Impacts of Corridor H Construction on the Beaver Creek Watershed

This will be an evaluation of the impacts of highway construction on water quality. Multiple water quality parameters are evaluated over an almost 20 year span of data collection to determine the impacts construction has had on the watershed.
This study evaluated the potential water quality impacts of highway construction on the Beaver Creek watershed. Corridor H is a four-lane highway that has been under construction since 2001 in central West Virginia. Construction along the Beaver Creek section began in 2012 and was completed in November 2016. Several tributaries of Beaver Creek receive acid mine drainages in the area and were identified by elevated metal and sulfate concentrations. To monitor water quality, quarterly grab samples were collected in the field at 13 sites for at least 5 years before construction, during the construction, and for 5 years after the construction.