Comparing Bridge Deck Runoff and Stormwater Control Measure Quality in North Carolina
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 1
Abstract
Bridge deck runoff sometimes directly discharges through deck drains to water bodies. As such, the runoff is usually not treated; however, recent pressures have led Departments of Transportation to install closed pipe drainage systems beneath bridges to deliver stormwater to a stormwater control measure (SCM). This can be costly both in terms of up-front and long-term maintenance capital. This study compared bridge runoff concentrations of nutrients, sediment, and heavy metals to effluent concentrations from six commonly used SCMs. Runoff quality samples from 15 bridges in North Carolina were collected and compared to those from 41 different SCMs across North Carolina. The SCMs examined in this study were permeable friction course (PFC) overlays, wet retention ponds (WP), bioretention cells (BRC), vegetated filter strips (VFS), constructed stormwater wetlands (CSW), and grassed swales (GS). Bridge deck runoff concentrations were not statistically different from SCM effluent concentrations for total nitrogen (TN). For total phosphorus (TP), all SCMs produced effluent concentrations lower than bridge runoff concentrations, although only PFC, BRC, and WP did so significantly. For total suspended solids (TSS), median effluent concentrations from the SCMs were significantly and substantially lower (a difference of more than ) than those from bridges. Comparison against water quality threshold concentrations developed for North Carolina suggested that BRC and WP were best for TN treatment and that PFC, WP, and BRC were appropriate for TP treatment. For TSS, all six SCMs were capable of improving the bridge runoff. Similar results were observed for copper, lead, and zinc; BRC, GS, and CSW were able to reduce total metals concentrations significantly. Dissolved metal concentrations appeared difficult to reduce with current SCM technology. These results suggest that for certain pollutants, treatment of bridge runoff may yield improvement. However, the appropriateness of installing SCMs to treat bridge deck runoff must account for the increased cost of closed pipe drainage systems beneath bridges and limited space in the right-of-way and weighed against the relative ease of retrofitting stormwater treatment infrastructure into other transportation corridors.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Highway Stormwater Program. The authors appreciate the aid of the Highway Stormwater Program and the URS Corporation for their support of this project and review of this document. The authors acknowledge the North Carolina State University Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology and the USGS National Water Quality laboratories for sample analysis.
References
American Public Health Association (APHA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), and Water Environment Federation (WEF). (1995). “Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater.” 19th Ed., Washington, DC.
Bäckström, M. (2003). “Grassed swales for stormwater pollution control during rain and snowmelt.” Water Sci. Technol., 48(9), 123–134.
Barrett, M. E. (2005). “Performance comparison of structural stormwater best management practices.” Water Environ. Res., 77(1), 78–86.
Barrett, M. E. (2008a). “Effects of a permeable friction course on highway runoff.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 646–651.
Barrett, M. E. (2008b). “Comparison of BMP performance using the international stormwater BMP database.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 556–561.
Barrett, M. E., Lantin, A., and Austrheim-Smith, S. (2004). “Stormwater pollutant removal in roadside vegetated buffer strips.” Transportation Research Record 1890, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 129–140.
Barrett, M. E., Walsh, P. M., Malina, J. F., and Charbeneau, R. J. (1998). “Performance of vegetative controls for treating highway runoff.” J. Environ. Eng., 1121–1128.
Booth, D. B. (1990). “Stream-channel incision following drainage-basin urbanization.” Water Resour. Bull., 26(3), 407–417.
Borne, K. E., Fassman-Beck, E. A., Winston, R. J., Tanner, C. C., and Hunt, W. F. (2014). “Implementation and maintenance of floating treatment wetlands for urban stormwater management.” J. Environ. Eng., in press.
Brown, R. A., and Hunt, W. F. (2011). “Impacts of media depth on effluent water quality and hydrologic performance of under-sized bioretention cells.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 132–143.
Brown, R. A., and Hunt, W. F. (2012). “Improving bioretention/biofiltration performance with restorative maintenance.” Water Sci. Technol., 65(2), 361–367.
Davis, A. P. (2007). “Field performance of bioretention: Water quality.” Environ. Eng. Sci., 24(8), 1048–1064.
