U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5048

Prepared in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation

Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges 

Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the 

Periphery of Missouri, June 2014 FLOW
Front cover. Bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi River channel in the 

vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014. 

Back cover. Top: Shaded triangulated irregular network (TIN) visualization of the channel bed and 

A, left (southeast) side and B, right (northwest) side of main channel pier 20 of structure A1700 on 

Interstate 155 over the Mississippi River near Caruthersville, Missouri. Bottom: The U.S. Geological 

Survey boat returning from the bathymetric and velocimetric survey at structure A1700 on Interstate 

155 over the Mississippi River near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014.
Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at 

Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri 

and Mississippi Rivers on the Periphery of 

Missouri, June 2014

By Richard J. Huizinga 

Prepared in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation

Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5048

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior

SALLY JEWELL, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Suzette M. Kimball, Acting Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2015

For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living 

resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS.

For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, 

visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/.

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the 

U.S. Government.

Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials 

as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner.

Suggested citation:

Huizinga, R.J., 2015, Bathymetric and velocimetric surveys at highway bridges crossing the Missouri and Mississippi 

Rivers on the periphery of Missouri, June 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5048, 

81 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20155048.

ISSN 2328-0328 (online)
iii

Contents

Abstract...........................................................................................................................................................1

Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1

Purpose and Scope ..............................................................................................................................2

Description of Study Area ...................................................................................................................2

Description of Flow Conditions...........................................................................................................2

Description of Equipment ....................................................................................................................9

Basic Description of Methods..........................................................................................................10

Surveying Methods ...................................................................................................................10

Survey Quality-Assurance/Quality-Control Measures........................................................11

Beam Angle Check ...........................................................................................................11

Patch Tests.........................................................................................................................12

Uncertainty Estimation..............................................................................................................14

Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys.................................................................................16

Sites on the Missouri River...............................................................................................................16

Structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at Brownville, Nebraska.........................................17

Dual Bridge Structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Missouri......................25

Sites on the Mississippi River...........................................................................................................30

Structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Missouri .....................................................30

Structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, Missouri..............................................34

Structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at Chester, Illinois....................................................38

Structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri ................................42

Structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri......................................46

General Findings and Implications ..................................................................................................57

Effects of Low to Moderate Flooding Compared to Previous Surveys .............................57

Effects of Riprap Blankets near Piers ....................................................................................58

Size and Shape of Scour Holes ...............................................................................................58

Summary and Conclusions.........................................................................................................................62

References Cited..........................................................................................................................................62

Appendix 1. Correction of Latency Issue Observed in Global Navigation Satellite System

Reference Timing in Velocity Transects .....................................................................................66

 References Cited.........................................................................................................................................71

Appendix 2. Shaded Triangulated Irregular Network Images of Channel and Side of

Pier for Each Surveyed Pier .........................................................................................................72
iv

Figures

1. Map showing the location of highway bridges across the Missouri and Mississippi

Rivers in and into Missouri, and bathymetric surveys on the Missouri and

Mississippi River channels from June 2 to 11, 2014................................................................3

2. Graphs showing unit values of gage height at selected streamflow-gaging stations

in the study area on the Missouri River upstream from Kansas City, Missouri, at a

15-minute interval; and the Mississippi River along the eastern border of Missouri

at a 30-minute or 1-hour interval, from June 1 to 14, 2014 .....................................................7

3. Photographs showing the Teledyne RESON SeaBat® 7125-SV2 multibeam

echosounder, as viewed from the bottom, and mounted on the port side of the

U.S. Geological Survey boat .......................................................................................................9

4. Illustration showing generalized effects of timing offset for latency; and angular

offsets for roll; pitch; and yaw on data from a multibeam echosounder...........................13

5. Map showing total propagated uncertainty of bathymetric data from the

Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at

Cape Girardeau, Missouri .........................................................................................................15

6. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of

structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at Brownville, Nebraska..........................................18

7. Profile showing key features, substructural and superstructural details, and

surveyed channel bed of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 over the Missouri

River at Brownville, Nebraska..................................................................................................19

8. Map showing difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of

the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 

at Brownville, Nebraska, on June 3, 2014, and July 13, 2011 ..............................................22

9. Map showing bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Missouri River

channel in the vicinity of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at Brownville,

Nebraska......................................................................................................................................24

10. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of

dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Missouri ........................26

11. Profile showing key features, substructural and superstructural details, and

surveyed channel bed of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 over the

Missouri River at St. Joseph, Missouri ...................................................................................27

12. Map showing difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of

the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S.

Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Missouri, on June 4, 2014, and July 14, 2011...........................28

13. Map showing bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Missouri River

channel in the vicinity of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St.

Joseph, Missouri ........................................................................................................................29

14. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity 

of structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Missouri ..................................................31

15. Profile showing key features, substructural and superstructural details, and

surveyed channel bed of structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Missouri..........32

16. Map showing bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi

River channel in the vicinity of structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, 

Missouri........................................................................................................................................33

17. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity 

of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, Missouri...........................................35
v

18. Profile showing key features, substructural and superstructural details, and

surveyed channel bed of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, 

Missouri........................................................................................................................................36

19. Map showing bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi 

River channel in the vicinity of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, 

Missouri........................................................................................................................................37

20. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity 

of structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at Chester, Illinois.................................................39

21. Profile showing key features, substructural and superstructural details, and

surveyed channel bed of structure L0135 on State Highway 51 over the Mississippi

River at Chester, Illinois .............................................................................................................40

22. Map showing bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi

River channel in the vicinity of structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at Chester,

Illinois............................................................................................................................................41

23. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity 

of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri .............................43

24. Profile showing key features, substructural and superstructural details, and

surveyed channel bed of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 over the Mississippi

River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri...........................................................................................44

25. Map showing bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi

River channel in the vicinity of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape

Girardeau, Missouri....................................................................................................................45

26. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity 

of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 

2014 ...............................................................................................................................................47

27. Profile showing key features, substructural and superstructural details, and

surveyed channel bed of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville,

Missouri........................................................................................................................................48

28. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity 

of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on December 10,

2008 ...............................................................................................................................................49

29. Map showing bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity 

of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, during flooding 

on May 5, 2011.............................................................................................................................51

30. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and

left side of main channel pier 20 of structure A1700 on Interstate 155

over the Mississippi River near Caruthersville, Missouri, during flooding on May 5,

2011 ...............................................................................................................................................52

31. Map showing difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of

the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155

near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014, and May 5, 2011 .....................................53

32. Map showing difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of

the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155

near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014, and December 10, 2008 ........................54

33. Map showing difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of

the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155

near Caruthersville, Missouri, on May 5, 2011, and December 10, 2008 ...........................55
vi

34. Map showing bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi

River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near

Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014 .............................................................................56

35. Graphs showing longitudinal profiles upstream from selected piers at structures

L0098 and A3664 over the Missouri River upstream from Kansas City, Missouri, and

structures A5054 and K0932 over the Mississippi River upstream from St. Louis,

Missouri........................................................................................................................................60

36. Graphs showing longitudinal profiles upstream from selected piers at structures

L0135, A5076, and A1700 over the Mississippi River downstream from St. Louis,

Missouri........................................................................................................................................61

Appendix Figures

1–1. Subroutine used to determine the amount of latency observed between the Global

Navigation Satellite System and acoustic Doppler current profiler timestamps ............67

1–2. Subroutine used to adjust the Global Navigation Satellite System data by the

determined latency and create a corrected file for use in the Velocity Mapping

Toolbox..........................................................................................................................................68

2–1. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and left

side and right side of main channel pier 3 of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136

over the Missouri River at Brownville, Nebraska .................................................................72

2–2. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and left

side and right side of main channel pier 10 of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S.

Highway 36 over the Missouri River at St. Joseph, Missouri..............................................73

2–3. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and left

side and right side of main channel pier 11; left side and right side of main channel

pier 10; and left side and right side of main channel pier 9 of structure A5054 on

Interstate 72 over the Mississippi River at Hannibal, Missouri ..........................................74

2–4. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and left

side and right side of main channel pier 8; left side and right side of main channel

pier 7; left side and right side of main channel pier 6; and left side of main channel

pier 5 of structure A5054 on Interstate 72 over the Mississippi River at Hannibal,

Missouri........................................................................................................................................75

2–5. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and right

side of main channel pier 5; left side and right side of main channel pier 4; and left

side and right side of main channel pier 3 of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54

over the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri.................................................................76

2–6. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and left

side and right side of main channel pier 2; and left side and right side of main

channel pier 1 of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 over the Mississippi River at

Louisiana, Missouri ....................................................................................................................77

2–7. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and left

side of main channel pier 13; left side and right side of main channel pier 12; left

side and right side of main channel pier 11; and left side and right side of main

channel pier 10 of structure L0135 on State Highway 51 over the Mississippi River

at Chester, Illinois .......................................................................................................................78
vii

2–8. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and A, left

side and right side of main channel pier 6; left side and right side of main channel

pier 5; left side and right side of main channel pier 4; and left side and right side

of main channel pier 3 of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 over the Mississippi

River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri...........................................................................................79

2–9. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and right

side of main channel pier 21; left side and right side of main channel pier 20; left

side and right side of main channel pier 19; and left side and right side of main

channel pier 18 of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 over the Mississippi River 

near Caruthersville, Missouri ...................................................................................................80

2–10. Shaded triangulated irregular network visualization of the channel bed and left

side and right side of main channel pier 17; left side and right side of main channel 

pier 16; and left side and right side of main channel pier 15 of structure A1700 on 

Interstate 155 over the Mississippi River near Caruthersville, Missouri...........................81

Tables

1. Highway bridges crossing the Missouri River, in and into Missouri, in 

downstream order........................................................................................................................4

2. Highway bridges crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri, in downstream 

order................................................................................................................................................6

3. Bridge and survey information, and selected channel-bed elevations from 

surveys on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri, 

June 3–11, 2014 .............................................................................................................................8

4. Results of a beam angle check from two check lines over a reference surface at

Indian Lake near Cuba, Missouri, on May 29, 2014...............................................................12

5. Patch test results from surveying on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the

periphery of Missouri.................................................................................................................13

6. Total propagated uncertainty results for bathymetric data at a 1.64-foot grid

spacing from surveys on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery 

of Missouri, June 3–11, 2014.....................................................................................................14

7. Results near piers from surveys on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the

periphery of Missouri, June 3–11, 2014...................................................................................20

8. Summary information and bathymetric surface difference statistics from surveys

on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri, June 3–11,

2014, and previous surveys .......................................................................................................23
viii

Conversion Factors

Inch/Pound to International System of Units

Multiply By To obtain

Length

foot (ft) 0.3048 meter (m)

mile (mi) 1.609 kilometer (km)

Flow rate

foot per second (ft/s) 0.3048 meter per second (m/s)

cubic foot per second (ft3/s) 0.02832 cubic meter per second (m3/s)

Datum

Vertical coordinate information is referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 

(NAVD 88).

Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83).

Supplemental Information

In this report, the words “left” and “right” generally refer to directions that would be reported 

by an observer facing downstream.

Abbreviations

ADCP acoustic Doppler current profiler

CUBE Combined Uncertainty Bathymetric Estimator

GGA shorthand for the $GPGGA standard output format for Global Navigation 

Satellite System (GNSS) essential fix data defined by the National Marine

 Electronics Association (NMEA)-0183 standard that includes information on 

the three-dimensional location and accuracy of the GNSS receiver (National 

Marine Electronics Association, 2002)

GIS geographic information system

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

IMU inertial motion unit

MBES multibeam echosounder (the sonar system)
ix

MBMS multibeam echosounder mapping system (the sonar, navigation, and data 

acquisition system)

MMSTM POS-PacTM Mobile Mapping Suite (the navigation solution post-processing 

 software)

MoDOT Missouri Department of Transportation

NAVD 88 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

NMEA National Marine Electronics Association

POS MV Position Orientation Solution for Marine Vessels (the navigation system)

RM river mile

RTK real-time kinematic (a type of differential correction for navigation with GNSS)

SBET standard best estimate of travel (a post-processed navigation solution)

TIN triangulated irregular network

TNDOT Tennessee Department of Transportation

TPU total propagated uncertainty

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

VMT Velocity Mapping Toolbox (Parsons and others, 2013)

VRS virtual real-time station network (a cellular network maintained by MoDOT 

that provides differential corrections for navigation with GNSS)

VTG velocity track made good, and shorthand for the $GPVTG standard output 

format for GNSS data defined by the National Marine Electronics Association 

(NMEA)-0183 standard that includes information on the GNSS receiver 

heading and ground speed (National Marine Electronics Association, 2002). 

Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges 

Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the 

Periphery of Missouri, June 2014

By Richard J. Huizinga

Abstract

Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected by 

the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri 

Department of Transportation, in the vicinity of 8 bridges at 

7 highway crossings of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri from June 3 to 11, 2014. A 

multibeam echosounder mapping system was used to obtain 

channel-bed elevations for river reaches ranging from 1,525 

to 1,640 feet longitudinally, and extending laterally across the 

active channel from bank to bank during low- to moderateflow conditions. These bathymetric surveys indicate the channel conditions at the time of the surveys and provide characteristics of scour holes that may be useful in the development of 

predictive guidelines or equations for scour holes. These data 

also may be useful to the Missouri Department of Transportation as a low- to moderate-flow comparison to help assess the 

bridges for stability and integrity issues with respect to bridge 

scour during floods.

Bathymetric data were collected around every pier that 

was in water, except those at the edge of water or in very shallow water (less than about 6 feet). Scour holes were observed 

at most piers for which bathymetry could be obtained, except 

at piers on channel banks, on exposed bedrock outcrops, or 

surrounded by riprap. Scour holes observed at the surveyed 

bridges were examined with respect to depth and shape, and 

the effects of riprap blankets or other rock near the piers. The 

presence of riprap blankets, depth of fluvial material on top of 

a riprap blanket, and alignment to flow had a substantial effect 

on the size of the scour hole observed for a given pier. Piers 

that were surrounded by riprap blankets had scour holes that 

were substantially smaller (to non-existent) compared to piers 

at which no rock or riprap was present. Although exposure of 

parts of foundational support elements was observed at several 

piers, at most sites the exposure likely can be considered minimal compared to the overall substructure that remains buried 

in channel-bed material; however, there were several notable 

exceptions where the bed material thickness between the bottom of the scour hole and bedrock was less than 6 feet. Such 

substantial exposure of usually buried substructural elements 

may warrant special observation in future flood events, even 

when designed to be exposed.

