Unnamed tributary to Trapfall Brook at Harris Road in Ashby, Massachusetts, on October 1, 2021. The shallowness of water in the culvert could impede aquatic organism passage.
A Statewide Hydraulic Modeling Tool for Stream Crossing Projects in Massachusetts
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By New England Water Science Center
November 7, 2022
The U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass Amherst), in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), began a series of studies in 2019 to develop a web-based statewide hydraulic modeling tool to provide preliminary culvert designs for stream-crossing projects in Massachusetts.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Many of the approximately 25,000 roadway crossing structures over rivers and streams in Massachusetts are undersized (Massachusetts Culverts and Small Bridges Working Group, 2020). Poorly-designed or undersized culverts and bridges can limit fish and wildlife movement, divide habitat continuity, and negatively affect aquatic organism passage, survival and population growth. (Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Ecological Restoration, 2012). Additionally, undersized culverts can lack the resiliency needed to withstand large floods. Potential increases in flood magnitude and frequency from climate change may exacerbate these challenges over time. Improved designs for stream-crossing projects would provide better aquatic organism passage, stream continuity, and resiliency to future floods while minimizing adverse impacts such as upstream flooding, road flooding, road blowouts, erosion and degradation of rare species habitat.
To address these issues, MassDEP, in cooperation with the USGS and UMass Amherst, began a series of studies to develop a web-based statewide hydraulic modeling tool to create preliminary culvert designs for stream-crossing projects in Massachusetts. This tool will help municipalities evaluate potential culvert designs and facilitate the permitting of stream-crossing projects to meet the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act Regulations. Furthermore, a preliminary evaluation of the hydrology, hydraulics and ecological conditions of the project sites will be provided.
Phase I
- To evaluate the feasibility of developing a web-based statewide hydraulic modeling tool for preliminary culvert designs for stream crossings in Massachusetts
- Timeline: July 2019 through September 2022
- Geonarrative
Phase II
- To develop a prototype of the web-based hydraulic modeling tool for a pilot watershed, the Squannacook River Watershed in north-central Massachusetts
- To survey 16 stream crossings in the Squannacook River Watershed
- To incorporate automated scripts using geographic information systems (GIS) methods and lidar data into the hydraulic modeling tool to produce stream cross section elevation data
- To use this hydraulic modeling tool to create preliminary designs of 3-sided box and arch culverts and pipe culverts for the 10- and 4-percent annual exceedance probability flood flows that meet the Massachusetts Stream Crossing Standards
- To integrate these preliminary culvert designs into the USGS StreamStats web application
- To compare the GIS-based hydraulic models to field-based hydraulic models (cross-section elevation data from surveys) at 16 selected stream crossings in the watershed
- To assess the accuracy of the hydraulic modeling tool and to improve it based on these comparisons
- Timeline: July 2021 through June 2023
Phase IIA
- To use the hydraulic modeling tool to develop preliminary culvert designs at an additional 20-30 stream crossings throughout Massachusetts
- To survey 20-30 stream crossings throughout Massachusetts
- To use the hydraulic model tool to create preliminary designs of 3-sided box and arch culverts and pipe culverts for the 10- and 4-percent annual exceedance probability flood flows that meet the Massachusetts Stream Crossing Standards
- To integrate these preliminary culvert designs into the USGS StreamStats web application
- To compare the GIS-based hydraulic models to field-based hydraulic models ( cross-section elevation data from surveys) at the same 20-30 stream crossings
- To assess the accuracy of the hydraulic modeling tool and to improve it based on these comparisons
- Timeline: July 2022 through June 2024
Phase III
- To expand the GIS-based hydraulic modeling tool to the entire state, such that preliminary culvert designs exist for all 25,000-plus stream crossings, where feasible, in Massachusetts
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Unnamed tributary to Trapfall Brook in Ashby, Massachusetts
Unnamed tributary to Trapfall Brook at Harris Road in Ashby, Massachusetts, on October 1, 2021. The shallowness of water in the culvert could impede aquatic organism passage.
Pearl Hill Brook in Ashby, Massachusetts
Pearl Hill Brook at Mill Creek Drive in Ashby, Massachusetts on October 1, 2021. The drop at the outflow of the culvert would impede aquatic organism passage.
Pearl Hill Brook at Mill Creek Drive in Ashby, Massachusetts on October 1, 2021. The drop at the outflow of the culvert would impede aquatic organism passage.