Deletic, A., and Fletcher, T. D. (2006). “Performance of grass filters used for stormwater treatment—A field and modelling study.” J. Hydrol., 317(3-4), 261–275.
Doll, B., Winston, R. J., Hunt, W. F., Lowe, C., and Grandy, T. (2014). “Performance of stormwater ponds with littoral shelves at Currituck County Extension Center: Results of a second year of monitoring.” Final Rep. NC Sea Grant No. R/MG-1202.
Drapper, D., Tomlinson, R., and Williams, P. (2000). “Pollutant concentrations in road runoff: southeast Queensland case study.” J. Environ. Eng., 313–320.
Dupuis, T. V. (2002). “Assessing the impacts of bridge deck runoff contaminants in receiving waters.”, Vol. 1, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Eck, B. J., Winston, R. J., Hunt, W. F., and Barrett, M. E. (2012). “Water quality of drainage from permeable friction course.” J. Environ. Eng., 174–181.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). (1989). “FHWA functional classification guidelines.” Washington, DC.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). (1990). “Pollutant loadings and impacts from highway stormwater runoff, Volume III: Analytical investigations and research report.”, McLean, VA.
Feng, W., Hatt, B. E., McCarthy, D. T., Fletcher, T. D., and Deletic, A. (2012). “Biofilters for stormwater harvesting: understanding the treatment performance of key metals that pose a risk for water use.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 46(9), 5100–5108.
Field, R., and Sullivan, D. (2002). Wet-weather flow in the urban watershed: technology and management, 1st Ed., CRC press, Boca Raton, FL.
Flint, K. R., and Davis, A. P. (2007). “Pollutant mass flushing characterization of highway stormwater runoff from an ultra-urban area.” J. Environ. Eng., 616–626.
Gilbert, R. O. (1987). “Estimating the mean and variance from censored data sets.” Statistical methods for environmental pollution monitoring, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1145–1158.
Greenway, M. (2004). “Constructed wetlands for water pollution control—Processes, parameters, and performance.” Dev. Chem. Eng. Miner. Process., 12(5–6), 491–504.
Hancock, G. S., Holley, J. W., and Chambers, R. M. (2010). “A field-based evaluation of wet retention ponds: How effective are ponds at water quantity control?” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 46(6), 1145–1158.
Hathaway, J. M., and Hunt, W. F. (2010). “An evaluation of two stormwater wetlands in series in Piedmont, North Carolina.” J. Environ. Eng., 140–146.
Hathaway, J. M., Hunt, W. F., and Johnson, A. (2007c). “City of Charlotte BMP monitoring program: Edwards Branch wetland final monitoring report.” North Carolina State Univ., Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Raleigh, NC, 〈http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/PublicationFiles/CLT_EdwardsBranchWetland_2007.pdf〉.
Hathaway, J. M., Hunt, W. F., Smith, J. T., and Johnson, A. (2007a). “City of Charlotte BMP monitoring program: Shade Valley pond final monitoring report.” North Carolina State Univ., Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Raleigh, NC, 〈http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/PublicationFiles/CLT_ShadeValleyPond_2007.pdf〉.
Hathaway, J. M., Hunt, W. F., Smith, J. T., and Johnson, A. (2007b). “City of Charlotte BMP monitoring program: Pierson pond final monitoring report.” North Carolina State Univ., Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Raleigh, NC, 〈http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/PublicationFiles/CLT_PiersonPond_2007.pdf〉.
Hatt, B. E., Fletcher, T. D., and Deletic, A. (2009). “Hydrologic and pollutant removal performance of stormwater biofiltration systems at the field scale.” J. Hydrol., 365(3–4), 310–321.
Helmreich, B., Hillages, R., Schriewer, A., and Horn, H. (2010). “Runoff pollutants of a highly trafficked urban road—Correlation analysis and seasonal influences.” Chemosphere, 80(9), 991–997.
Hunt, W. F., Davis, A. P., and Traver, R. G. (2012). “Meeting hydrologic and water quality goals through targeted bioretention design.” J. Environ. Eng., 698–707.
