Hydraulic and sediment characteristics at the North Channel Bridge, Jamaica Bay, New York

Data were collected during the spring of 1984 in the vicinity of North Channel Bridge in Jamaica Bay, New York to define the hydraulic regime and the physical characteristics and chemical quality of bottom sediments. The data were used in a semiquantitative analysis to predict the effects of bridge replacement and the attendant resuspension of bottom sediments, on the hydraulics and quality of water and bottom sediments. The bay-bottom configuration at the bridge site was defined, and continuous tidal stage and tidal velocity data were collected for about a month. In addition, eight bottom-sediment samples were collected near the bridge and analyzed. Results of the hydraulic analysis show that the proposed bridge should not have any measurable effect on the net water transport at the bridge cross section. The sediment data indicate that bottom sediments are relatively unpolluted in the vicinity of the bridge. Seventy-five percent of the resuspended bottom sediments will probably settle within 186 m of the bridge during an average ebb tide. Metals and nutrients released from the sediments to the water column are expected to be diluted far below detection limits. The extra oxygen demand exerted by the resuspended bottom sediments is also expected to be far less than ambient biochemical oxygen demand of the water column. (USGS)