This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure
WEELTH00210023 on Town Highway 21 crossing Miller Run, Wheelock, 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
in northeastern Vermont. The 28.3-mi2
drainage area is in a predominantly rural and
forested basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the surface cover is forest on the upstream
and downstream right banks while the surface cover on the upstream and downstream left
banks consists primarily of short grass and buildings with shrubs, brush and trees along the
immediate banks.
In the study area, Miller Run has an incised, straight channel with a slope of approximately
0.003 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 76 ft and an average bank height of 6 ft. The
channel bed material ranges from gravel to boulder with a median grain size (D50) of 67.5
mm (0.221 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I and Level II site visit
on August 2, 1995, indicated that the reach was stable.
The Town Highway 21 crossing of Miller Run is a 46-ft-long, one-lane bridge consisting of
one 43-foot steel-beam span with a wooden deck (Vermont Agency of Transportation,
written communication, April 5, 1995). The opening length of the structure parallel to the
bridge face is 42.1 ft. The bridge is supported by vertical, concrete abutments with
wingwalls. The channel is skewed approximately 20 degrees to the opening while the
computed opening-skew-to-roadway is 25 degrees.
A scour hole 1.0 ft deeper than the mean thalweg depth was observed under the bridge,
along the center of the channel, during the Level I assessment. The scour protection
measures at the site included type-2 stone fill (less than 36 inches diameter) along the
downstream left bank and along the entire base length of the upstream and downstream
right wingwalls. Type-3 stone fill (less than 48 inches diameter) protection was observed
along the upstream end of the upstream left wingwall and randomly scattered along the left
abutment. Type-4 stone fill (less than 60 inches diameter) protection was observed along
the entire base length of the downstream left wingwall. 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)
for the 100- and 500-year discharges. In addition, the incipient roadway-overtopping
discharge is determined and analyzed as another potential worst-case scour scenario. 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 was computed to be zero ft. Abutment scour
ranged from 9.1 to 10.8 ft along the right abutment and from 9.8 to 12.3 ft along the left
abutment. 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.
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.