Hunt, W. F., Smith, J. T., Jadlocki, S. J., Hathaway, J. M., and Eubanks, P. R. (2008). “Pollutant removal and peak flow mitigation by a bioretention cell in urban Charlotte, NC.” J. Environ. Eng., 403–408.
Johnson, J. (2007). “Evaluation of stormwater wetland and wet pond forebay design and stormwater wetland pollutant removal efficiency.” M.S. thesis, North Carolina State Univ., Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Raleigh, NC, 〈http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/ir/handle/1840.16/1590〉.
Kadlec, R. H., and Wallace, S. D. (2009). Treatment wetlands, 2nd Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Kayhanian, M., Suverkropp, C., Ruby, A., and Tsay, K. (2007). “Characterization and prediction of highway runoff constituent event mean concentration.” J. Environ. Manage., 85(2), 279–295.
Knight, E. M. P., Hunt, W. F., and Winston, R. J. (2013). “Side-by-side evaluation of four level spreader-vegetated filter strips and a swale in eastern North Carolina.” J. Soil Water Conserv., 68(1), 60–72.
Lenhart, H. A., and Hunt, W. F. (2011). “Evaluating four stormwater performance metrics with a North Carolina coastal plain stormwater wetland.” J. Environ. Eng., 155–162.
Li, H., Sharkey, L. J., Hunt, W. F., and Davis, A. P. (2009). “Mitigation of impervious surface hydrology using bioretention in North Carolina and Maryland.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 407–415.
Line, D. E., Jennings, G. D., Shaffer, M. B., Calabria, J., and Hunt, W. F. (2008). “Evaluating the effectiveness of two stormwater wetlands in North Carolina.” Trans. Am. Soc. Agric. Biol. Eng., 51(2), 521–528.
Luell, S. K. (2011). “Evaluating the impact of bioretention cell size and swale design in treating highway bridge deck runoff.” M.S. thesis, North Carolina State Univ., Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Raleigh, NC, 〈http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/ir/handle/1840.16/6921〉.
Luell, S. K., Hunt, W. F., and Winston, R. J. (2011). “Evaluation of undersized bioretention stormwater control measures for treatment of highway bridge deck runoff.” Water Sci. Technol., 64(4), 974–979.
Malina, J. F., Jr., Barrett, M. E., Jackson, A., and Kramer, T. (2005). “Characterization of stormwater runoff from a bridge deck and approach highway and effects on receiving water quality.”, Center for Transportation Research, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX.
Mann, H. B., and Whitney, D. R. (1947). “On a test of whether one of two random variables is stochastically larger than the other.” Ann. Math. Stat., 18(1), 50–60.
McNett, J. K., Hunt, W. F., and Osborne, J. A. (2010). “Establishing storm-water BMP evaluation metrics based upon ambient water quality associated with benthic macroinvertebrate populations.” J. Environ. Eng., 535–541.
North Carolina State Univ. (2014). “Geospatial (GIS) data services.” 〈http://www.lib.ncsy.edu/gis/〉.
Opher, T., and Friedler, E. (2010). “Factors affecting highway runoff quality.” Urban Water J., 7(3), 155–172.
Passeport, E., Hunt, W. F., Line, D. E., Smith, R. A., and Brown, R. A. (2009). “Field study of the ability of two grassed bioretention cells to reduce stormwater runoff pollution.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 505–510.
Pitt, R., Clark, S., and Field, R. (1999). “Groundwater contamination potential from stormwater infiltration practices.” Urban Water., 1(3), 217–236.
Rangsivek, R., and Jekel, M. R. (2005). “Removal of dissolved metals by zero-valent iron (ZVI): Kinetics, equilibria, processes, and implications for stormwater runoff treatment.” Water Res., 39(17), 4153–4163.
R Version 2.15.2 [Computer software]. R foundation for statistical computing, Vienna, Austria.
Sansalone, J. J., and Buchberger, S. G. (1997). “Partitioning and first flush of metals in urban roadway storm water.” J. Environ. Eng., 134–143.
Sansalone, J. J., Hird, J. P., Cartledge, F. K., and Tittlebaum, M. E. (2005). “Event-based stormwater quality and quantity loadings from elevated urban infrastructure affected by transportation.” Water Environ. Res., 77(4), 348–365.
