This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure WODSTH00750041 on town highway 75 crossing Happy Valley Brook, Woodstock, 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). Results of a Level I scour investigation also are included in Appendix E of this report. A Level I investigation provides a qualitative geomorphic characterization of the study site. Information on the bridge, gleaned from Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTAOT) files, was compiled prior to conducting Level I and Level II analyses and is found in Appendix D.

The site is in the New England Upland section of the New England physiographic province of east-central Vermont. The 3.45-mi² drainage area is in a predominantly rural and forested basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the surface cover is brush with scattered trees.

In the study area, Happy Valley Brook has an incised, sinuous channel with a slope of approximately 0.03 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 23 ft and an average channel depth of 5 ft. The predominant channel bed materials are gravel and cobble with a median grain size (D₅₀) of 82.8 mm (0.272 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level II site visits on September 13, 1994 and December 14, 1994, indicated that the reach was degrading. Five logs are embedded across the channel under the bridge in an attempt to prevent further degradation (see Figures 5 and 6).

The town highway 75 crossing of Happy Valley Brook is a 27-ft-long, two-lane bridge consisting of one 25-foot steel-beam span. The clear span is 17 ft. (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written communication, August 3, 1994). The bridge is supported by vertical, stone abutments with wingwalls. The channel is skewed approximately 40 degrees to the opening and the opening-skew-to-roadway is also 40 degrees. 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, 1995). Total scour at a highway crossing is comprised of three components: 1) long-term streambed degradation; 2) contraction scour (due to accelerated flow caused by a reduction in flow area at a bridge) and; 3) local scour (caused by accelerated flow around piers and abutments). Total scour is the sum of the three components. Equations are available to compute depths for contraction and local scour and a summary of the results of these computations follows.

Contraction scour for all modelled flows ranged from 1.3 to 2.2 ft. The worst-case contraction scour occurred at the 500-year discharge. Abutment scour ranged from 7.2 to 12.0 ft. The worst-case abutment scour occurred at the 500-year discharge. Additional information on scour depths and depths to armoring are included in the section titled “Scour Results”. Scoured-streambed elevations, based on the calculated scour depths, are presented in tables 1 and 2. A cross-section of the scour computed at the bridge is presented in figure 8. Scour depths were calculated assuming an infinite depth of erosive material and a homogeneous particle-size distribution.

It is generally accepted that the Froehlich equation (abutment scour) gives “excessively conservative estimates of scour depths” (Richardson and others, 1995, p. 47). Usually, computed scour depths are evaluated in combination with other information including (but not limited to) historical performance during flood events, the geomorphic stability assessment, existing scour protection measures, and the results of the hydraulic analyses. Therefore, scour depths adopted by VTAOT may differ from the computed values documented herein.