Impact of Annual Average Daily Traffic on Highway Runoff Pollutant Concentrations
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 129, Issue 11
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate correlations between annual average daily traffic (AADT) and storm water runoff pollutant concentrations generated from California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) highway sites. Analyses of data collected from the Caltrans four-year (1997–2001) highway runoff characterization program revealed that, in general, pollutant concentrations from urban highways were higher than those found from nonurban highways. For a limited number of pollutants, however, the concentrations from nonurban highways were found to be higher than the concentrations from urban highways. No direct linear correlation was found between highway runoff pollutant event mean concentrations and AADT. However, through multiple regression analyses, it was shown that AADT has an influence on most highway runoff constituent concentrations, in conjunction with factors associated with watershed characteristics and pollutant build-up and wash off. The other noticeable factors shown to influence the accumulation of pollutants on highways were antecedent dry period, drainage area, maximum rain intensity, and land use.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 129 • Issue 11 • November 2003
Pages: 975 - 990
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 7, 2001
Accepted: Oct 25, 2002
Published online: Oct 15, 2003
Published in print: Nov 2003
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