Previous bathymetric surveys had been done at both of 

the sites on the Missouri River and one of the sites on the Mississippi River examined in this study. Comparisons between 

bathymetric surfaces from the previous surveys during the 

2011 flood and those of this study generally indicate that 

there was an increase in the elevation of the channel bed at 

these sites that likely was caused by a substantial decrease in 

discharge and water-surface elevation compared to the 2011 

surveys. However, the scour holes observed at these sites were 

either the same size or larger in 2014 compared to the 2011 

surveys, indicating that the flow condition is not the sole variable in the determination of the size of scour holes, and that 

local velocity and depth also are critical variables, as indicated 

by predictive pier scour equations.

Introduction

Scour in alluvial channels is the removal of channel bed 

and bank material by flowing water, and is the leading cause 

of bridge failures in the United States (Richardson and Davis, 

2001). Scour at a bridge site is the result of short- and longterm geomorphic processes and the local effects caused by elements of the structure in or adjacent to the waterway (Richardson and Davis, 2001; Huizinga and Rydlund, 2004). Because 

the effects of scour can be severe and dangerous, bridges and 

other structures over waterways are routinely assessed and 

inspected. Scour processes can be exacerbated during highflow conditions, because velocity and depth typically increase 

during high-flow conditions.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) 

is responsible for most of the transportation infrastructure 

in the State. A part of this responsibility is fulfilled through 

periodic inspections of highway structures, including bridges 

that span waterways. At most of these structures, all or most of 

the structure can be fully inspected from land or from personnel lift trucks deployed from the roadway of the structure; 

however, for structures over primary waterways, such as the 
2 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Missouri River, inspection of the part of the bridge that is 

underwater requires a different approach.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation 

with MoDOT, began assessing scour at waterway crossings 

throughout the State in 1991 (Huizinga and Rydlund, 2004). In 

2007, the USGS, in cooperation with MoDOT, began determining channel bathymetry and monitoring bridges for scour 

using single-beam echosounders and a multibeam echosounder 

mapping system (MBMS; Rydlund, 2009; Huizinga, 2010, 

2011, 2013, 2014b; Huizinga and others, 2010). In particular, 

the MBMS has proven to be a useful tool not only in determining channel bathymetry, but also in providing a mediumto high-resolution representation of bridge structural elements 

below the water line. In 2010, the USGS, in cooperation 

with MoDOT, began collecting bathymetric data at various 

highway bridges across primary waterways in Missouri. In 

March 2010, 9 highway bridges at 7 crossings over the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri, were assessed using the 

MBMS (Huizinga, 2010), and in October 2010, 12 highway 

bridges at 7 crossings over the Missouri and Mississippi 

Rivers near St. Louis, Mo., were assessed (Huizinga, 2011). 

During high-flow conditions in June–August 2011, many of 

the highway bridges and several of the railroad bridges along 

the entirety of the Missouri River downstream from Montana were assessed (Densmore and others, 2013; Dietsch and 

others, 2014), including the 37 highway bridges that span 

the Missouri River in and into Missouri (Huizinga, 2012). In 

April and May 2013, 10 highway bridges at 9 crossings over 

the Missouri Rivers between Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo., 

were assessed as part of more routine, non-flood surveys at 

bridge sites in and into Missouri (Huizinga, 2014b). This study 

encompasses the more routine surveys at the highway bridges 

across the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of 

Missouri (fig. 1) that entails 8 bridges at 7 crossings (shaded 

rows in tables 1 and 2).

Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this report is to document the results of 

bathymetric and velocimetric surveys of the Missouri and Mississippi River channels in the vicinity of 8 highway bridges 

at 7 crossings on the periphery of Missouri using a MBMS 

and an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP; tables 1 

and 2). Equipment and methods used and results obtained 

are described. The results obtained from the bathymetric and 

velocimetric surveys of the channel document the channelbed conditions and velocity distribution at the time of the 

surveys and provide characteristics of scour holes that may 

be useful in developing predictive guidelines or equations 

for scour holes. These data also may be used by MoDOT as a 

low- to moderate-flow comparison to help assess the bridges 

for stability and integrity issues with respect to bridge scour. 

Comparison of results to previous surveys at the two Missouri 

River sites (Huizinga, 2012) also are provided, as are details 

of and comparison to two previous surveys (on December 10, 

2008, and May 5, 2011) at structure A1700 on Interstate 155 

near Caruthersville, Mo. (site 38, fig. 1; Richard J. Huizinga, 

U.S. Geological Survey, unpub. data, 2015).

Description of Study Area

The generalized study area for this report covers approximately 90 miles (mi) of the lower Missouri River in the 

northwestern part of Missouri upstream from Kansas City, 

Mo., and approximately 300 mi of the upper Mississippi 

River (upstream from the confluence with the Ohio River) and 

115 mi of the lower Mississippi River (downstream from the 

confluence with the Ohio River) along the eastern border of 

Missouri, excluding St. Louis, Mo. (fig. 1). On the Missouri 

River, the highway crossings at Brownville, Nebraska, and 

St. Joseph, Mo., were examined as part of this study (fig. 1, 

table 1). On the Mississippi River, the highway crossings at 

Hannibal, Mo.; Louisiana, Mo.; Chester, Ill.; Cape Girardeau, 

Mo.; and near Caruthersville, Mo., were examined (fig.1, 

table 2). On the Missouri River, the site numbering sequence 

used in Huizinga (2012) will be used in this report for consistency and comparability. On the Mississippi River, site 

numbers are based on sequencing of the bridges maintained by 

MoDOT alone, inclusive of those in the greater St. Louis area.

Description of Flow Conditions

The Missouri River was transitioning from low- to 

moderate-flow conditions when the sites were surveyed on 

June 3 and 4, 2014 (fig. 2A). Except for the two sites upstream 

from St. Louis, Mo., the Mississippi River was on a slow and 

steady rise to moderate-flow conditions when those sites were 

surveyed (fig. 2B).

The upstream-most site on the Missouri River, structure 

L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at Brownville, Neb. (site 1, 

fig. 1), was surveyed first on June 3 during low-flow conditions. The discharge on the Missouri River was approximately 

39,800 cubic feet per second (ft3

/s), as measured at the site 

(table 3), slightly less than the discharge of 40,100 ft3

/s 

obtained from the rating curve for the USGS streamflowgaging station (hereinafter referred to as “streamgage”) on the 

Missouri River upstream from the study area at Nebraska City, 

Neb. (station 06807000; U.S. Geological Survey, 2014; fig. 1). 

This discharge has a daily exceedance of about 37 percent 

(U.S. Geological Survey, 2003), and is substantially less than 

the 50-percent annual exceedance probability (2-year recurrence interval) flood discharges of 88,000 ft3

/s at Nebraska 

City (table F-49 in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004a).

The river was rising at the time of the survey at structure 

A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Mo. (site 2; figs. 1, 

2A), and preliminary data from the streamgage upstream from 

the study area at Nebraska City, Neb. (fig. 1), indicated the 

flood pulse had peaked there on June 4 (see initial pseudopeak in data for station 06807000 at Nebraska City, Neb., at 

the timing of the survey at site 2; fig. 2A). The discharge on 
Introduction 3

Ohio

River

Mississippi

River

06818000

Jefferson City

Atchison

Boonville

Washington

Cuba

Cairo

Chester

07020850

Lexington

Hermann

Hannibal

Quincy

Bayview Quincy Memorial

Louisiana

Glasgow Waverly

Miami

Brownville

Rocheport

Leavenworth

Rulo

Nebraska City IOWA

MISSOURI

ARKANSAS

KENTUCKY

TENNESSEE

KANSAS

OKLAHOMA

NEBRASKA

ILLINOIS

Missouri

River

1

2

3

4

5 14 15

16

17

18 19

20

21

31

32

36

37

Caruthersville

Tiptonville

Hickman

38

22

23 27

24

35

34

33

25

26

6

7

8 9

10

111213

St. Joseph

07020500

Cape Girardeau

05501600

5

6 7

8 9 10

11 12 13

MISSOURI

KANSAS

Greater

Kansas City area

A

A

27

35

34

33

24

23

25

26

MISSOURI

ILLINOIS

Mississippi

River

Clark

Chain of Rocks

McKinley

Martin Luther King

Eads

B

B

Greater

St. Louis

area

Missouri River

Missouri River

95° 94° 93° 92° 91° 90° 89°

40°

39°

38°

37°

36°

0 20 40 60 80 100 MILES

0 20 40 60 80 100 KILOMETERS

Base from U.S. Geological Survey 1:100,000 Scale Digital Data, 1993

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Missouri River

Basin

U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers reservoirs

Map area

IA

MT MN

IL

WY

CO

MO

NE

KS

AR OK TN

KY

SD

ND

EXPLANATION

Highway bridge location—Numbering

 on Missouri River from 2011 flood

 study (Huizinga, 2012); numbering on

 Mississippi River based on sequencing

 of bridges maintained by Missouri

 Department of Transportation

Highway bridge location—Surveyed in

 this study

U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-

 gaging station used in this study

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stage- or

 streamflow-gaging station used in this

 study

06807000

Figure 1. Location of highway bridges across the Missouri and Mississippi 

Rivers in and into Missouri, and bathymetric surveys on the Missouri and 

Mississippi River channels from June 2 to 11, 2014.
4 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers Table 1. Highway bridges crossing the Missouri River, in and into Missouri, in downstream order. [MoDOT, Missouri Department of Transportation; US, U.S. highway; --, not known/applicable; NDOR, Nebraska Department of Roads; W, westbound; E, eastbound; KDOT, Kansas Department of Transporta- tion; MO, Missouri State highway; K, Kansas State highway; IS, Interstate highway; S, southbound; N, northbound; shaded rows are those bridges surveyed for this study] Site number (fig. 1) Primary agency Structure number Local name County Route River milea Surveyed as part of this study Remarks Figures Upstream from Kansas City

1 MoDOT L0098 Brownville Atchison, Mo. US 136 535.3 Yes -- 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 35, 1–1 

-- NDOR -- Rulo Richardson, Nebr. US 159 498.1 No -- 1

2 MoDOT A3664 W St. Joseph Buchanan, Mo. US 36 W 447.9 Yes Dual bridge crossing 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 35, 

1–2

A3664 E St. Joseph Doniphan, Kans. US 36 E Yes Dual bridge crossing 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 35, 

1–2

3 KDOT 59-3-16.38 (013) Atchison Atchison, Kans. US 59 422.5 No -- 14 KDOT 92-52-18.48 (026) Leavenworth Leavenworth, Kans. MO 92/K 92 397.5 No -- 1

Greater Kansas City area

5 KDOT 435-105-11.97 

(235)

Parkville Platte, Mo. IS 435 S 383.4 No Dual bridge crossing with 435-

105-11.98 (240)

1

435-105-11.98 

(240)

Parkville Wyandotte, Kans. IS 435 N No Dual bridge crossing with 435-

105-11.97 (235)

1

6 MoDOT A1800 Riverside Platte, Mo. IS 635 374.1 No -- 17 MoDOT K0456 Fairfax Platte, Mo. US 69 S 372.6 No Dual bridge crossing with A0450 1

A0450 Platte Purchase Wyandotte, Kans. US 69 N No Dual bridge crossing with K0456 1

8 MoDOT A4649 Broadway Avenue Clay, Mo. US 169 366.2 No -- 19 MoDOT A4060 Heart of America Clay, Mo. MO 9 365.5 No -- 1

10 MoDOT A7650 Christopher Bond Clay, Mo. IS 29 364.7 No -- 1

11 MoDOT A5817 Chouteau Clay, Mo. MO 269 362.3 No -- 1

12 MoDOT A0767 Randolph Clay, Mo. IS 435 360.3 No -- 113 MoDOT A4757 Courtney Jackson, Mo. MO 291 S 352.7 No Dual bridge crossing with L0568 1

L0568 Courtney Jackson, Mo. MO 291 N No Dual bridge crossing with A4757 1

Between Kansas City and St. Louis

14 MoDOT A5664 Lexington Ray, Mo. MO 13 314.9 No -- 115 MoDOT A5910 Waverly Lafayette, Mo. US 24 293.2 No -- 116 MoDOT K0999 Miami Carroll, Mo. MO 41 262.6 No -- 117 MoDOT G0069 Glasgow Saline, Mo. MO 240 226.3 No -- 118 MoDOT A4574 Boonville Cooper, Mo. US 40 196.6 No -- 119 MoDOT L0962 Rocheport Boone, Mo. IS 70 185.1 No -- 1
Introduction 

5

Table 1. Highway bridges crossing the Missouri River, in and into Missouri, in downstream order.—Continued[MoDOT, Missouri Department of Transportation; US, U.S. highway; --, not known/applicable; NDOR, Nebraska Department of Roads; W, westbound; E, eastbound; KDOT, Kansas Department of Transportation; MO, Missouri State highway; K, Kansas State highway; IS, Interstate highway; S, southbound; N, northbound; shaded rows are those bridges surveyed for this study]

Site 

number

(fig. 1)

Primary 

agency

Structure number Local name County Route River milea Surveyed as part of this study Remarks Figures

