Changing Middle Rio Grande Channel Conditions: Highway 550 to Montano Road Bridge
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
The Bernalillo Reach of the Middle Rio Grande spans about 16 mi from Highway 550 Bridge to Montano Bridge Crossing in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The analysis of spatial and temporal trends in channel geometry and morphology is reported including dynamic hydrologic and hydraulic changes over the past century. The mean annual discharge has decreased since the 2000s, and the suspended sediment discharge has been declining since the 1970s, resulting in channel degradation. A GIS analysis of maps and aerial photographs dating as far back as 1918 shows geomorphic changes where the channel width has decreased from about 1,170 to about 290 ft wide; it is now about 1/4th of the historical width. Upstream dam construction in the 1970s has led to channel incision ranging from about 3 to 8 ft. Channel planform has changed from a braided, highly mobile, sand bed condition to a narrow, single thread, gravel-dominated channel bed. There is also a slight increase in flow depth, velocity, median bed grain size and sinuosity while the slope decreased from 1972 to 2012. To further understand the channel evolution, a geomorphic conceptual model was used.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2024
Pages: 608 - 623
History
Published online: May 16, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Bodies of water (by type)
- Bridge engineering
- Bridges
- Bridges (by type)
- Channels (waterway)
- Coasts, oceans, ports, and waterways engineering
- Engineering fundamentals
- Highway and road conditions
- Highway and road management
- Highway bridges
- Highway transportation
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic structures
- Hydraulics
- Hydrologic engineering
- Infrastructure
- River engineering
- Sediment
- Spatial analysis
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
- Suspended sediment
- Transportation engineering
- Water and water resources
- Water discharge
- Water management
- Waterways
Authors
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