Validating Pollutant Load Estimates from Highways and Roads

Rain and snowmelt that runs off of roadways carries pollutants. Pollutant event mean concentrations have been developed for various land uses to calculate annual pollutant loads. These were developed for total suspended solids, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen. New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) uses the Simple Method for estimating the pollutant load in runoff. This study collected real time in situ measurements to validate the concentrations used in Simple Method calculations for modeling pollutant loads from New Hampshire roadways. Three locations were picked to represent low, medium, and high traffic volume roadways. The actual measured amount of pollutants was compared to the loading predictions of the Simple Method. This study confirmed that using one modeling approach is effective for all New Hampshire roadways.

• Record URL:
  https://mm.nh.gov/files/uploads/dot/remote-docs/nhdot-research-15680y-2015-report.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/30668
• Corporate Authors:

  University of New Hampshire, Durham

  Department of Civil Engineering
  Durham, NH  United States  03824

  New Hampshire Department of Transportation

  Bureau of Materials and Research
  Box 483, 5 Hazen Drive
  Concord, NH  United States  03302-0483

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Ballestero, Thomas P
  • Houle, James
  • Puls, Timothy
• Publication Date: 2015-12-31

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 27p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Estimating; Highways; Nitrogen; Phosphorus; Pollutants; Runoff; Suspended sediments; Validation; Water quality
• Geographic Terms: New Hampshire
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01596810
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-NH-RD-15680Y
• Contract Numbers: 15680Y, A003(707)
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Apr 22 2016 10:45AM