Between Kansas City and St. Louis—Continued

20 MoDOT L0550 Jefferson City Callaway, Mo. US 54 W 143.9 No Dual bridge crossing with A4497 1

A4497 Jefferson City Cole, Mo. US 54 E No Dual bridge crossing with L0550 1

21 MoDOT A6288 Hermann Montgomery, Mo. MO 19 97.9 No -- 1

22 MoDOT K0969 Washington Franklin, Mo. MO 47 67.6 No -- 1

Greater St. Louis area

23 MoDOT A4017 Daniel Boone St. Charles, Mo. IS 64 E 43.9 No Dual bridge crossing with J1000 1

J1000 Daniel Boone St. Louis, Mo. IS 64 W No Dual bridge crossing with A4017 1

24 MoDOT A5585 E Page Avenue St. Charles, Mo. MO 364 E 32.7 No Dual bridge crossing 1

A5585 W Page Avenue St. Louis, Mo. MO 364 W No Dual bridge crossing 1

25 MoDOT A3292 Blanchette St. Charles, Mo. IS 70 E 29.6 No Dual bridge crossing with L0561 1

L0561 Blanchette St. Louis, Mo. IS 70 W No Dual bridge crossing with A3292 1

26 MoDOT A4557 E Discovery St. Charles, Mo. MO 370 E 27.0 No Dual bridge crossing 1

A4557 W Discovery St. Louis, Mo. MO 370 W No Dual bridge crossing 1

27 MoDOT A3047 Lewis & Clark St. Charles, Mo. US 67 8.1 No -- 1

aRiver mile is the distance upstream from the confluence of the Missouri River with the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Mo. (fig. 1).
6 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers Table 2. Highway bridges crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri, in downstream order. [--, not known/applicable; IDOT, Illinois Department of Transportation; US, U.S. highway; W, westbound; E, eastbound; MoDOT, Missouri Department of Transportation; IS, Interstate highway; S, south- bound; N, northbound; MO, Missouri State highway; blue shaded rows are those bridges surveyed for this study] Site number (fig. 1) Primary agency Structure number Local name County Route River milea Surveyed as part of this study Remarks Figures Upstream from St. Louis -- IDOT -- Bayview Adams, Ill. US 24 W 327.1 No -- 1 -- IDOT -- Quincy Memorial Marion, Mo. US 24 E 327.0 No -- 1 31 MoDOT A5054 Hannibal Marion, Mo. IS 72 309.5 Yes -- 1, 14, 15, 16, 35, 1–3, 1–4 32 MoDOT K0932 Champ Clark Pike, Mo. US 54 283.2 Yes -- 1, 17, 18, 19, 35, 1–5, 1–6 Greater St. Louis area -- IDOT A4278 Clark St. Charles, Mo. US 67 202.6 No -- 1 -- IDOT -- Chain of Rocks Madison, Ill. IS 270 190.8 No -- 1 -- IDOT -- McKinley St. Louis City, Mo. -- 182.6 No -- 1 33 MoDOT A6500 Stan Musial Veterans Memorial St. Louis City, Mo. IS 70 181.2 No -- 1 -- IDOT -- Martin Luther King St. Louis City, Mo. -- 180.2 No -- 1 -- St. Louis -- Eads St. Louis City, Mo. -- 180.0 No -- 1 34 MoDOT A1500 Poplar Street St. Louis City, Mo. IS 55 179.2 No -- 1 35 MoDOT A4936 Jefferson Barracks St. Louis, Mo. IS 255 S 168.8 No Dual bridge crossing with A1850

1

A1850 Jefferson Barracks IS 255 N No Dual bridge crossing with 

A4936

1

Downstream from St. Louis

36 MoDOT L0135 Chester Perry, Ill. MO 51 109.9 Yes -- 1, 20, 21, 22, 36, 1–737 MoDOT A5076 Bill Emerson Memorial Cape Girardeau, Mo. MO 34 51.5 Yes -- 1, 23, 24, 25, 36, 1–8

-- IDOT -- Cairo I-57 Alexander, Ill. IS 57 7.5 No -- 1-- IDOT -- Cairo Mississippi Alexander, Ill. US 60 1.4 No -- 1

38 MoDOT A1700 Caruthersville Pemiscot, Mo. IS 155 838.9 Yes -- 1, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 

32, 33, 34, 36, 1–9, 1–10

aExcept for site 38, river mile is measured upstream on the Upper Mississippi River, which starts at the confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Ill. (fig. 1), at river mile 953 of the Lower Mississippi River. 

For site 38, river mile is measured on the Lower Mississippi River, which is the distance upstream from the mouth of the Mississippi River at the Gulf of Mexico.
Introduction 7

31

32

36

37

38

1

1

2

25

20

15

10

5

0

Unit values of gage height, in feet above gage datum

Date

35

30

25

20

15

10

6/1 6/2 6/3 6/4 6/5 6/6 6/7 6/8 6/9 6/10 6/11 6/12 6/13 6/14 6/15

EXPLANATION

06807000 Nebraska City, Nebraska

06813500 Rulo, Nebraska

06818000 St. Joseph, Missouri

Approximate time of survey at

indicated site number (fig. 1)

1

05501600 Hannibal, Missouri

07020850 Cape Girardeau, Missouri

07020500 Chester, Illinois

MS117 Caruthersville, Missouri1

Approximate time of survey at

indicated site number (fig. 1)

31

EXPLANATION

 1

The gage height data at MS117 Caruthersville, Missouri, are from 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2014) data on a 1-hour interval, 

and have been adjusted up by 10 feet to enhance plotting clarity.

A

B

Figure 2. Unit values of gage height at selected streamflow-gaging stations in the study area on A, the Missouri River 

upstream from Kansas City, Missouri, at a 15-minute interval; and B, the Mississippi River along the eastern border 

of Missouri at a 30-minute or 1-hour interval, from June 1 to 14, 2014 (U.S Geological Survey, 2014; U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, 2014).
8 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Table 3. Bridge and survey information, and selected channel-bed elevations from surveys on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on 

the periphery of Missouri, June 3–11, 2014.

[MoDOT, Missouri Department of Transportation; ADCP, acoustic Doppler current profiler; ft3/s, cubic feet per second; ft, feet; US, U.S. highway; E, eastbound; W, westbound; IS, Interstate highway; MO, State highway; all elevations are in feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988]

Site 

number 

(fig. 1)

MoDOT 

structure 

number

Survey 

date Route River mile

Discharge 

from ADCP 

measurementsa

(ft3/s)

Average 

watersurface 

elevation 

in vicinity 

of bridge

(ft)

Average 

channel 

bed 

elevationb

(ft)

Approximate 

elevation of the 

indicated percentile of 

the bathymetric data

Approximate 

minimum 

channel 

elevationc

(ft)

5th 

percentile 

(ft)

95th 

percentile

(ft)

1 L0098 06/03/14 US 136 535.3 39,800 884.4 868.6 864.1 877.0 844

2 A3664 E & W 06/04/14 US 36 447.9 d

49,600 799.8 778.9 773.9 788.2 757

31 A5054 06/05/14 IS 72 309.5 198,000 464.6 437.8 427.0 448.9 418

32 K0932 06/06/14 US 54 283.2 194,000 451.2 420.0 407.1 438.6 391

36 L0135 06/09/14 MO 51 109.9 363,000 363.9 329.4 316.5 346.3 308

37 A5076 06/10/14 MO 34 51.5 377,000 331.7 293.0 278.6 316.3 272

38 A1700 06/11/14 IS 155 838.9 629,000 251.8 203.8 189.1 225.8 176

a

 The average discharge obtained while making the various velocity transects. The reported value is an average of the discharges computed using bottomtrack and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) velocity track made good (VTG) as the reference, as described in the “Surveying Methods” section of the 

text.

b

 The statistical average of the surveyed channel-bed elevations.

c

 The minimum channel-bed elevation, not necessarily in any scour holes near the bridge.

d

 This site had a large area of estimated flow on the right side of the channel due to floating debris that skewed the discharge results lower than the rated 

discharge at the streamgage at St. Joseph (station 06818000) of 66,100 ft3/s immediately upstream from the survey area. The rated discharge was used for all 

analyses at this site.

the Missouri River at St. Joseph was measured as approximately 49,600 ft3

/s (site 2, table 3), which is substantially 

different than the gaged discharge of 66,100 ft3/s obtained 

from the rating curve for the streamgage at St. Joseph (station 

06818000; U.S. Geological Survey, 2014; fig. 1; footnote “d” 

in table 3), likely because a substantial area of flow on the 

right side of the channel had to be estimated due to floating 

debris during the measurement, resulting in a poor measurement rating. The gaged discharge was used as the “true” 

discharge at this site for this study. The gaged discharge has a 

daily exceedance of approximately 14 percent (U.S. Geological Survey, 2003), but is substantially less than the 2-percent 

annual exceedance probability (2-year recurrence interval) 

flood discharges of 109,000 ft3

/s at St. Joseph (plate E–20 in 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004b). These low-flow conditions at the Missouri River sites provide a relatively extreme 

difference from the previous survey at each site during the 

2011 Missouri River flood (Huizinga, 2012).

Structures A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Mo., 

and K0932 on State Highway 24 at Louisiana, Mo., (sites 31 

and 32, fig. 1), were surveyed on June 5 and 6, respectively, on 

the receding limb of a minor rise in the hydrograph observed 

at the streamgage at Hannibal, Mo. (station 05501600; fig. 1). 

Discharge on the Mississippi River was approximately 

198,000 ft3/s as measured during the survey at structure A5054 

at Hannibal, Mo., and 194,000 ft3/s as measured during the 

survey at K0932 at Louisiana, Mo. (table 3), both of which are 

slightly less than the 50-percent annual exceedance probability 

(2-year recurrence interval) flood discharge of 209,000 ft3/s 

at Hannibal (Table C-M-2 in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004c) and 210,000 ft3

/s at Louisiana (Table D-28 in 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004d), respectively.

Similarly, structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at 

Chester, Illinois (site 36, fig. 1), was surveyed on June 9, 

and discharge on the Mississippi River was approximately 

367,000 ft3/s as obtained from the rating curve for the 

streamgage at Chester, Ill. (station 07020500; U.S. Geological Survey, 2014; fig. 1), and approximately 363,000 ft3

/s as 

measured during the survey (table 3). This discharge range has 

a daily exceedance of between 13 and 14 percent (U.S. Geological Survey, 2003), and is slightly less than the 50-percent 

annual exceedance probability (2-year recurrence interval) 

flood discharge of 480,000 ft3/s at Chester (Table D-28 in U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, 2004d). Structure A5076 on State 

Highway 34 at Cape Girardeau, Mo. (site 37, fig. 1), was surveyed on June 10, and discharge on the Mississippi River was 

approximately 377,000 ft3

/s as measured during the survey 

(table 3), which also is less than the 50-percent annual exceedance probability (2-year recurrence interval) flood discharge of 

483,000 ft3/s at Cape Girardeau (station 07020850; Table D-28 

in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004d). Although daily 

flow statistics and exceedance probability data are not readily 
Introduction 9

available for structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Mo. (site 38, fig. 1), it is assumed that the measured 

discharge of 629,000 ft3

/s will follow the same trend as at 

upstream stations and be near or slightly less than the 50-percent annual exceedance probability at Caruthersville.

Flow conditions at or less than the 50-percent annual 

exceedance probability (2-year recurrence interval) flood is 

in the low- to moderate-flow regime. However, the site at St. 

Joseph, Mo., and all the sites downstream from St. Louis, Mo., 

were surveyed on the rising limb of the hydrograph, which 

generally is viewed as the initiation of live-bed scour as velocities and depths increase with time until the peak discharge 

(Richardson and Davis, 2001). Huizinga (2014b) noted substantial pier scour begins soon after the onset of hydrograph 

rise in an analysis of real-time scour monitor data at Jefferson 

City, Mo., although the scour often does not reach maximum 

depth until the peak discharge is reached or sometime later 

(see fig. 35 in Huizinga, 2014b). Although the scour scenario 

captured at the sites in this study may not represent the maximum scour potential at the sites, the cumulative information 

gathered at each site remains useful for determining scour in a 

variety of flow conditions, particularly when combined with or 

compared to a scour scenario captured at high-flow conditions.

Description of Equipment

The bathymetry of the Missouri River at each of the 

bridges was determined using a high-resolution MBMS. 

The various components of the MBMS used for this study 

are described in reports about studies on the Missouri and 

Mississippi Rivers in Missouri (Huizinga, 2010, 2011, 2012, 

2013, 2014a, 2014b; Huizinga and others, 2010) and on the 

Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers in North Dakota (Densmore 

and others, 2013). The survey methods used to obtain the data 

were similar to these previous studies, as were the measures 

used to ensure data quality. A brief description of the equipment follows; a complete description of the various system 

components and methods used in this study is available in 

the previous reports by Huizinga (2010), Huizinga and others 

(2010), and Densmore and others (2013).

An MBMS is an integration of several individual components: the multibeam echosounder (MBES), a navigation 

and motion-sensing system, and a data-collection and dataprocessing computer. The MBES that was used for the 2014 

surveys is the Teledyne RESON SeaBat® 7125-SV2 (fig. 3), 

operated at a frequency of 400 kilohertz (kHz). The SeaBat®

7125-SV2 is an updated version of the SeaBat® 7125 used in 

the earliest previous studies (Huizinga, 2010, 2011; Huizinga 

and others, 2010) with similar features and functions, but 

having a more streamlined transducer head, and stiffer, more 

compact head tilt bracket (fig. 3). The original SeaBat® 7125 

system had been used in the 2008 and 2011 surveys at structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Mo. (site 38, 

fig. 1; Richard J. Huizinga, U.S. Geological Survey, unpub. 

data, 2015). The navigation and motion-sensing system that 

was used in all of the surveys is the Applanix Position Orientation Solution for Marine Vessels (POS MVTM) WaveMaster 

system (hereinafter referred to as “the POS”). The navigation 

system locates the MBES in three-dimensional space, and the 

motion-sensing system measures the heave, pitch, roll, and 

A B

Piezoceramic

projector array

Piezoceramic

receiver

array

Sound

velocity

probe

(inside

shroud) Head tilt

bracket

Transducer

head

Stabilizer

struts

Figure 3. The Teledyne RESON SeaBat® 7125-SV2 multibeam echosounder, as viewed A, from the bottom, and B, mounted 

on the port side of the U.S. Geological Survey boat.
10 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

heading of the vessel (and, thereby, the MBES) to accurately 

position the data received by the MBES. A cellular network 

link to the virtual real-time station (VRS) network (established 

and maintained by MoDOT, available through registration at 

http://gpsweb.modot.mo.gov/ ) was used to provide the realtime kinematic (RTK) differential corrections to the POS for 

the navigation and tide solution during the 2014 surveys. For 

the 2008 and 2011 surveys at structure A1700 on Interstate 

155 near Caruthersville, Mo. (Richard J. Huizinga, U.S. Geological Survey, unpub. data, 2015), a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) base station was set up near the bridge 

similar to previous studies (Huizinga, 2010, 2011; Huizinga 

and others, 2010).

