Highway Runoff and Sediment Control

A literature survey was conducted on the erosion and sedimentation process and techniques for control. Erosion and sediment control techniques were found to be very site specific. Several techniques are analyzed for their maintenance and operation requirements, construction costs, and effectiveness in quantity and quality control. Once technique, namely swale blocks or berms was designed and constructed to illustrate cost and effectiveness. Design aids were developed for various berm heights and highway slopes as a function of berm spacing for typical highway cross-sections to aid in the design of swale blocks. Construction costs were estimated for the berms and retention/detention facilities. The berms were constructed in swales along a roadway on the campus of the University of Central Florida to determine their hydraulic and pollution control effectiveness for this particular design. During storm events, the swale block system was monitored by collecting grab samples which were analyzed for total suspended solids (TSS). Also, rainfall and runoff volumes were measured. During the time of investigation, there was no runoff recorded over the berms; therefore, for the storms sampled, the swale blocks are considered to be one-hundred percent efficient for runoff and sediment control.