Vegetated Swales for Managing Stormwater Runoff from Secondary Roads
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 10
Abstract
Secondary roads play an important role for connecting local communities to principal county and state highways and, in some cases, may account for a large proportion of the state-maintained road systems. Existing swales alongside secondary roads can help mitigate the impact of roadway runoff. Limited information is available to characterize their runoff constituent concentrations and pollutant reduction potentials. Consequently, three secondary roadway segments typical of low-to-medium traffic volumes were monitored within the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Event mean concentrations (EMCs) of monitored constituents were found to be substantially lower than those reported for North Carolina primary roads and the national highway runoff data derived from the Federal Highway Administration. In general, secondary road runoff exhibited site-average EMCs of total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP). Roadside swales are effective to attenuate the inflow EMCs to TSS and TN, achieving EMC removal efficiencies of 53% TSS and 25% TP. There was essentially no change in TP EMCs as runoff passing through the swale. Pollutant-load reductions for runoff moving through roadside swales were 77% for TSS, 67% for TN, and 33% for TP. Runoff attenuation through infiltration in vegetated swales accounts for all or most of the load reductions and points to the importance of maximizing infiltration rates in roadside swales. As a result, state agencies can incorporate the water quality benefits of swale treatment with secondary roads when developing their watershed strategies for nutrient load reductions.
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Acknowledgments
Zhaochun Meng was a project assistant at the time this work was performed. Other student assistants included Xiaoshuai Liu, Jake Berkshire, Adam LaGrow, and Aditi Rawat. The research was funded by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (Project No. HWY 2007-04). Guidance and support provided by Matt Lauffer, Andy McDaniel, and other members of the technical advisory committee from NCDOT are greatly appreciated. Research findings presented in this paper do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the sponsoring agencies.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 10 • October 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 10, 2016
Accepted: Apr 24, 2018
Published online: Jul 18, 2018
Published in print: Oct 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Dec 18, 2018
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