Sediment discharge from highway construction near Port Carbon, Pennsylvania

The effects of highway construction on suspended-sediment loads were studied in the upper reaches of the Schuylkill River basin, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, from April 1975 to March 1977. From March 1975 to October 1976, 4.3 miles of State Route 209 was relocated through the upper reaches of the basin, a mountainous watershed with a drainage area of 27.1 square miles.

About 16,000 tons of suspended-sediment was discharged from the basin during the construction. The highway construction produced about 8,000 tons or 50 percent of the total sediment discharge. Steep slopes, the availability of fine coal wastes, coal-washing operations, and other land uses in the basin were responsible for most of the remaining sediment discharge. Seventy percent of the total suspended-sediment discharge occurred during eight storms.