Jurisdictional roadside ditches.

Details

• Creators:
  McCormack, Sarah M. ; Van Dyke, Chris ; Kreis, Doug
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Kentucky Transportation Center
• Corporate Contributors:
  Kentucky. Transportation Cabinet ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Road construction
  • Ditches
  • Runoff
  • Alternatives analysis
  • Stream restoration
  • Habitat (Ecology)
  • Water quality
  • Evaluation
• Publication/ Report Number:
  KTC-15-08/SPR13-458-1F
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Kentucky
• Corporate Publisher:
  University of Kentucky Transportation Center
• Abstract:
  Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) mandates that state agencies and other entities perform compensatory mitigation when ; their activities impair jurisdictional waters. In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is ; required to pay in-lieu fees or purchase stream mitigation credits when a roadside ditch is impaired or relocated as part of a road ; construction project. In-lieu fees and stream mitigation credits are costly, and ditches that have suffered degraded habitat and loss of ; hydrogeomorphic functionality are treated as total losses when they are impacted by construction and maintenance activities. This ; raises the question of whether the United States Corps of Engineers (USACE) would be receptive to alternative mitigation and ; monitoring practices that impose a less stringent financial burden on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, but which still comply ; with CWA regulations. This report discusses methodologies used to evaluate the quality of instream and riparian habitat, Section 404 ; of the CWA and its implications for mitigation of lost or damaged jurisdictional ditches, and the strategies that have been used by ; other states to fulfill their Section 404 mitigation requirements. We highlight mitigation practices that depart from the norm and ; which place a less onerous financial burden on state transportation agencies. KYTC officials presented this report’s key findings to ; the USACE Louisville District Office in January 2015 in an effort to receive approval to experiment with novel restoration ; techniques. The USACE granted KYTC license to implement these techniques on a project-by-project basis. Before implementation ; on each project, the Cabinet must receive formal approval from USACE officials. Although this was not the blanket mandate that ; KYTC hoped for, it indicated the Louisville District is willing to study the effectiveness of alternative mitigation strategies. Despite ; the Cabinet’s request, USACE officials did not approve a plan to reduce post-restoration monitoring requirements. KTC researchers ; suggested that KYTC perform exhaustive monitoring of the performance of completed project that used alternative mitigation ; techniques. Having information on the short-, medium-, and long-term performance of these sites could – if the results are promising ; – pave the way to the wider adoption of alternative mitigation practices and could eventually reduce the level of post-restoration ; monitoring required by the USACE.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  SPR13-458
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29541/dot_29541_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.25 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5826940325a2b5f0d710581409900cb649d51e654bfd94b23b72c4e3836e60b9ce1b97f57c4f3e3ed086bb85b61b295b6842976f86d446c6503cb360e928d188