The Challenge
As of 2023, many of the 25,000 plus roadway crossing structures (small bridges and culverts) over rivers and streams in Massachusetts are undersized (Massachusetts Culverts and Small Bridges Working Group, 2020). This has resulted in substantial impacts not only to fish and wildlife movement and habitat connectivity, but also to the survival of organisms and populations. Additionally, undersized structures lack the resiliency needed to withstand large floods and potential changes in flood magnitude and frequency. Over the next 10-20 years, thousands of culverts will need to be replaced due to age and deterioration. Massachusetts has a critical opportunity to improve stream crossings and enhance resiliency, public safety, and environmental goals. However, due to limited resources, municipalities are currently replacing failing culverts in-kind (i.e., undersized culverts get replaced with undersized culverts).
Project Scope
By integrating data from hydrological models, crossing assessments, and aquatic connectivity models, the tool will provide municipal highway departments and other interest groups a preliminary design (i.e., includes a span, pipe, and box culvert designed to 10-, 25-, 50-, and 100-yr flows and the full Stream Crossing Standards) used for budgetary planning, funding applications, and watershed approach - prioritization purposes. The online tool will facilitate a shift away from culvert replacement in-kind, thereby enabling Massachusetts’ communities to reduce the risk and cost of flooding / storm damage, enhance stream ecology, and improve public safety / disaster response. Specifically, this project looks to study and model preliminary culvert designs to improve stream crossings in the upper Housatonic and Westfield watersheds in western Massachusetts.
Metrics
Ultimately, the overall success of the Statewide Hydraulic Model as a Stream Crossing Planning Tool will be determined by its implementation and use by towns, cities, planners, and engineers to prioritize and fund resilient stream crossings that provide adequate organism passage throughout the Commonwealth.
Results
The results of the project will be an online tool located within the existing USGS StreamStats website, along with education and outreach material. The deliverables, once published through USGS, will be made publicly available.
Best Practices and Lessons Learned
As part of its best practices, this study has community outreach built into its objectives in the form of online available videos, trainings to use Streamstats and literature. These will be implemented and delivered in the future. Specifically, the location of this proposed study in the upper Housatonic and Westfield Watersheds includes identified “Environmental Justice Block Groups” for Massachusetts. The two Environmental Justice Block Groups in these watersheds are “income” and “minority”. This study would benefit these communities by providing a web-based tool to evaluate culvert replacement projects in order to improve flood resiliency and aquatic organism passage at stream crossings.
Project Alignment with ResilientMass Plan Priority Actions
This project is the development of innovative cost-effective tools and modeling to assist in simplifying and expediting culvert and bridge sizing to help provide improved flood resiliency, aquatic organism passage, stream continuity, and river and floodplain processes. These initiatives align with the 2023 State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan by reducing flood risk and supporting equitable restoration projects with communities.
Further Action
Additional phases will be needed to further scale the project statewide and provide adequate education and outreach to all communities and towns.
Additional Information and Resources
The Phase 1 Deliverable is located here: A feasibility study for developing a statewide hydraulic modeling tool for preliminary culvert designs at stream crossings in Massachusetts (usgs.gov)