SAS Version 9.3 [Computer software]. SAS Institute, Cary, NC.
Stotz, G. (1987). “Investigations of the properties of the surface water run-off from federal highways in the FRG.” Sci. Total Environ., 59, 329–337.
Strecker, E. W., Quigley, M. M., Urbonas, B. R., Jones, E. J., and Clary, J. K. (2001). “Determining urban storm water BMP effectiveness.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 144–149.
Sustainable Sites Initiative. (2009). “Guidelines and performance benchmarks.” American Society of Landscape Architects, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the Univ. of Texas at Austin, and United States Botanic Garden, Austin, TX, 〈http://www.sustainablesites.org/report〉.
Swadener, L. M., Javeherian, M. H., Jones, E. G., and Bartelt-Hunt, S. L. (2014). “Chemical characterization and toxicity of bridge deck runoff and impacts to receiving water quality.” J. Environ. Eng., 04014010.
Thomson, N. R., McBean, E. A., Snodgrass, W., and Monstrenko, I. B. (1997). “Highway stormwater runoff quality: development of surrogate parameter relationships.” Water Air Soil Pollut., 94, 307–347.
Tucker, R. S. (2007). “Urban stormwater: First flush analysis and treatment by an undersized constructed wetland.” M.S. thesis, North Carolina State Univ., Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Raleigh, NC, 〈http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/ir/handle/1840.16/765〉.
United States Geological Survey (USGS). (1997). “National field manual for the collection of water-quality data: U.S. Geological Survey techniques of water-resources investigations.” Washington, DC, 〈http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/twri9A〉.
URS Corporation. (2012). “Stormwater runoff from bridges: Final report to joint legislation transportation oversight committee.” Final Rep., Morrisville, NC.
USEPA. (1983). “Methods of chemical analysis of water and waste.”, Cincinnati, OH.
USEPA. (2007). “National management measures to control nonpoint source pollution from hydromodification.”, Washington, DC.
USEPA. (2009). “National water quality inventory: Report to congress, 2004 reporting cycle.”, Washington, DC.
Wagner, C., Fitzgerald, S., and Lauffer, M. (2012). “Characterization of stormwater runoff from North Carolina bridges and determination of effects on selected receiving waters.” Transportation Research Record 2309, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 178–199.
Waters, T. F. (1995). “Sediment in streams: Sources, biological effects, and control.” American Fisheries Society Monograph 7, Bethesda, MD.
Winston, R. J., Hunt, W. F., Kennedy, S. G., Merriman, L. S., Chandler, J., and Brown, D. (2013). “Evaluation of floating treatment wetlands as retrofits to existing stormwater retention ponds.” Ecol. Eng., 54, 254–265.
Winston, R. J., Hunt, W. F., Kennedy, S. G., Wright, J. D., and Lauffer, M. S. (2012). “Field evaluation of stormwater control measures for highway runoff treatment.” J. Environ. Eng., 101–111.
Winston, R. J., Hunt, W. F., Osmond, D. L., Lord, W. G., and Woodward, M. D. (2011). “Field evaluation of four level spreader—vegetative filter strips to improve urban storm-water quality.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 170–182.
Wu, J. S., and Allan, C. J. (2001). “Sampling and testing of stormwater runoff from North Carolina highways.”, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Washington, DC.
Wu, J. S., Allan, C. J., Saunders, W. L., and Evett, J. B. (1998). “Characterization and pollutant loading estimation for highway runoff.” J. Environ. Eng., 584–592.
Yousef, Y. A., Wanielista, M. P., Hvitved-Jacobsen, T., and Harper, H. H. (1984). “Fate of heavy metals in stormwater runoff from highway bridges.” Sci. Total Environ., 33(1–4), 233–244.
Zanders, J. M. (2005). “Road sediment: Characterization and implications for the performance of vegetated strips for treating road run-off.” Sci. Total Environ., 339(1–3), 41–47.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 1 • January 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 5, 2014
Accepted: May 12, 2014
Published online: Jul 21, 2014
Discussion open until: Dec 21, 2014
Published in print: Jan 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.