Scott A. Olson 1997 This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure FFIETH00290049 on Town Highway 29 crossing Black Creek, Fairfield, 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 Green Mountain section of the New England physiographic province in northwestern Vermont. The 83.5-mi² drainage area is in a predominantly rural and forested basin. There is agricultural land in the basin as well, especially along the immediate river valley. In the vicinity of the study site, the surface cover is pasture except for on the downstream right bank which has row crops. In the study area, Black Creek has an incised, meandering channel with a slope of approximately 0.0005 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 85 ft and an average bank height of 9 ft. The channel bed material ranges from sand to cobble with a median grain size (D₅₀) of 3.23 mm (0.0106 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I and Level II site visit on July 13, 1995, indicated that the reach was laterally unstable. This assessment was due to apparent long term lateral movement of the channel in the vicinity of the bridge. The Town Highway 29 crossing of Black Creek is a 48-ft-long, one-lane bridge consisting of one 45-foot steel pony thru-truss type span (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written communication, March 8, 1995). The opening length of the structure parallel to the bridge face is 42.5 ft.The bridge is supported by vertical, concrete abutments. The channel is skewed approximately 30 degrees to the opening while the opening-skew-to-roadway is zero degrees. Channel scour, approximately 6 ft deeper than the mean thalweg depth, was observed through the immediate channel reach including underneath the bridge. Type-2 stone fill (less than 36 inches diameter) has been placed as a scour countermeasure along both abutments, on the channel bed under the bridge and along immediate channel banks upstream and downstream of the bridge. Additional details describing conditions at the site are included in the Level II Summary and Appendices D and E. Scour depths and recommended 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 0.0 to 4.4 ft. The worst-case contraction scour occurred at the 500-year discharge. Abutment scour ranged from 7.5 to 14.3 ft and 12.2 to 16.3 ft on the left and right abutments respectively. 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”. Scouredstreambed 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 particlesize 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. application/pdf 10.3133/ofr97391 en U.S. Geological Survey Level II scour analysis for Bridge 49 (FFIETH00290049) on Town Highway29, crossing Black Creek, Fairfield, Vermont reports