Publications
This is an archived publication. It may be useful for researchers doing further work in this area as well as those developing improved testing and design procedures and is included because of its historical value. It is superseded by multiple HEC and HDS publications and may no longer reflect state of practice and best practices.
River Engineering for Highway Encroachments
In the United States, the average annual damage related to hydraulic problems at highway facilities on the Federal-aid system is $40 million. Damages by streams can be reduced significantly by considering channel stability including: (1) lateral bank erosion; (2) degradation and aggradation of the streambed that continues over a period of years, and (3) natural short-term fluctuations of streambed elevation that are usually associated with the passage of floods.
The Federal Highway Administration document "Highways in the River Environment - Hydraulic and Environmental Design Considerations" was first published in 1975, and is now issued as River Engineering for Highway Encroachments: Highways in the River Environment, Hydraulic Design Series No. 6 (HDS-6). In HDS-6, hydraulic problems at stream crossings are described in detail, and the hydraulic principles of rigid and moveable boundary channels are discussed. This document has proven to be a singularly authoritative document for the design of highway associated hydraulic structures in moveable boundary waterways. Topics discussed in this document are: sediment transport, natural and human induced causes of waterway response, stream stabilization, hydraulic modeling and computer applications, countermeasures, and case histories of typical human and natural impacts on waterways.
- FHWA Publication Number: NHI-01-004
- Publication Year: 2001
Other documents in this series:
- Archive
The PDF file(s) can be downloaded at no cost, there are no free copies of the printed materials. However, printed copies are available for purchase at the NHI store: https://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/training/nhistoresearchresults.aspx?topicnum=135 (look for "REFERENCE MANUAL" under the Type column).