Monitoring the effects of Birmingham Northern Beltline construction in the Little Cahaba Creek Watershed : final report.

Details

• Creators:
  Vasconcelos, Jose G. ; Zech, Wesley C. ; Moore, Mitchell F. ; Butler, Catherine G. ; Cai, Zhengqing
• Corporate Creators:
  Auburn University. Highway Research Center
• Corporate Contributors:
  Alabama. Department of Transportation
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Construction Environmental Control Hydrological Modeling Runoff Stormwater Management Water Quality Water Quality Management Watershed Monitoring Watersheds
• Publication/ Report Number:
  Report No. ALDOT 930-837R
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Alabama
• Edition:
  Final report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Auburn University. Highway Research Center
• Abstract:
  The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) has proactively aligned new roadway development
  
  projects with sustainable principles, including roadway stormwater runoff management. The new Birmingham
  
  Northern Beltline (BNB), currently under construction, intercepts a number of streams and has drawn criticism
  
  of environmental groups. This research was conceived as a means to provide an objective assessment of
  
  roadway stormwater runoff impacts to streams in a watershed that is representative of the region spanned by
  
  BNB. This research also aims to provide baseline data in terms of watershed hydrology and water quality to
  
  assess eventual impacts of the BNB construction to the Little Cahaba Creek (LCC) watershed, at a site where
  
  Interstate 59 (I-59) intercepts LCC north of Trussville, AL. Various hydrological parameters and water quality
  
  parameters were monitored in LCC watershed. Measurements indicated hydrological impacts created by runoff
  
  in I-59, particularly a flashy behavior created by contributions from pavement and median runoff. Regarding
  
  water quality measurements, the concentration of nutrients and heavy metals were consistent with levels
  
  measured in runoff from comparable land uses. These metals’ concentrations, however, were higher for
  
  samples collected in drainage ditches next to the roadway, as it would be anticipated. However, the
  
  macroinvertebrate evaluation performed at sites upstream and downstream from the crossing between I-59
  
  and LCC indicates runoff has not impacted the biological diversity across the stream-roadway interception.
  
  These results indicate that with proper stormwater management, roadway stormwater runoff impacts may
  
  indeed be mitigated.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  Project number 930-837R
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:ee4442baf8d6c3c1399fea3e5feb347be8312e8fbe7ed1de703fe065eb1d89fe
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32192/dot_32192_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 18.05 MB ]