Level II scour analysis for Bridge 25 (ALBATH00250030) on Town Highway 25, crossing the Black River, Albany, Vermont

Open-File Report 96-194
Prepared in cooperation with Vermont Agency of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration
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Abstract

This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure ALBATH00250030 on town highway 25 crossing the Black River, Albany, Vermont (figures 1–8). A Level II study is a basic engineering analysis of the site, including a quantitative analysis of stream stability and scour (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1993). A Level I study is included in Appendix E of this report. A Level I study provides a qualitative geomorphic characterization of the study site. Information on the bridge available from VTAOT files were compiled prior to conducting Level I and Level II analyses and can be found in Appendix D. The site is in the New England Upland physiographic province of north-central Vermont in the town of Albany. The 58.8-mi2 drainage area is in a rural, forested basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the banks have predominantly grass vegetation coverage with a few shrubs. In the study area, the Black River has a non-incised, highly meandering channel with a slope of approximately 0.0005 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 56 ft and an average channel depth of 4 ft. The predominant channel bed material is fine sand (D50 is 1.68 mm or 0.00551 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I and Level II site visit on June 5, 1995, indicated that the reach was laterally unstable. The town highway 25 crossing of the Black River is a 42-ft-long, one-lane bridge consisting of one 40-foot span steel-beam superstructure with a timber deck (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written commun., August 3, 1994). The bridge is supported by vertical, concrete abutments with wingwalls. The channel is not skewed to the opening and the opening-skew-to-roadway is zero degrees. A scour hole 0.5 ft deeper than the mean thalweg depth was observed along mid-channel from 40 feet upstream to about 10 feet under the bridge during the Level I assessment. The left abutment is slightly undermined at the downstream end. The only scour protection measures at the site were sparse type-1 stone fill (less than 12 inches diameter) on the upstream right road embankment, along the left and right abutments, and along the upstream left wingwall. Additional details describing conditions at the site are included in the Level II Summary and Appendices  D and E. Scour depths and rock rip-rap sizes were computed using the general guidelines described in Hydraulic Engineering Circular 18 (Richardson and others, 1993). Scour depths were calculated assuming an infinite depth of erosive material and a homogeneous particle-size distribution. The scour analysis results are presented in tables 1 and 2 and a graph of the scour depths is presented in figure 8.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Level II scour analysis for Bridge 25 (ALBATH00250030) on Town Highway 25, crossing the Black River, Albany, Vermont
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 96-194
DOI 10.3133/ofr96194
Year Published 1996
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description iv, 30 p.
Country United States
State Vermont
City Albany
Other Geospatial Black River
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