Highway-Runoff Database (HRDB) Version 1.1.0

The Highway-Runoff Database (HRDB) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to provide planning-level information for decision makers, planners, and highway engineers to assess and mitigate possible adverse effects of highway runoff on the Nation’s receiving waters. The HRDB was assembled by using a Microsoft Access database application to facilitate use of the data and to calculate runoff-quality statistics with methods that properly handle censored-concentration data. This data release provides highway-runoff data, including information about monitoring sites, precipitation, runoff, and event-mean concentrations of water-quality constituents. The dataset was compiled from 37 studies as documented in 113 scientific or technical reports. The dataset includes data from 242 highway sites across the country. It includes data from 6,837 storm events with dates ranging from April 1975 to November 2017. Therefore, these data span more than 40 years; vehicle emissions and background sources of highway-runoff constituents have changed markedly during this time. For example, some of the early data is affected by use of leaded gasoline, phosphorus-based detergents, and industrial atmospheric deposition. The dataset includes 106,441 concentration values with data for 414 different water-quality constituents. This dataset was assembled from various sources and the original data was collected and analyzed by using various protocols. Where possible the USGS worked with State departments of transportation and the original researchers to obtain, document, and verify the data that was included in the HRDB. This new version (1.1.0) of the database contains software updates to provide data-quality information within the Graphical User Interface (GUI), calculate statistics for multiple sites in batch mode, and output additional statistics. However, inclusion in this dataset does not constitute endorsement by the USGS or the FHWA. People who use this data are responsible for ensuring that the data are complete and correct and that it is suitable for their intended purposes.