The bridge structure blocked a part of or the whole signal 

from the GNSS constellation of satellites when the survey 

vessel was near or under a bridge. The blocked signal resulted 

in a GNSS outage that had the potential to degrade the positional accuracy of the vessel until such time as an RTK-fixed 

navigation solution was re-acquired; however, as in nearly all 

the previous studies of bathymetry at bridge sites in Missouri 

(Huizinga, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014b), the navigation 

information from the 2014 surveys was post-processed using 

the POS-PacTM Mobile Mapping Suite (MMSTM) software 

(Applanix Corporation, 2009), which provided tools to identify and compensate for sensor and environmental errors, and 

computed an optimally blended navigation solution from the 

GNSS and inertial motion unit (IMU) raw data. The blended 

navigation solution (called a “standard best estimate of travel” 

or “SBET” file), generated by post-processing the navigation data, was applied to the whole survey at a given bridge 

to minimize the effects of the GNSS outages while surveying 

under the bridges. An SBET file was not available for the 2008 

and 2011 surveys at structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near 

Caruthersville, Mo. (Richard J. Huizinga, U.S. Geological 

Survey, unpub. data, 2015).

The data from the MBES, and navigation and motionsensing components, were processed and integrated into a 

cohesive dataset for cleanup and visualization. A computer 

onboard the survey boat ran the HYPACK®/HYSWEEP®

data acquisition software (HYPACK, Inc., 2011) that was 

used to prepare for the bathymetric surveys and collect the 

survey data. After completing the surveys, the acquired depth 

data were further processed to remove data spikes and other 

spurious points in the multibeam swath trace, georeferenced 

using the navigation and position solution data from the SBET 

file from POS-PacTM MMSTM, and visualized in HYPACK®/

HYSWEEP® as a triangulated irregular network (TIN) surface 

or a point cloud. The georeferenced data were output to a 

comma-delimited file, either having no data reduction or 

filtered and reduced to a 1.64-foota (ft) data resolution. These 

comma-delimited data were compiled into a geographic 

information system (GIS) database for each site using the 

ArcGIS package (Environmental Systems Research Institute, 

2013).

Information about the velocity of the river at various 

points throughout each study reach were collected by means 

of an ADCP for all of the surveys (except the 2008 and 2011 

surveys at structure A1700 on Interstate 255 near Caruthersville, Mo.) similar to previous studies by Huizinga and others 

(2010), and refined in later studies by Huizinga (2012, 2013, 

2014b). A Teledyne RD Instruments Rio Grande ADCP 

operating at 600 kHz was used to obtain velocities at 1.64 ft 

increments, or “bins,” throughout the water column. The Rio 

Grande 600 kHz ADCP operates in depths from 2.3 to 230 

ft, and determines the velocity of the water by measuring the 

Doppler shift of an acoustic signal reflected from various particles suspended in the water (Mueller and others, 2013). By 

measuring the Doppler shift in four different beam directions, 

the velocity of the water in each bin can be determined in three 

dimensions.

Basic Description of Methods

The methods used to acquire and assure the collection of 

quality data were the same as those used in previous studies 

using the MBES (Huizinga, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014b; 

Huizinga and others, 2010), and the reader is referred to those 

reports for the details of the methods used. A brief summary 

of—and differences from—these methods are highlighted 

below.

Surveying Methods

Generally, the surveyed area extended across the active 

channel from bank to bank, as had been done in several of 

the previous studies on the Missouri River (Huizinga, 2010, 

2012). The surveyed areas ranged from 1,525 to 1,640 ft 

long in the direction of flow, positioned so that the surveyed 

highway bridges were approximately one-third to one-half of 

the total length from the upstream boundary. For the sites on 

the Missouri River, the surveyed areas used approximately 

the same upstream and downstream boundaries as were used 

in the 2011 flood study (Huizinga, 2012). The upstream and 

downstream boundaries of the surveyed areas were assumed to 

be beyond the substantial hydraulic effects (wake vortices and 

shear flow) in the immediate vicinity of the bridge structures.

As in previous studies, bathymetric data were obtained 

along longitudinal transect lines, and each survey was 

designed so that there was overlap of the survey swaths to 

attempt to ensure complete coverage of the channel bed and 

minimize sonic “shadows.” Substantial overlap was achieved 

for many of the surveyed swaths, except in shallow areas near 

the channel banks or spur dikes and near debris rafts. To minimize data acquisition times in the shallows, data gaps were 

left between the swaths. The presence of debris rafts made 

surveying difficult in some areas. Areas near the bridge piers 

a

Data were collected, processed, and output in the International System of 

units, and converted to inch/pound units for presentation in the report at the 

request and for the convenience of the cooperator. A distance of 1.64 feet corresponds to 0.5 meter.
Introduction 11

and along the banks also were surveyed in an upstream direction with the MBES head tilted at either 30 degrees to port or 

starboard to increase the acquisition of bathymetric data in the 

shallow areas, and higher on the banks and the sides of the 

piers. To limit damage to the MBES head, most of the very 

shallow areas (less than about 6 ft of water depth) were not 

surveyed.

After completion of the bathymetric survey with the 

MBMS at a given site, the velocity data were obtained with 

the ADCP on seven lateral sections across the channel within 

the study area. The position and speed of the boat was determined using a differential GNSS receiver mounted on a pole 

directly above the ADCP. The boat velocity was determined 

using the velocity track made good (VTG) National Marine 

Electronics Association (NMEA)-0183 sentence (National 

Marine Electronics Association, 2002) from the GNSS 

receiver. The distance between the velocity section lines generally was about 260 ft. Three sections were upstream and four 

sections were downstream from the bridge in question. Each 

section line was traversed in each direction across the river. 

The reported velocity values are the average from the two 

traverses of a given section line, using averaging algorithms 

from the Velocity Mapping Toolbox (VMT; Parsons and others, 2013).

When collecting the velocity data, the bottom-track reference method for determining boat speed was anticipated to 

be unusable because of moving channel-bed material, and the 

VTG reference method was used instead. Upon later examination, however, a latency issue was observed in the GNSS 

data received during the measurements. The latency was 

determined to be between 8 and 9 seconds, and varied from 

one transect to the next for all of the velocity transects for all 

of the sites examined in this study. To remove the effects of 

this latency, one of the developers of VMT wrote two custom 

subroutines to determine the latency and correct for it (P. Ryan 

Jackson, U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 2015; 

appendix 1).

Discharge for a site was computed as the average of the 

discharges for each of the 14 velocity transects (2 transects per 

section line). Data computed using the bottom track as a reference was not useable because of a moving channel bed, which 

causes the measured velocities (and subsequent discharges) 

to be biased low (Mueller and others, 2013). However, data 

computed using the VTG velocity data likely also were biased 

because of inaccurate position and speed of the boat during the 

measurement induced by the GNSS latency issue discussed 

above. It is presumed that the discharge measurements would 

be biased high, because the channel would seem narrower 

and the beginning edge velocity would seem higher than they 

actually are. Therefore, the final discharge reported for each 

site is the average of the bottom-track discharge (biased low) 

and the VTG discharge (presumed biased high). The largest 

difference between the bottom-track and VTG discharges was 

computed at the Chester, Ill., site (station 07020500; fig. 1), 

and was approximately 5.8 percent of the reported value of 

363,000 ft3

/s; however, the reported value is only 1.1 percent 

lower than the rated discharge of 367,000 ft3

/s at the Chester 

streamgage.

Survey Quality-Assurance/Quality-Control 

Measures

A quality-assurance plan has been established for 

discharge measurements using ADCPs that includes several 

instrument diagnostic checks and calibrations. These standard operating procedures were followed when acquiring the 

velocity profile data for these surveys, with the exception of a 

moving-bed test. For a detailed discussion of these procedures, 

see Mueller and others (2013).

For the MBMS, the principal quality-assurance measures 

were assessed in real time during the survey. The MBMS 

operator continuously assessed the quality of the collected 

data during the survey by making visual observations of 

across-track swaths (such as convex, concave, or skewed bed 

returns in flat, smooth bottoms), noting data quality flags and 

alarms from the MBES and the POS, and noting comparisons 

between adjacent overlapping swaths. In addition to the realtime quality-assurance assessments during the survey, beam 

angle checks and a suite of patch tests were executed to ensure 

quality data were acquired from the MBMS.

Beam Angle Check

A beam angle check is used to determine the accuracy of 

the depth readings obtained by the outer beams (greater than 

25 degrees from nadir [vertical]) of the MBES (U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, 2004e), which may change with time as 

a result of inaccurate sound velocities, physical configuration 

changes, and overall depth being surveyed. The HYPACK®/

HYSWEEP® software has a utility that develops a statistical 

assessment of the quality of the outer beams compared to a 

reference surface (HYPACK, Inc., 2011). On May 29, 2014, 

a reference surface was created for a part of Indian Lake near 

Cuba, Mo. (fig. 1), and check lines were run across the reference surface. Included with the measurement was a sound 

velocity cast to document and quantify any stratification in the 

water column near the reference surface. The results of this 

beam angle check (table 4) were within the recommended performance standards used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

for hydrographic surveys for a majority of the angles (U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, 2004e), essentially permitting the 

use of the full sonar swath.

Ideally, the average depth of the reference surface used 

in the beam angle check would be greater than or equal to the 

depth in the area being surveyed. Unfortunately, the depth 

of the Mississippi River at the sites not previously surveyed 

generally was impossible to estimate before the 2014 surveys because of the dynamic nature of the channel bed and 

flow conditions. The average depth of the reference surface 

(about 30 ft) was approximately equal to or greater than the 

average depth observed in the 2014 surveys on the Missouri 

River and on the Mississippi River upstream from St. Louis 
12 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Table 4. Results of a beam angle check from two check lines 

over a reference surface at Indian Lake near Cuba, Missouri, on 

May 29, 2014.

[<, less than; --, no data]

Beam 

angle limit

(degrees)

Maximum 

outlier

(feet)

Mean 

difference

(feet)

Standard 

deviation

(feet)

95-percent 

confidence

(feet)

20 0.62 0.00 0.13 0.26

25 0.62 -0.03 0.10 0.23

30 0.75 -0.03 0.10 0.20

35 0.72 -0.03 0.10 0.20

40 0.92 -0.03 0.10 0.20

45 1.51 -0.03 0.10 0.20

50 0.66 -0.03 0.10 0.20

55 1.25 0.00 0.10 0.20

60 1.21 0.03 0.10 0.20

65 0.85 0.07 0.13 0.26

70 0.79 0.10 0.16 0.30

Performance standardsa

1.00 <0.20 -- <0.50

Majority metb Met -- Met

a

Performance standard check values are from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2004e), table 3–1.

b

Beam angle check was performance in an area with a substantial amount 

of minor variations that had an effect on the accuracy of the reference 

surface.

(15.8–31.2 ft for sites 1, 2, 31, and 32; the average depth is the 

difference between the average water surface elevation and 

average channel bed elevation in table 3), but was less than the 

average depth observed in the 2014 surveys on the Mississippi River downstream from St. Louis (34.5–48.0 ft for sites 

36–38; the average depth is the difference between the average 

water surface elevation and average channel bed elevation 

in table 3). As described in the “Surveying Methods” section 

earlier in this report, areas with depths greater than the average 

depths generally had substantial overlap of the surveyed swath 

with adjacent swaths. Data from the outer beams in these areas 

were able to be either verified or removed to mitigate any 

detrimental effects caused by beam angle inaccuracies.

Patch Tests

Patch tests are a series of dynamic calibration tests that 

are used to check for subtle variations in the orientation and 

timing of the MBES with respect to the POS and real-world 

coordinates. The patch tests are used to determine timing 

offsets caused by latency between the MBES and the POS, 

and angular offsets to roll, pitch, and yaw caused by the alignment of the transducer head (fig. 4). These offsets have been 

observed to be essentially constant for a given survey, barring 

an event that causes the mount to change such as striking a 

floating or submerged object (Huizinga, 2010, 2011, 2012). 

The offsets determined in the patch test are applied when 

processing the data collected during a given survey.

Patch tests were completed twice for the 2014 surveys 

(table 5): once before the surveys at Indian Lake near Cuba, 

Mo. (fig. 1), and again several days after multiple strikes of 

floating debris while surveying at structure A3664 on U.S. 

Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Mo. (site 2; fig. 1), on June 4, 

2014. The second patch test was not completed until surveying at structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape 

Girardeau, Mo. (site 37; fig. 1), on June 10 (table 5), but nothing had struck the MBES in the intervening days.

For this study, there was no measured timing offset 

(table 5; Δt=0, fig. 4), which is consistent with latency test 

results for this boat and similar equipment configuration used 

in other surveys (Huizinga, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014a, 

2014b; Huizinga and others, 2010).

The measured angular offset for roll with the transducer 

head untilted (a head tilt of “none” in table 5) changed from 

-3.05 degrees to -3.45 degrees between the first and second 

patch tests (table 5), whereas the measured angular offset for 

yaw changed from 0.45 degrees to -0.85 degrees between 

the first and second patch tests (table 5). The changes in 

these offsets likely are the result of striking several large 

pieces of floating debris that caused the mount to bend during the survey at structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St. 

Joseph, Mo. The measured angular offset for pitch was not 

affected, remaining constant at -1.50 degrees for both patch 

tests (table 5). Unexpectedly, the offset values for roll and 

pitch with the transducer head tilted 30 degrees to port and 

30 degrees to starboard were the same for both the first and 

second patch tests, and only the offset value for yaw was 

different (table 5). It was noted in Huizinga (2010) that a sensitivity analysis of the four offsets implied that the ultimate 

position of surveyed points in three-dimensional space was 

least sensitive to the angular offset for yaw, whereas it was 

most sensitive to the angular offset for roll. The measured 

angular offsets for roll, pitch, and yaw for the 2008 and 2011 

surveys at structure A1700 on Interstate 255 near Caruthersville, Mo., were consistent with results for the boat and equipment at the times of those surveys (Richard J. Huizinga, U.S. 

Geological Survey, unpub. data, 2015).

The bathymetric data were processed to apply the offsets 

determined from the patch tests, and to remove data spikes 

and other spurious points in the multibeam swaths through the 

use of automatic filters and manual editing. The offsets from 

the first patch test were applied to data collected before the 

largest debris strike at structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 

at St. Joseph, Mo, and the offsets from the second patch test 

were applied to all data collected after the debris strike. The 

bathymetric data were then projected to a three-dimensional 

grid at a resolution of 1.64 ft, and used to generate a gridded 

raster surface of the channel bed in the vicinity of each bridge 

(hereinafter referred to as a “bathymetric surface”) using 

ArcGIS.
Introduction 13

A. Latency B. Roll ∆t

∆t

α

α

α

β

β

β δ

δ

δ

C. Pitch D. Yaw

Timing offset for latency between the multibeam echosounder and Global Navigation Satellite System 

components of the navigation and motion-sensing system

Angular offset for roll of the transducer head along the longitudinal axis of the boat

Angular offset for pitch of the transducer head along the lateral axis of the boat

Angular offset for yaw of the transducer head about the vertical axis

Actual bottom Measured bottom

EXPLANATION

Figure 4. Generalized effects of A, timing offset for latency; and angular offsets for B, roll; C, pitch; and D, yaw on 

data from a multibeam echosounder.

