Continuous Monitoring for Roadside Hydraulic Conductivity

WSDOT conducted a multiyear study collecting hydrological data from roadside embankments. Data was collected continuously, and WSDOT made efforts to account for every drop of water entering and leaving the roadway vegetated embankment. This level of complete hydrological monitoring came with challenges, in the field and in data validation, not encountered by previous studies. Field data collection and site construction had a unique set of challenges for this study. Sites needed to be constructed in such a way as to ensure all water entering into the systems during a storm event was accounted for. The need for both reliable and continuous data collection paired with unpredictable forecasts posed challenges for both the data collection systems and field staff scheduling. WSDOT developed a data review process to insure the highest level of data continuity and accuracy possible. This data will be used to validate an empirically optimized method for estimating saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) currently being developed by WSDOT’s Geotechnical Office. WSDOT intends to use the validated Ksat estimation method to improve future best management practice (BMP) designs.