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:
  • Watersheds
  • Construction
  • Environmental control
  • Runoff
  • Water quality management
  • Stormwater management
  • watershed monitoring
  • hydrological modeling
  • water quality
• 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.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  Project number 930-837R
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32192/dot_32192_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 18.05 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:ee4442baf8d6c3c1399fea3e5feb347be8312e8fbe7ed1de703fe065eb1d89fe