The U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass Amherst), in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), began a series of studies in 2019 to develop a web-based statewide hydraulic modeling tool to provide preliminary culvert designs for stream-crossing projects in Massachusetts.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Many of the approximately 25,000 roadway crossing structures over rivers and streams in Massachusetts are undersized (Massachusetts Culverts and Small Bridges Working Group, 2020). Poorly-designed or undersized culverts and bridges can limit fish and wildlife movement, divide habitat continuity, and negatively affect aquatic organism passage, survival and population growth. (Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Ecological Restoration, 2012). Additionally, undersized culverts can lack the resiliency needed to withstand large floods. Potential increases in flood magnitude and frequency from climate change may exacerbate these challenges over time. Improved designs for stream-crossing projects would provide better aquatic organism passage, stream continuity, and resiliency to future floods while minimizing adverse impacts such as upstream flooding, road flooding, road blowouts, erosion and degradation of rare species habitat.
To address these issues, MassDEP, in cooperation with the USGS and UMass Amherst, began a series of studies to develop a web-based statewide hydraulic modeling tool to create preliminary culvert designs for stream-crossing projects in Massachusetts. This tool will help municipalities evaluate potential culvert designs and facilitate the permitting of stream-crossing projects to meet the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act Regulations. Furthermore, a preliminary evaluation of the hydrology, hydraulics and ecological conditions of the project sites will be provided.
Phase I
- To evaluate the feasibility of developing a web-based statewide hydraulic modeling tool for preliminary culvert designs for stream crossings in Massachusetts
- Timeline: July 2019 through September 2022
- Geonarrative
Phase II
- To develop a prototype of the web-based hydraulic modeling tool for a pilot watershed, the Squannacook River Watershed in north-central Massachusetts
- To survey 16 stream crossings in the Squannacook River Watershed
- To incorporate automated scripts using geographic information systems (GIS) methods and lidar data into the hydraulic modeling tool to produce stream cross section elevation data
- To use this hydraulic modeling tool to create preliminary designs of 3-sided box and arch culverts and pipe culverts for the 10- and 4-percent annual exceedance probability flood flows that meet the Massachusetts Stream Crossing Standards
- To integrate these preliminary culvert designs into the USGS StreamStats web application
- To compare the GIS-based hydraulic models to field-based hydraulic models (cross-section elevation data from surveys) at 16 selected stream crossings in the watershed
- To assess the accuracy of the hydraulic modeling tool and to improve it based on these comparisons
- Timeline: July 2021 through June 2023
Phase IIA
- To use the hydraulic modeling tool to develop preliminary culvert designs at an additional 20-30 stream crossings throughout Massachusetts
- To survey 20-30 stream crossings throughout Massachusetts
- To use the hydraulic model tool to create preliminary designs of 3-sided box and arch culverts and pipe culverts for the 10- and 4-percent annual exceedance probability flood flows that meet the Massachusetts Stream Crossing Standards
- To integrate these preliminary culvert designs into the USGS StreamStats web application
- To compare the GIS-based hydraulic models to field-based hydraulic models ( cross-section elevation data from surveys) at the same 20-30 stream crossings
- To assess the accuracy of the hydraulic modeling tool and to improve it based on these comparisons
- Timeline: July 2022 through June 2024
Phase III
- To expand the GIS-based hydraulic modeling tool to the entire state, such that preliminary culvert designs exist for all 25,000-plus stream crossings, where feasible, in Massachusetts
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Unnamed tributary to Trapfall Brook in Ashby, Massachusetts
Unnamed tributary to Trapfall Brook at Harris Road in Ashby, Massachusetts, on October 1, 2021. The shallowness of water in the culvert could impede aquatic organism passage.
Unnamed tributary to Trapfall Brook at Harris Road in Ashby, Massachusetts, on October 1, 2021. The shallowness of water in the culvert could impede aquatic organism passage.
Pearl Hill Brook in Ashby, Massachusetts
Pearl Hill Brook at Mill Creek Drive in Ashby, Massachusetts on October 1, 2021. The drop at the outflow of the culvert would impede aquatic organism passage.
Pearl Hill Brook at Mill Creek Drive in Ashby, Massachusetts on October 1, 2021. The drop at the outflow of the culvert would impede aquatic organism passage.