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Highway-Runoff Database (HRDB) Version 1.1.0

Metadata Updated: December 11, 2025

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.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date December 11, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date December 11, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-5c9f64b8e4b0b8a7f63129ef
Data Last Modified 2020-08-25T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id ab8a2bd7-20c9-4e9e-86f2-8f350b03ba76
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 3849407a47137f0711f0f55fe66c4180c32258ac228b7596d7f99b863f0091f8
Source Schema Version 1.1

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