Highway-Monitoring Data from Segments of Open-Graded Friction Course and Dense-Graded Hot-Mix Asphalt Pavement in Eastern Massachusetts, 2018-2021

Highway runoff is a source of chemical constituents to downstream waterbodies that can be managed with the use of stormwater-control measures that reduce sediment loads. The use of open-graded friction course (OGFC) pavement has been identified as a method to reduce loads from highway runoff because it retains sediment in pavement voids. Few datasets are available, though, in New England to characterize runoff quality from OGFC pavement. To meet this data need, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, conducted a field study from October 2018 through September 2021 (water years [WYs] 2019-21) to monitor highway runoff from a section of traditional dense-graded hot-mix asphalt (HMA) and from a section of OGFC pavement on Interstate 95 near Needham, Massachusetts. A robust dataset that includes suspended-sediment concentrations for nearly every runoff event during the study period was generated to compare the two 4,180-square-foot sections of highway pavement under identical weather conditions, traffic volumes, and maintenance practices. This data release contains sediment and runoff quality-control data, runoff-event characteristics, and suspended sediment event-mean concentrations for 226 sampled runoff events. It also includes the loads of sediment that were conveyed off the pavement section by runoff, estimates of sediment loads deposited in the trenches during dry sampling periods, results of permeameter tests conducted on the OGFC pavement, and concentrations of dissolved constituents in pavement leachate. Eight tab-delimited text files are organized as follows: 1. StationInformation.txt contains the station identifiers and coordinate locations. 2. QualityControlSamples.txt contains quality-control samples (field blanks, source blanks, and replicates) of runoff and sediment. 3. RunoffEventCharacteristics.txt contains start and end times of runoff-generating events at each monitoring station for three minimum flow thresholds and runoff volumes, precipitation volumes, and event-mean concentrations of chloride and sodium. 4. SedimentEMC.txt contains event-mean concentrations of suspended sediment measured for nearly all runoff events during WYs 2019-21 at each monitoring station. 5. SedimentLoads.txt contains the masses of sediment retained in the trench and weir sump at each monitoring station. 6. DryDepositionData.txt contains the rates of sediment accumulation in the monitoring-station trenches measured during select dry-antecedent periods. 7. PermeameterTests.txt contains the results of permeameter tests on the OGFC pavement and calculated coefficients of permeability. 8. PavementLeachateSamples.txt contains concentrations of dissolved constituents in pavement-leachate samples.