Table 5. Patch test results from surveying on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri.

[sec, seconds; deg, degrees; stbd, starboard; unshaded rows are for no tilt on the sonar head, light brown is tilted 30 degrees to starboard, and light blue is tilted 

30 degrees to port]

Date of 

test

Timing 

offset

(sec)

Angular offset 

for roll

(deg)

Angular offset 

for pitch

(deg)

Angular offset 

for yaw

(deg)

Head tilt Location

05/29/14 0 -3.05 -1.50 0.45 none Indian Lake near Cuba, Missouri

05/29/14 0 -33.45 -1.50 0.45 30 deg stbd Indian Lake near Cuba, Missouri

05/29/14 0 26.85 -1.50 0.45 30 deg port Indian Lake near Cuba, Missouri

06/10/14 0 -3.45 -1.50 -0.85 none Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri

06/10/14 0 -33.45 -1.50 -0.85 30 deg stbd Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri

06/10/14 0 26.85 -1.50 -0.85 30 deg port Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri
14 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Uncertainty Estimation

Similar to the previous studies of bathymetry in Missouri (Huizinga, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014a, 2014b), 

uncertainty in the surveys was estimated by computing the 

total propagated uncertainty (TPU) for the bathymetric surface 

of each survey area, using the Combined Uncertainty Bathymetric Estimator (CUBE) method (Calder and Mayer, 2003), 

as implemented in the HYPACK®/HYSWEEP® software 

(HYPACK, Inc., 2011). The CUBE method allows all random 

system component uncertainties and resolution effects to be 

combined and propagated through the data processing steps, 

which provides a robust estimate of the spatial distribution of 

possible uncertainty within the survey area (Czuba and others, 

2011). Thus, the TPU of a point is a measure of the accuracy 

to be expected for such a point when all relevant error sources 

are taken into account (Czuba and others, 2011). Statistics of 

TPU for each of the survey areas are shown in table 6, and an 

example of the spatial distribution of TPU typically observed 

in the survey data is shown in figure 5 for the bathymetric data 

at structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape Girardeau, 

Mo.

The largest TPU in this group of surveys was about 

11.38 ft (table 6); however, as noted in previous studies, TPU 

values of this magnitude typically occurred near high-relief 

features, such as the front or side of a pier footing (fig. 5). 

Most of the TPU values (more than 88 percent) were less than 

1.00 ft (table 6). Larger TPU values occur near moderate-relief 

features (banks, spur dikes, rock riprap and outcrops, and 

scour holes near piers; fig. 5). Occasionally, these larger TPU 

values also occurred in the outermost beam parts of the multibeam swath in the overlap with an adjacent swath, particularly 

when the MBES head was tilted for the survey lines along the 

banks or near the piers (fig. 5). Overlapping adjacent swaths in 

the channel thalweg, the line of maximum depth in the channel, also can display larger TPU values because substantial 

bed movement can occur between survey passes (fig. 5). Over 

one-half (59.6 percent or more) of the channel bed at the sites 

had TPU values of 0.50 ft or less (table 6). The tops of bridge 

substructural elements (pier footings and seal courses) typically had TPU values of 0.50 ft or less.

The survey at structure A5076 on State Highway 34 

at Cape Girardeau, Mo., had the highest mean and median 

values of TPU, as well as generally the lowest percentage of 

bathymetry points that were less than the various TPU value 

cutoffs (table 6). There were no substantial impediments to 

flow or surveying at this site and the survey was obtained with 

relatively smooth longitudinal swathes (fig. 5), and that was 

the case at nearly all of the sites surveyed in this study. The 

magnitude and distribution of TPU values observed at this site 

are representative of those observed at all of the other surveyed sites.

Table 6. Total propagated uncertainty results for bathymetric data at a 1.64-foot grid spacing from surveys on the Missouri and 

Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri, June 3–11, 2014.

[MoDOT, Missouri Department of Transportation; ft, feet]

Site 

number

(fig. 1)

MoDOT 

structure 

number

Maximum 

value of 

uncertainty

(ft)

Mean value of 

uncertainty

(ft)

Median 

value of 

uncertainty

(ft)

Standard 

deviation of 

uncertainty

(ft)

Percent of bathymetry points with 

uncertainty value less than

2.00 ft 1.00 ft 0.50 ft 0.25 ft

1 L0098 11.06 0.51 0.39 0.45 98.5 90.9 64.5 25.8

2 A3664 W 6.56 0.50 0.39 0.36 99.3 92.2 64.1 21.8

31 A5054 10.66 0.43 0.33 0.40 99.0 93.6 73.0 36.3

32 K0932 10.30 0.39 0.30 0.34 99.4 95.7 77.2 37.2

36 L0135 11.25 0.40 0.33 0.32 99.5 95.4 75.9 34.0

37 A5076 11.38 0.54 0.43 0.44 98.7 88.2 59.6 25.3

38 A1700 11.06 0.47 0.36 0.41 99.0 92.9 69.2 26.1
Introduction 15

89°31'10" 89°31'05" 89°31' 89°31'15"

37°17'50"

37°17'45"

37°17'40"

37°17'35"

89°30'55" 89°30'50" 89°30'45" 89°30'40"

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 NorthHorizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

June 10, 2014

377,000 cubic feet per second

331.7 feet above NAVD 88

Survey dateDischargeAverage water-surface elevation

EXPLANATION

Total propagated error of 

channel-bed elevation,in feet

5.0+4.54.03.53.02.52.01.51.00.50

$ Spur dike

Stone revetment

Pier 2

Pier 4 Pier 5 Pier 6 Pier 3

Moored barges

Figure 5. Total propagated uncertainty of bathymetric data from the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
16 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Results of Bathymetric and 

Velocimetric Surveys

The site-specific results for each bridge are discussed 

in the following sections grouped by river, starting with the 

upstream-most bridge site and progressing downstream. The 

site-specific results are followed by a discussion of general 

findings that are not specific to a particular site. The range of 

bed elevations described as “the channel-bed elevations” for 

each survey was based on statistical analysis of the bathymetry data at each site, and covers the percentile range from 

5 to 95 percent of the data. Because the surveys generally 

were limited to the active channel from bank to bank excluding overbank areas, this percentile range generally covered 

the channel bed but excluded the banks and localized high or 

low spots, such as spur dikes or scour holes near piers. All 

elevation data were referenced to the North American Vertical 

Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88).

For consistency with earlier studies, dune sizes are 

described in general terms for each of the bridge sites using 

the categories set by Huizinga (2012) for the discussion of 

bathymetry during the 2011 flood. In this report, small dunes 

and ripples are those that are less than 5 ft high from crest to 

trough, medium dunes are those that are 5 to 10 ft high, large 

dunes are those that are 10 to 15 ft high, and very large dunes 

are those that are 15 ft or more in height.

Previous bathymetric surveys had occurred at both of 

the bridge sites on the Missouri River during the 2011 flood 

(Huizinga, 2012), and the site on the Mississippi River near 

Caruthersville was the subject of two previous bathymetric 

surveys (on December 10, 2008, and on May 5, 2011, during 

the 2011 flood; Richard J. Huizinga, U.S. Geological Survey, 

unpub. data, 2015). Furthermore, several of the sites on both 

rivers had a Level II bridge scour assessment (Lagasse and 

others, 1991; Huizinga and Rydlund, 2004). A map showing 

the difference in channel-bed elevation for the area common 

to both surveys is included for each site with multiple surveys, 

and data from any previous survey is included in the crosssection plot for that bridge. If a site was subject to a Level 

II assessment, the cross section of the channel on the downstream side of the bridge obtained during the Level II assessment is included on the cross-section plot for that bridge.

When discussing the vertically averaged velocity values 

obtained during the surveys in the sections that follow, neighboring vectors having random variations in direction and magnitude were taken as an indication of non-uniform flow in the 

section resulting from shear and wake vortices. Conversely, 

neighboring vectors having gradual and systematic variations 

were taken as an indication of uniform flow in the section. The 

velocity data shown for each section are an average of two 

velocity transects, spatially averaged to the section line using 

algorithms in VMT (Parsons and others, 2013).

Shaded TIN images of the channel and side of pier were 

prepared for each surveyed pier. These visualizations are 

shown in the appendix figures 2–1 to 2–10.

Sites on the Missouri River

There are five unique highway crossings of the Missouri 

River upstream from Kansas City to the Missouri–Iowa state 

line (table 1; fig. 1). Two of the crossings are maintained by 

MoDOT, and were surveyed as part of this study.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 17

Structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at 

Brownville, Nebraska

Structure L0098 (site 1) on U.S. Highway 136 crosses 

the Missouri River at river mile (RM) 535.3 at Brownville, 

Nebraska, in the northwestern corner of Missouri (fig. 1). The 

site was surveyed on June 3, 2014, and the average watersurface elevation of the river in the survey area, determined by 

the RTK GNSS tide solution, was 884.4 ft (table 3). Discharge 

on the Missouri River was about 39,800 ft3/s during the survey 

(table 3).

The survey area was about 1,640 ft long and about 740 ft 

wide, extending across the active channel from bank to bank 

(fig. 6). The upstream end of the survey area was about 740 ft 

upstream from the centerline of structure L0098. The channelbed elevations ranged from about 864 to 877 ft for most of 

the surveyed area (5 to 95 percentile range of the bathymetric 

data), except near pier 3 and on the downstream sides of the 

various spur dikes on the left (east) bank (table 3). The overall 

minimum channel-bed elevation of 844 ft was in a hole downstream from the upstream spur dike. The channel bed was covered with medium and small dunes and ripples. A rock outcrop 

was present on the right (west) bank upstream from the bridge, 

and stone revetment was present on the right bank downstream 

from the bridge (fig. 6).

In the vicinity of main channel pier 3, a local scour hole 

had a minimum channel-bed elevation of approximately 

849.0 ft (table 7), about 19 ft below the average channel bed 

immediately upstream from the pier (fig. 6). Information from 

bridge plans (Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2002) indicates that pier 3 is founded on sheet 

piling caissons on bedrock, with about 34 ft of bed material between the bottom of the scour hole and bedrock at the 

upstream face of the pier (fig. 7; table 7). The unique configuration of the sheet pile caissons and ice breaker of the pier are 

clearly seen in the shaded TIN images for main channel pier 

3 (fig. 1–1). The surveyed bed along the cross section generally was about 2 to 5 ft higher than the previous multibeam 

survey in 2011, except near the banks, making it more similar 

to the ground line from the Level II bridge scour assessment in 

2002 (Huizinga and Rydlund, 2004; fig. 7). Furthermore, the 

channel bed from the most recent multibeam survey was more 

similar to the approximate ground line from bridge plans when 

the bridge was built in 1938 than the previous multibeam 

survey, except near the main channel pier.

The difference between the bathymetric surfaces from the 

surveys on June 3, 2014, and July 13, 2011 (fig. 8), indicates 

deposition of as much as 10 ft has occurred throughout most 

of the channel, but small areas of scour exist near the tips and 

downstream from the spur dikes on the left (east) side of the 

channel. The mean difference between the July 2011 and June 

2014 bathymetric surfaces (3.93 ft; table 8) indicates moderate 

deposition overall, as evident in the difference map. There was 

as much as 20 ft of deposition on the left bank downstream 

from the spur dikes, and as much as 15 ft of scour near the tips 

of the spur dikes. About 5 ft of deposition was observed on 

the stone revetment on the right bank (fig. 8). The deposition 

likely is the result of the substantially lower flow conditions 

during the 2014 survey compared to the 2011 survey (table 8).

The vertically averaged velocity vectors indicated mostly 

uniform flow at between 4 and 6 feet per second (ft/s) in the 

main channel, except near the spur dikes (fig. 9). The wake 

vortices downstream from main channel pier 3 were not 

pronounced, and seemed to be no greater than the general nonuniformity of flow observed in the channel.

Structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at Brownville, Nebraska.
18 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

95°39'05"

95°39'

95°38'55"

40°24'05"

95°39'10"

95°39'15"

40°23'55"

40°23'50"

40°24'05"

40°24'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2007

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

No data

890

885

880

875

870

865

860

855

850

845

$

June 3, 2014

39,800 cubic feet per second

884.4 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 7

A

A'

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 35A

B B' Pier 3

Rock outcrop

Stone revetment

Spur dike

Spur dike

Spur dike

Spur dike

0 50 100 150 200 250 FEET

0 25 50 75 METERS

Figure 6. Bathymetric survey of the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at Brownville, Nebraska.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 19

Pier 3

Pier 2

Pier 4Cap

Ice breaker

Sheet pile caisson

Column

Cap

Ice breaker

Column

Sheet pile caisson

Cap

Icebreaker

Column

Sheet pile caisson

750 800 950 1,000 850 900 1,050 1,100 1,250 1,350 1,400 1,450 1,500 1,600 1,550 1,650 1,700 1,300 1,150 1,200

Distance from fill face of left (east) abutment, in feet

975950925900875850825800

t above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) eef ni , noit avel E

Part of bridge shown above

Survey is along cross-section line shown in figure 6, facing downstream

A A'

Approximate ground line from

Level II scour survey on 11/04/2002

Channel bed from 2014 multibeam surveyChannel bed from 2011 multibeam survey Approximate ground line from 1938 bridge plans

Average water surface during 2011 survey (898.9 feet above NAVD 88) Average water surface during 2014 survey (884.4 feet above NAVD 88) 

Approximate top of bedrock (from core logs)

Substructural and superstructural details, approximate ground line,

 and top of bedrock line from 1938 bridge plans

(Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2002)

Figure 7. Key features, substructural and superstructural details, and surveyed channel bed of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 over the Missouri River at Brownville, Nebraska.
20 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers Table 7. Results near piers from surveys on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri, June 3–11, 2014. [MoDOT, Missouri Department of Transportation; ft, feet; --, not known/applicable; all elevations are in feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988] Site number (fig. 1) MoDOT structure number MoDOT pier number Foundation information Approximate minimum elevation in scour hole near piera (ft) Approximate elevation of scour hole at upstream pier face (ft) Approximate elevation of bedrock near pier (ft) Approximate distance between bottom of scour hole and bedrock (ft) Depth of scour hole from upstream channel bed (ft) Approximate frontal slope of scour hole (ft/ft) Type Width (ft) Penetration into bedrock (ft) Seal course or pile cap bottom elevation (ft)

