicate a wide range of N ; release availability from nearly immediate to fairly slow release rates. Of the slow-release materials, about 74 % of ; total N content was released the first growing season, another 7 % in the following two years, while about 19 % was ; still retained in a more stable organic matter form at the end of the experiment. The study suggests that after several ; applications of slow-release amendments, vegetative cover on these cut-slopes is stabilizing.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  30.02
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/26180/dot_26180_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.18 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cb5dfd36a30881fb403ec7ecead5162f644641380d89433b5e226fb09462c596a7a867441065ec0b682c00f24fe0afebc9ab4206456e9d53d0495cc1f8520bb7