1 L0098 3 Caisson 21 0 -- 849 849 815 34 19 1.752 A3664 E & W 10 Drilled shaft 30 25 758.00 763 763 745 18 19 1.77

9 Drilled shaft 24 25 774.00 (b

) (b

) 745 (b

) (b

) (b

)

8 Pile cap 19.5 1 789.00 (b

) (b

) 745 (b

) (b

) (b

)

31 A5054 11 Pile cap 36 0 419.00 440 442 351 89 8 1.58

10 Pile cap 36 0 421.00 436 c442 357 79 c11 c1.77

9 Pile cap 35 0 411.00 433 c435 380 53 c

8 c2.22

8 Drilled shaft 36 15 405.00 418 418 394 24 19 1.807 Drilled shaft 36 15 402.00 422 427 395 27 12 1.946 Drilled shaft 35 15 401.00 422 424 395 27 11 2.045 Drilled shaft 35 28 436.00 d452 d452 435 17 d

0 (d

)

32 K0932 5 Pile cap 16 0 414.80 426 426 371 55 6 (b

)

4 Caisson 16 1.5 -- 401 401 393 8 19 1.713 Caisson 18 1.5 -- 410 c411 401 9 c

6 c3.45

2 Caisson 18 1.5 -- 412 c416 408 4 c

2 (

c

)

1 Footing 17 1.5 -- d430 d430 430 0 d

0 (d

)

36 L0135 13 Footing 15 1 -- d351 d351 345 6 d

0 (d

)

12 Footing 16 3 -- d320 d320 317 2 d

0 (d

)

11 Caisson 24 1 -- 308 308 266 42 16 1.85

10 Caisson 16 2 -- 330 330 245 85 6 2.70

37 A5076 7 Drilled shaft 32 19 301.00 (

b

) (

b

) 243 (

b

) (

b

) (b

)

6 Drilled shaft 32 20 292.00 311 311 245 66 6 1.845 Drilled shaft 32 22 285.00 297 297 245 52 3 2.164 Caisson 60 1 -- 275 c283 244 32 c25 c1.923 Caisson 67 1 -- 272 c287 250 22 c27 c1.962 Footing 60 1 -- d323 d324 290 33 d0 (d

)
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 21

Table 7. Results near piers from surveys on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri, June 3–11, 2014.—Continued[MoDOT, Missouri Department of Transportation; ft, feet; --, not known/applicable; all elevations are in feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988]

Site 

number 

(fig. 1)

MoDOT

structure 

number

MoDOT 

pier 

number

Foundation information

Approximate 

minimum 

elevation in 

scour hole 

near piera

(ft)

Approximate 

elevation of 

scour hole 

at upstream 

pier face

(ft)

Approximate 

elevation of 

bedrock near 

pier

(ft)

Approximate 

distance 

between 

bottom of 

scour hole 

and bedrock

(ft)

Depth 

of scour 

hole from 

upstream 

channel 

bed 

(ft)

Approximate 

frontal slope 

of scour hole

(ft/ft)

Type Width (ft) Penetration into bedrock (ft)

Seal 

course or 

pile cap 

bottom 

elevation

(ft)

38 A1700 21 Caisson 39 0 e158.52 225 225 -- -- d0 (d)

20 Caisson 66 0 e119.20 188 191 -- -- c10 c1.71

19 Caisson 29 0 e139.35 207 c207 -- -- c0 (c)

18 Pile cap 50.8 0 188.00 210 c210 -- -- c0 (c)17 Pile cap 39.7 0 196.50 202 202 -- -- 7 2.13

16 Pile cap 42 0 196.50 192 200 -- -- d0 (d)

15 Pile cap 39.7 0 196.92 d221 d221 -- -- d0 (d)14 Pile cap 18 0 240.00 d448 d457 -- -- d0 (d)

a The point of lowest elevation in the scour hole near the bridge pier, not necessarily at the upstream pier face.b Unable to obtain data because of substantial floating debris, or pier was in very shallow water or blocked by accumulated debris.c Pier appears to be partially or totally surrounded with a riprap blanket.d Scour hole at this pier is substantially affected by stone revetment or bedrock.e Elevation of bottom of caisson is shown because it is not founded on bedrock.
22 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

95°39'05"

95°39'

95°38'55"

40°24'05"

95°39'10"

95°39'15"

40°23'55"

40°23'50"

40°24'05"

40°24'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2007

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

$

No data

EXPLANATION

Change in channel-bed 

 elevation, in feet 

-1

-3

-5

-7

-10

-15

-20

-30

-45

20

15

10

7

5

3

1

30

DEPOSITION SCOUR

Cross section shown

in figure 7

Pier 3

Rock outcrop

Stone revetment

Spur dike

Spur dike

Spur dike

Spur dike

0 50 100 150 200 250 FEET

0 25 50 75 METERS

A

A'

Figure 8. Difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at Brownville, Nebraska, on June 3, 2014, and July 13, 2011.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 23

Table 8. Summary information and bathymetric surface difference statistics from surveys on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri, June 3–11, 2014, and previous surveys.[MoDOT, Missouri Department of Transportation; ft3/s, cubic feet per second; ft2, square feet; ft, feet; all elevations are in feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988]

Site 

number 

(fig. 1)

MoDOT 

structure 

number

Previous survey Difference between 2014 survey and previous survey Statistics of differences between 2014 and previous survey surfaces Maximum 

difference near 

upstream pier 

face(s)b c

(ft)

Source of 

data Date Discharge (ft3/s) Surveyed area (x106 ft2)

Average 

watersurface 

elevation

(ft)

Discharge

(ft3/s)

Surveyed 

area

(x106 ft2)

Average 

watersurface 

elevation

(ft)

Minimuma b

(ft)

Maximuma b

(ft)

Meanb

(ft)

Standard 

deviation

(ft)

1 L0098 Huizinga 

(2012)

07/13/11 225,000 1.16 898.9 -185,200 0.032 -14.5 -29.0 34.9 3.93 3.73 5.9

2 A3664 

E & W

Huizinga 

(2012)

07/14/11 218,000 1.44 817.2 d-151,900 -0.395 -17.4 -24.1 20.0 -2.04 4.76 -16.4

38 A1700 unpublished 

data

12/10/08 e156,000 3.57 228.4 473,000 0.859 23.4 -31.2 56.6 -0.52 6.85 -3.55/5/2011 f2,040,000 4.29 277.4 -1,411,000 0.135 -25.6 -55.0 60.9 9.05 12.80 -5.5

a The maximum or minimum value of change likely is near a vertical pier face and affected by minor position variances.b A positive value represents deposition, a negative value represents scour.c The maximum difference near the upstream pier face was taken near the location of the “approximate elevation of scour hole at upstream pier face” in table 7.d The difference in discharge was computed using the discharge at the St. Joseph streamgage of 66,100 ft3/s (table 3, footnote “d”).e The discharge for this survey was taken from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers streamgage upstream at Hickman, Kentucky (fig. 1), on 12/09/2008 (Jeanne C. Burns, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, written commun., 2014). The previous day’s value was used to account for time of travel from Hickman to Caruthersville.f The discharge for this survey was from a discharge measurement at the stage-gaging station upstream at Tiptonville, Tennessee (fig. 1), on 05/05/2011 (Koenig and Holmes, 2013).
24 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

95°39'05"

95°39'

95°38'55"

40°24'05"

95°39'10"

95°39'15"

40°23'55"

40°23'50"

40°24'05"

40°24'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2007

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 50 100 150 200 250 FEET

0 25 50 75 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

No data

890

885

880

875

870

865

860

855

850

845

$

0−1

1−2

2−3

3−4

4−5

5−6

6−7

7−8

8−9

9−10

10−11

11−12

Vertically averaged velocity, 

 in feet per second

June 3, 2014

39,800 cubic feet per second

884.4 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 7

Pier 3

Rock outcrop

Stone revetment

Spur dike

Spur dike

Spur dike

Spur dike

A

A'

Figure 9. Bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 at Brownville, Nebraska.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 25

Dual Bridge Structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 

at St. Joseph, Missouri

Structure A3664 (site 2) consists of twin bridges on U.S. 

Highway 36 crossing the Missouri River at RM 447.9 at St. 

Joseph, Mo., on the western side of Missouri north of Kansas City (fig. 1). The site was surveyed on June 4, 2014, and 

the average water-surface elevation of the river in the survey 

area, determined by the RTK GNSS tide solution, was 799.8 ft 

(table 3). There was a substantial amount of floating debris 

during the survey date at this site, because the Missouri River 

was beginning to flood (fig. 2A). The discharge as determined 

by the ADCP measurements indicated 49,600 ft3

/s (table 3), but 

a substantial part of the right side of the channel could not be 

surveyed for bathymetry or velocity data due to floating debris. 

Flow on the Missouri River was about 66,100 ft3

/s during the 

survey, according to the streamgage at St. Joseph, Missouri 

(station 06818000; table 3, footnote “d”), and this value was 

used as the discharge during the survey. A dredge barge was 

moored near the downstream end of the reach, and mooring 

lines prevented survey data from being collected near it.

The survey area was about 1,640 ft long and about 655 ft 

wide, extending most of the way across the active channel from 

the left bank to an area of heavy floating debris (fig. 10). The 

upstream end of the survey area was about 655 ft upstream 

from the centerline of structure A3664. The channel-bed elevations ranged from about 774 to 788 ft for most of the surveyed 

area (5 to 95 percentile range of the bathymetric data), except 

on the downstream side of the upstream spur dikes on the right 

(west) bank (table 3). The overall minimum channel-bed elevation of 757 ft was in a hole downstream from the upstream spur 

dike on the right (west) bank near pier 10. The channel bed was 

covered with small dunes and ripples. Stone revetment was 

present on the left (east) bank throughout the reach (fig. 10).

In the vicinity of main channel pier 10, a local scour hole 

had a minimum channel-bed elevation of approximately 763 ft 

(table 7), about 19 ft below the average channel bed immediately upstream from the pier (fig. 10). The large local scour 

hole downstream from the upstream spur dike extended toward 

pier 10. Information from bridge plans (Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2011) indicates that 

pier 10 is founded on shafts drilled into bedrock, with about 

18 ft of bed material between the bottom of the scour hole and 

bedrock at the upstream face of pier 10 (fig. 11; table 7).

The surveyed bed along the cross section generally was 

about 5 to 10 ft lower than the previous multibeam survey in 

2011 for the part of the channel that was surveyed, and near 

pier 10 it was 20 ft lower (fig. 11). For most of the channel cross section shown in figure 11, the surveyed bed was 

approximately 20 to 25 ft lower than the original ground line 

from bridge plans at construction (1974).

The difference between the bathymetric surfaces from the 

surveys on June 4, 2014, and July 14, 2011 (fig. 12), indicates 

deposition of as much as 15 ft has occurred throughout most 

of the upstream part of the channel, with scour of as much as 

10 ft throughout the downstream part of the channel. The mean 

difference between the July 2011 and June 2014 bathymetric 

surfaces (-2.04 ft, table 8) indicates moderate scour overall, as 

evident in the majority of the difference map. There was over 

20 ft of scour near the tip and downstream from the spur dikes. 

Small areas of deposition were observed on the stone revetment 

on the left bank (fig. 12).

The moderate scour observed at this site may be the result 

of the survey on the rising limb of a local peak in 2014 (fig. 2) 

being compared to a survey on the receding limb the 2011 

flood (see fig. 2 in Huizinga, 2012) that may have allowed a 

sort of stasis to develop at the site in the 2011 survey. However, 

although the negative mean difference indicates overall net 

scour between the compared bathymetric surfaces, the survey 

for this site covered substantially less area in 2014 than the 

survey in 2011 (more than 27 percent less, computed as the 

difference between the 2014 survey area and previous surveyed 

area divided by the previous surveyed area in table 8), and 

the surveyed area was along the thalweg and away from the 

spur dikes on the right bank (fig. 10), downstream from which 

deposition has been observed in other surveys during low to 

moderate-flow conditions (see figs. 29 and 40 in Huizinga, 

2014b). It is likely that the area not surveyed in 2014 would 

have experienced deposition because it is on the inside of a 

bend in the river, and is implied by the deposition observed 

along the left edge of the 2014 survey area (fig. 12). The statistics of the differences between the bathymetric surfaces for 

this site may have been skewed by not including this area of 

potential deposition.

The vertically averaged velocity vectors indicated mostly 

uniform flow at between 6 and 8 ft/s in the main channel for 

the part of the channel for which velocity data were collected 

(fig. 13), with a few localized areas of higher velocity downstream from the tip of the upstream spur dike and near pier 10. 

However, moderate shear and wake vortices were observed 

throughout the channel reach, and particularly near the left 

bank, as indicated by the variable velocities and non-uniform 

orientation of the velocity vectors (fig. 13).

Dual Bridge Structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Missouri.
26 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

94°51'30"

94°51'35"

94°51'40"

39°44'55"

39°44'50"

39°44'45"

39°45'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2007

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

$

810

755

760

765

770

775

780

785

790

795

800

805

No data

June 4, 2014

66,100 cubic feet per second

799.8 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

 (based on discharge at streamgage at St. Joseph, Mo.)

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 11

A

A'

Pier 9

Mooring

pylon

Spur dike

Spur dike

Pier 8W Pier 8E

Pier 11W Pier 11E

Pier 10

Moored dredging barge

Substantial floating debris prevented

surveying in this part of the channel

Stone revetment

Remnant of

old bridge pier

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 35B

B B'

0 50 100 150 200 250 FEET

0 25 50 75 METERS

Figure 10. Bathymetric survey of the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 27

Pier 10

Pier 8

Pier 11 Cap

Pedestal

Footing

Seal course

Drilled shafts

Pedestal

Drilled shafts

Seal course

Footing

Column

Cap

Column

Pier 9

Pedestal

Footing

Seal course

Drilled shafts

Footing

Cap

Column

Cap

Column

Piles

-100 0 300 400 100 200 500 600 900 1,000 700 800

Distance from left (east) main channel pier, in feet

900875850825800775750725700

Elevation, in feet above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

Part of bridge shown above

Survey is along cross-section line shown in figure 10, facing downstream

A A'

Average water surface during 2011 survey (817.2 feet above NAVD 88)Average water surface during 2014 survey (799.8 feet above NAVD 88)

Approximate ground line from 1974 bridge plans

Unable to surveyfurther right in 2014due to substantialdebris on river

Channel bed from 2011 multibeam surveyChannel bed from 2014 multibeam survey

Approximate top of bedrock (from core logs)

Substructural and superstructural details, approximate ground line,

 and top of bedrock line from 1974 bridge plans

(Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2011)

Figure 11. Key features, substructural and superstructural details, and surveyed channel bed of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 over the Missouri River 

at St. Joseph, Missouri
28 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

94°51'30"

94°51'35"

94°51'40"

39°44'55"

39°44'50"

39°44'45"

39°45'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2007

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 50 100 150 200 250 FEET

0 25 50 75 METERS

$

No data

EXPLANATION

Change in channel-bed 

 elevation, in feet 

-1

-3

-5

-7

-10

-15

-20

-30

-45

20

15

10

7

5

3

1

30

DEPOSITION SCOUR

Cross section shown

in figure 11

A

A'

Pier 9

Mooring

pylon

Spur dike

Spur dike

Pier 8W Pier 8E

Pier 10

Remnant of

old bridge pier

Moored dredging barge

Substantial floating debris prevented

surveying in this part of the channel

Stone revetment

Pier 11W Pier 11E

Figure 12. Difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Missouri, on June 4, 2014, and July 14, 2011.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 29

94°51'30"

94°51'35"

94°51'40"

°44'55"

°44'50"

°44'45"

39°45'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2007

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 50 100 150 200 250 FEET

0 25 50 75 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

$

810

755

760

765

770

775

780

785

790

795

800

805

No data

0−1

1−2

2−3

3−4

4−5

5−6

6−7

7−8

8−9

9−10

10−11

11−12

Vertically averaged velocity, 

 in feet per second

June 4, 2014

66,100 cubic feet per second

799.8 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

 (based on discharge at streamgage at St. Joseph, Mo.)

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 11

A

A'

Pier 9

Mooring

pylon

Spur dike

Spur dike

Pier 8W Pier 8E

Pier 10

Remnant of

old bridge pier

Moored dredging barge

Substantial floating debris prevented

surveying in this part of the channel

Substantial floating debris prevented velocity measurements in this part of the channel

Stone revetment

Pier 11W Pier 11E

39

39

39

Figure 13. Bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Missouri River channel in the vicinity of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 at St. Joseph, Missouri.
30 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Sites on the Mississippi River

There are four unique highway crossings of the Mississippi River upstream from St. Louis, and five unique highway 

crossings of the Mississippi River downstream from St. Louis 

(table 2; fig. 1). Five of the Mississippi River crossings are 

maintained by MoDOT, and were surveyed as part of this 

study.

Structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, 

Missouri

Structure A5054 (site 31) on Interstate 72 crosses the 

Mississippi River at RM 309.5 at Hannibal, Mo., north of St. 

Louis, Mo., and south of Quincy, Ill. (fig. 1; table 2). The site 

was surveyed on June 5, 2014, and the average water-surface 

elevation of the river in the survey area, determined by the 

RTK GNSS tide solution, was 464.6 ft (table 3). Discharge 

on the Mississippi River was about 198,000 ft3/s during the 

survey (table 3).

The survey area was about 1,640 ft long and about 

1,870 ft wide, extending across the active channel from the left 

(northeast) bank to the right (southwest) bank (fig. 14). The 

upstream end of the survey area was about 700 ft upstream 

from the centerline of structure A5054, and piers 5 through 

11 were in the water; however, pier 5 was in shallow water on 

the right bank. The channel-bed elevations ranged from about 

427 to 449 ft for most of the surveyed area (5 to 95 percentile 

range of the bathymetric data), except in the vicinity of pier 6 

through 8 and the thalweg of the channel in the upstream part 

of the reach (table 3). The left side of the channel between 

the left bank and the channel thalweg was filled with small 

and medium dune features, and small dunes and ripples were 

present in the thalweg. A spur dike on the downstream left 

side was barely visible above the average bed in the vicinity. 

The right bank seems to consist of smooth rock or hardpan 

clay throughout the reach, with no discernable dune features 

(fig. 14).

The minor scour hole in the vicinity of pier 11 was difficult to discern from nearby dunes and ripples, and there was 

no discernable hole near pier 5 on the right bank (fig. 14). 

Alternatively, piers 6 through 8 had well-defined, asymmetric 

scour holes indicative of being skewed to approach flow. Pier 

8 seems to have part of the footing exposed in the bathymetric 

map (figs. 14, 1–4A, 1–4B), and piers 9 and 10 seem to be 

surrounded by partial riprap blankets or piles of rock (figs. 14, 

1–3D, 1–3E, and 1–3F). Information from bridge plans (Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2014) 

indicates that piers 5 through 8 are founded on shafts drilled 

15 to 30 ft into bedrock, having about 17 to 24 ft of bed material between the channel bottom and bedrock (fig. 15; table 

7). Piers 9 through 11 are founded on steel H-piles driven to 

refusal on bedrock, having 53 ft of bed material between the 

channel bottom and bedrock at pier 9, 79 ft of bed material at 

pier 10, and 89 ft of bed material at pier 11 (fig. 15; table 7). 

The surveyed bed was 5 to 15 ft lower along the upstream 

bridge face than the original ground line from 1996 bridge 

plans. The cross section along the upstream bridge face indicates partial footing exposure at piers 5 through 10 (fig. 15), 

although it is not evident on the map (fig. 14), and not readily 

apparent in the shaded TIN images (figs. 1–3, 1–4), except at 

pier 8. However, the top of the footing is evident at pier 7 in 

the shaded TIN images (figs. 1–4C, 1–4D), and the footing of 

piers 9 and 6 may also be evident in the shaded TIN images, 

but seem partly obscured by a submerged log at both piers 

(figs. 1–3E, 1–3F, 1–4E, 1–4F).

The vertically averaged velocity vectors indicate mostly 

uniform flow throughout most of the channel, ranging from 

about 4 to 8 ft/s (fig. 16). Areas of non-uniform flow caused by 

the skewed orientation of the piers is evident the in the velocity sections downstream from the bridge, as well as near the 

spur dike on the right bank downstream from the bridge. Similar areas of non-uniform flow are apparent in the upstream 

sections as well, caused by a railroad bridge located about 

1,130 ft upstream from the surveyed reach (fig. 16).

Structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 31

91°21'40"

91°21'45"

91°21'50"

91°21'45"

91°21'40"

91°21'35"

91°21'30"

91°21'25"

91°21'20"

91°21'15"

91°21'10"

39°43'15"

39°43'10"

39°43'05"

39°43'

39°43'20"

39°43'25"

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2007

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

420

425

430

435

440

445

450

455

460

465

No data

$

June 5, 2014

198,000 cubic feet per second

464.6 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 15

A

A'

Pier 5

Spur dike

Bedrock or

hardpan clay

Pier 8

Pier 9

Partial

riprap

blanket?

Pier 10

Pier 11

Pier 6

Pier 7

Bedrock or

hardpan clay

Longitudinal sections

shown in figure 35

Longitudinal sections

shown in figure 35

B

B'

C

C'

D

D'

E

E'

F

F'

G

G'

Faint longitundinal

line is the result of

errors in the outer

beams of adjacent

survey swaths

Figure 14. Bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Missouri.
32 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Pier 5

Pier 11

Pier 6

Pedestal

Drilled shafts

Drilled shafts

Seal course

Footing Footing

Pedestal

Seal course

Footing

Cap

Column

Pier 7

Pedestal

Drilled shafts

Seal course

CapColumn

Footing

Pier 8

Footing

Pier 9

Pedestal

Piles Piles

Seal course

Footing

Pier 10

Pedestal

Seal course

CapColumn

Piles

Footing

Pedestal

Seal course

CapColumn

CapColumn

Pedestal

Drilled shafts

Seal course

CapColumn

Cap

Column

2,100 2,300 2,900 2,500 2,700 3,100 3,300 3,900 4,100 3,500 3,700

550525500475450425400375350325

t above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) eef ni , noit avel E

Distance from fill face of left (northeast) abutment, in feet

Part of bridge shown above

Survey is along cross-section line shown in figure 14, facing downstream

A A'

Average water surface during 2014 survey

(464.6 feet above NAVD 88)

Approximate ground

line from 1996

bridge plans

Channel bed from 2014 multibeam survey

Approximate top of bedrock (from core logs)

Substructural and superstructural details, approximate ground line,

 and top of bedrock line from 1996 bridge plans

(Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2014)

Figure 15. Key features, substructural and superstructural details, and surveyed channel bed of structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 33

21'40"

91°21'45"

91°21'50"

91°21'45"

91°21'40"

91°21'35"

91°21'30"

91°21'25"

91°21'20"

39°43'15"

39°43'10"

39°43'05"

39°43'

39°43'20"

39°43'25"

FLOW

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

420

425

430

435

440

445

450

455

460

465

No data

0−1

1−2

2−3

3−4

4−5

5−6

6−7

7−8

8−9

9−10

10−11

11−12

Vertically averaged velocity, 

 in feet per second

June 5, 2014

198,000 cubic feet per second

464.6 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 15

A

A'

Pier 5

Spur dike

Pier 8

Pier 9

Pier 10

Pier 11

Pier 6

Pier 7

Bedrock or

hardpan clay

Bedrock or

hardpan clay

Partial

riprap

blanket?

Faint longitundinal

line is the result of

errors in the outer

beams of adjacent

survey swaths

91°

91°21'15"

91°21'10"

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2007

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

$

Figure 16. Bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Missouri.
34 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, 

Missouri

Structure K0932 (site 32) on U.S. Highway 54 crosses 

the Mississippi River at RM 283.2 at Louisiana, Mo., between 

Hannibal and St. Louis, Mo. (fig. 1; table 2). The site was surveyed on June 6, 2014, and the average water-surface elevation of the river in the survey area, determined by the RTK 

GNSS tide solution, was 451.2 ft (table 3). Discharge on the 

Mississippi River was about 194,000 ft3/s during the survey 

(table 3).

The survey area was about 1,640 ft long and ranged from 

about 1,670 ft wide at the upstream end to about 1,450 ft wide 

at the downstream end, extending across the active channel 

from the left (northeast) bank to the right (southwest) bank 

(fig. 17). The upstream end of the survey area was about 700 ft 

upstream from the centerline of structure K0932, and piers 

1 through 5 were in the water; however, pier 5 was immediately upstream from a large spur dike near the left bank. 

The channel-bed elevations ranged from about 407 to 439 ft 

for most of the surveyed area (5 to 95 percentile range of the 

bathymetric data), except in the vicinity of pier 4 and downstream from the spur dike on the left bank immediately downstream from the bridge (table 3). The channel was filled with 

small and medium dune features, and small dunes and ripples 

were present near the left bank upstream from the bridge. The 

right bank seems to consist of smooth rock or hardpan clay 

throughout the reach, with partial dune features (fig. 17).

Piers 2 and 3 did not have a discernable scour hole, and 

were surrounded by riprap blankets (figs. 17, 1–5D, 1–5E, 

1–6A, 1–6B) installed in the early 1990’s (Dale Henderson, 

Missouri Department of Transportation, written comm., 2015). 

A moderate scour hole near pier 4 likely was exacerbated by 

flow diverted by the nearby spur dike (fig. 17). Information 

from bridge plans (Missouri Department of Transportation, 

written commun., 2014) indicates that piers 2 through 4 are 

caissons founded on bedrock, having between 4 and 9 ft of bed 

material between the bottom of the scour hole (or minimum 

channel-bed elevation near the pier) and bedrock (fig. 18; table 

7). Pier 1 is a footing founded on the exposed bedrock on the 

right bank (figs. 17, 18; table 7), and pier 5 is founded on steel 

H-piles driven to refusal on bedrock, having about 55 ft of bed 

material between the bottom of the scour hole and bedrock 

(fig. 18, table 7). In modern construction, bridge substructural 

elements usually are pinned or socketed to bedrock (American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, 

2012; Brown and others, 2010), but full exposure of usually 

buried substructural elements warrants special consideration 

and observation, even when designed to be exposed. The 

surveyed bed generally was lower than the original ground 

line from 1926 bridge plans, and is similar to the ground line 

from the Level II bridge scour assessment in 2002 (Huizinga 

and Rydlund, 2004; fig. 18), particularly on the right side of 

the channel; however, the ground line from the Level II bridge 

scour assessment was along the downstream side of the bridge 

and may have incorporated part of the downstream spur dike 

(fig. 17).

The vertically averaged velocity vectors indicate mostly 

uniform but variable flow throughout most of the channel, 

with velocities ranging from about 3 to 8 ft/s for most of the 

channel (fig. 19). Substantial non-uniform flow indicated by 

flow deflection and reversal was observed downstream from 

the spur dike on the left bank, along the banks, and downstream from piers 2 and 3 despite the piers being well-aligned 

with flow (fig. 19).

Structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 35

91°03'

91°03'05"

91°03'10"

91°03'05"

91°03'

91°02'55"

91°02'50"

91°02'45"

91°02'40"

91°02'35"

91°02'30"

39°27'25"

39°27'20"

39°27'15"

39°27'10"

39°27'30"

39°27'35"

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

410

415

420

425

430

390

395

400

405

435

440

445

450

No data

$

June 6, 2014

194,000 cubic feet per second

451.2 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 18 A

A' Pier 1

Spur dike

Pier 4 Pier 5

Pier 2 Pier 3

Riprap

blanket

Bedrock

Bedrock

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 35I

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 35J

C

C'

B

B'

Figure 17. Bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, Missouri.
36 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Pier 1

Bent 6

Pier 2

Caisson

Footing

Cap

Column

Pier 3

Pier 4

Caisson

Footing

Piles

Pier 5

Cap

Column

Column

Pedestal

Footing

Piles

Cap

Column

Cap

Column

Caisson

Cap

Column

500 700 1,300 900 1,100 1,500 1,700 2,200 1,900 2,100 600 800 1,400 1,000 1,200 1,600 1,800 2,000

525500475450425400375350

t above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) eef ni , noit avel E

Distance from fill face of left (northeast) abutment, in feet

Part of bridge shown above

Survey is along cross-section line shown in figure 17, facing downstream

A A'

Average water surface during 2014 survey

(451.2 feet above NAVD 88)

Approximate ground

line from 1926

bridge plans

Channel bed from 2014 multibeam survey

Approximate top of bedrock (from plans)

Substructural and superstructural details, approximate ground line,

 and top of bedrock line from 1926 bridge plans

(Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2014)

Approximate ground line from

Level II scour survey on 11/18/2002

along downstream face of bridge

Figure 18. Key features, substructural and superstructural details, and surveyed channel bed of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 37

91°03'

91°03'05"

91°03'10"

91°03'05"

91°03'

91°02'55"

91°02'50"

91°02'45"

91°02'40"

91°02'35"

91°02'30"

39°27'25"

39°27'20"

39°27'15"

39°27'10"

39°27'30"

39°27'35"

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

410

415

420

425

430

390

395

400

405

435

440

445

450

No data

$

0−1

1−2

2−3

3−4

4−5

5−6

6−7

7−8

8−9

9−10

10−11

11−12

Vertically averaged velocity, 

 in feet per second

June 6, 2014

194,000 cubic feet per second

451.2 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 18

A

A' Pier 1

Spur dike

Pier 4

Pier 5

Pier 2 Pier 3

Bedrock

Bedrock

Riprap

blanket

Figure 19. Bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, Missouri.
38 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at Chester, 

Illinois

Structure L0135 (site 36) on State Highway 51 crosses 

the Mississippi River at RM 109.9 at Chester, Ill., southeast of 

and downstream from St. Louis, Mo. (fig. 1; table 2). The site 

was surveyed on June 9, 2014, and the average water-surface 

elevation of the river in the survey area, determined by the 

RTK GNSS tide solution, was 363.9 ft (table 3). Discharge 

on the Mississippi River was about 363,000 ft3/s during the 

survey (table 3).

The survey area was about 1,640 ft long and about 

1,840 ft wide, extending across the active channel from the 

left (northeast) bank to the right (southwest) bank in the main 

channel (fig. 20). The upstream end of the survey area was 

about 655 ft upstream from the centerline of structure L0135, 

and piers 10 through 13 were in the water; however, pier 13 

was in shallow water on the left bank. The channel-bed elevations ranged from about 316 to 346 ft for most of the surveyed 

area (5 to 95 percentile range of the bathymetric data), except 

near pier 11 and in the thalweg along the left side of the channel (table 3). A series of medium to large dunes were present 

in the thalweg, with numerous medium and small dunes and 

ripples present throughout the rest of the channel. A bedrock 

outcrop was present on the left (northeast) bank, and stone 

revetment was present on the right bank (fig. 20).

In the vicinity of pier 11 (fig. 20), a substantial scour 

hole had a minimum channel-bed elevation of about 308 ft 

(table 7), which is about 16 ft below the average channel 

elevation upstream from the pier (fig. 21). Information from 

bridge plans (Missouri Department of Transportation, written 

commun., 2000) indicates that pier 11 is founded on a caisson 

on bedrock, having about 42 ft of bed material between the 

bottom of the scour hole and bedrock (fig. 21; table 7). In the 

vicinity of pier 10 (fig. 20), a moderate scour hole had a minimum channel-bed elevation of about 330 ft (table 7), which is 

about 6 ft below the average channel elevation upstream from 

the pier (fig. 21). Pier 10 also is founded on a caisson on bedrock, having about 85 ft of bed material between the bottom of 

the scour hole and bedrock (fig. 21; table 7). Piers 12 and 13 

are founded on footings on the exposed bedrock on the right 

bank, with no apparent scour hole near either (figs. 20, 21; 

table 7). In modern construction, bridge substructural elements 

usually are pinned or socketed to bedrock (American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, 2012; Brown 

and others, 2010), but full exposure of usually buried substructural elements warrants special consideration and observation, 

even when designed to be exposed. The surveyed bed generally was lower than the original ground line from 1940 bridge 

plans between piers 9 and 10 and between piers 11 and 13, 

and higher than the original ground line between piers 10 and 

11 (fig. 21). The surveyed bed was approximately the same as 

the bed from the Level II scour survey in 2000 (Huizinga and 

Rydlund, 2004), except on the left bank (fig. 21); however, 

the ground line from the Level II bridge scour assessment was 

along the downstream side of the bridge and may have incorporated part of the downstream spur dike (fig. 20).

The vertically averaged velocity vectors indicate mostly 

uniform flow in the thalweg, with areas of shear along the 

right side of the channel (fig. 22). Velocities ranged from about 

7 to 9 ft/s for most of the channel, with locally lower velocities 

and flow reversal along the banks and downstream from pier 

10. Furthermore, flow approached pier 10 from the left, causing an asymmetric scour hole that is longer and slightly deeper 

on the left side (fig. 20). The other piers were mostly aligned 

with flow, causing minimal flow disturbance downstream 

(fig. 22).

Structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at Chester, Illinois.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 39

89°50'25"

89°50'20"

89°50'30"

89°50'25"

89°503'20"

89°50'15"

89°50'10"

89°49'55"

89°50'

37°54'05"

37°54'

37°53'55"

37°54'10"

37°54'15"

37°54'20"

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

325

330

335

340

345

305

310

315

320

350

355

360

365

No data

$

June 9, 2014

363,000 cubic feet per second

363.9 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 21

A

A'

Pier 10

Spur dike

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Pier 11 Pier 12 Pier 13

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 36B

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 36A

B

B'

C

C'

Bedrock

Bedrock

Figure 20. Bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at Chester, Illinois.
40 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Pier 9

Pier 13

Pier 10

Ice breaker

Piles

Caisson

Pedestal

Sheet pile cylinder

Footing

Column

Pier 11

Column

Ice breaker

Caisson

Footing

Pier 12

Column

Ice breaker

Footing

Ice breaker

Column Column

200 400 1,000 600 800 1,200 1,400 2,000 2,200 1,600 1,800

450425400375350325300275250225

t above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) eef ni , noit avel E

Distance from fill face of left (northeast) abutment, in feet

Part of bridge shown above

Survey is along cross-section line shown in figure 20, facing downstream

A A'

Average water surface during 2014 survey

(363.9 feet above NAVD 88)

Approximate ground

line from 1940

bridge plans

Channel bed from 2014 multibeam survey

Approximate top of bedrock (from core logs)

Substructural and superstructural details, approximate ground line,

 and top of bedrock line from 1940 bridge plans

(Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2000)

Approximate ground line from

Level II scour survey on 01/19/2000

along downstream side of bridge

Figure 21. Key features, substructural and superstructural details, and surveyed channel bed of structure L0135 on State Highway 51 over the Mississippi River at Chester, Illinois.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 41

89°50'25"

89°50'20"

89°50'30"

89°50'25"

89°503'20"

89°50'15"

89°50'10"

89°49'55"

89°50'

37°54'05"

37°54'

37°53'55"

37°54'10"

37°54'15"

37°54'20"

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

325

330

335

340

345

305

310

315

320

350

355

360

365

No data

$

0−1

1−2

2−3

3−4

4−5

5−6

6−7

7−8

8−9

9−10

10−11

11−12

Vertically averaged velocity,

 in feet per second

June 9, 2014

363,000 cubic feet per second

363.9 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 21

A

A'

Pier 10

Spur dike

Pier 11 Pier 12 Pier 13

Bedrock

Bedrock

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Figure 22. Bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at Chester, Illinois.
42 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape 

Girardeau, Missouri

Structure A5076 (site 37) on State Highway 34 crosses 

the Mississippi River at RM 51.5 at Cape Girardeau, Mo., 

southeast of and downstream from Chester, Ill., and St. Louis, 

Mo. (fig. 1; table 2). The site was surveyed on June 10, 2014, 

and the average water-surface elevation of the river in the 

survey area, determined by the RTK GNSS tide solution, was 

331.7 ft (table 3). Discharge on the Mississippi River was 

about 377,000 ft3/s during the survey (table 3).

The survey area was about 1,640 ft long and about 

1,970 ft wide (perpendicular to flow), extending across the 

active channel from the left (east) bank to the right (west) 

bank in the main channel (fig. 23). The upstream end of the 

survey area was about 730 ft upstream from the centerline of 

structure A5076 at pier 3, and piers 2 through 7 were in the 

water; however, piers 2 and 7 were in very shallow water on 

the right and left banks, respectively. The channel-bed elevations ranged from about 279 to 316 ft for most of the surveyed 

area (5 to 95 percentile range of the bathymetric data), except 

in the well-defined channel thalweg along the right bank, and 

downstream from piers 3 and 4 (table 3). Numerous small to 

medium dunes and ripples were present throughout the channel. The area on the left bank upstream from the bridge was 

approximately 15 to 20 ft shallower than on the right side of 

the channel (fig. 23).

Piers 3 and 4 seemed to be partially surrounded by piles 

of riprap or rock (figs. 23, 1–8E through 1–8H), with additional scour downstream from the piers reaching a minimum 

elevation of 272 ft near pier 3 and 275 near pier 4 (fig. 23; 

table 7). Poorly defined, minor scour holes were observed near 

piers 5 and 6 (figs. 23, 1–8A through 1–8D), having a minimum channel-bed elevation of about 297 ft at pier 5 and 311 ft 

at pier 6 (table 7). The minimum channel-bed elevation near 

pier 5 is about 12 ft above the elevation of the bottom of the 

pier seal course of 285.00 ft, and the minimum channel-bed 

elevation near pier 6 is about 19 ft above the elevation of the 

bottom of the pier seal course of 292.00 ft (fig. 24; table 7). 

Information from bridge plans (Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2014) indicates that piers 3 and 4 

are founded on caissons on bedrock, having about 22 ft of bed 

material between the bottom of the scour hole and bedrock 

at pier 3, and 32 ft of material at pier 4. Piers 5 through 7 are 

founded on shafts drilled as much as 22 ft into bedrock, having 

about 52 ft of bed material between the bottom of the scour 

hole and bedrock at pier 5, and about 66 ft of material at pier 6 

(fig. 24; table 7). The surveyed bed generally was similar to 

the original ground line in 1996 from bridge plans, except near 

pier 4 (fig. 24).

The vertically averaged velocity vectors indicate mostly 

uniform flow throughout the thalweg of the channel along the 

right bank, ranging from about 5 to 9 ft/s with minor variations 

in velocity across the sections (fig. 25). Moderate non-uniform 

flow was observed along the left side of the channel, particularly downstream from the spur dike on the left bank. Piers 3 

and 4 were skewed to approach flow, causing substantial wake 

vortices with flow reversal and well-defined deposition ridges 

downstream (figs. 23, 25).

Structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 43

89°31'15" 89°31'10" 89°31'05" 89°31'

37°17'50"

37°17'45"

37°17'35"

37°17'40"

89°30'55" 89°30'50" 89°30'45" 89°30'40"

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

No data

$

295

300

305

310

315

275

280

270

285

290

320

325

330

335

June 10, 2014

377,000 cubic feet per second

331.7 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 24

A

A'

Spur dike

Stone revetment

Pier 2

Pier 4 Pier 5 Pier 6

Pier 3

Pier 7

Moored barges

Longitudinal sections

shown in figure 36

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 36F

Piles of riprap

Piles of riprap

Piles of riprap

Piles of riprap

E

E'

D

D'

C

C'

B

B'

Figure 23. Bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
44 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Pier 2

Footing

Pier 3

Caisson

Distribution cap

Column

Footing

Pier 5

Column Column

Pier 4

Caisson

Seal course

Drilled shafts

Distribution cap

CapColumn

Cap

Footing

Pier 6

Column

Seal course

Drilled shafts

Cap

Footing

Pier 7

Column

Seal course

Drilled shafts

Cap

1,300 1,500 2,100 1,700 1,900 2,300 2,500 3,100 3,300 3,500 2,700 2,900

425400375350325300275250225200

t above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) eef ni , noit avel E

Distance from fill face of left (east) abutment, in feet

Part of bridge shown above

Survey is along cross-section line shown in figure 23, facing downstream

A A'

Average water surface during 2014 survey (331.7 feet above NAVD 88)

Approximate ground line

from 1996 bridge plans

Channel bed from 2014 multibeam survey

Approximate top of bedrock (from core logs)

Substructural and superstructural details, approximate ground line,

 and top of bedrock line from 1996 bridge plans

(Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2014)

Figure 24. Key features, substructural and superstructural details, and surveyed channel bed of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 over the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 45

89°31'15" 89°31'10" 89°31'05" 89°31'

37°17'50"

37°17'45"

37°17'35"

37°17'40"

89°30'55" 89°30'50" 89°30'45" 89°30'40"

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

No data

0−1

1−2

2−3

3−4

4−5

5−6

6−7

7−8

8−9

9−10

10−11

11−12

Vertically averaged velocity, 

 in feet per second

$

295

300

305

310

315

275

280

270

285

290

320

325

330

335

June 10, 2014

377,000 cubic feet per second

331.7 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 24

A

A'

Spur dike

Stone revetment

Pier 2

Pier 4 Pier 5 Pier 6

Pier 3

Pier 7

Moored barges

Piles of riprap

Piles of riprap

Piles of riprap

Piles of riprap

Figure 25. Bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A5076 on State Highway 34 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
46 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near 

Caruthersville, Missouri

Structure A1700 (site 38) on Interstate 155 crosses the 

Mississippi River at RM 838.9 (of the lower Mississippi 

River) near Caruthersville, Mo., in the southeastern corner of 

Missouri. (fig. 1; table 2). The site was surveyed on June 11, 

2014, for the current (2014) study (hereinafter referred to as 

“the 2014 survey”), and the average water-surface elevation of 

the river in the survey area, determined by the RTK GNSS tide 

solution, was 251.8 ft (table 3). Discharge on the Mississippi 

River was about 629,000 ft3/s during the 2014 survey (table 3).

The 2014 survey area was about 1,640 ft long and about 

2,710 ft extending across the active channel from the left 

(southeast) bank to the right (northwest) bank in the main 

channel (fig. 26). The upstream end of the 2014 survey area 

was about 675 ft upstream from the centerline of structure 

A1700, and bent 14 and piers 15 through 21 were in the water; 

however, bent 14 and pier 21 were in shallow water on the 

right and left banks, respectively. The channel-bed elevations 

ranged from about 189 to 226 ft for most of the surveyed area 

(5 to 95 percentile range of the bathymetric data), except in 

areas of local scour on the right bank near the bridge and on 

the left bank near the downstream end of the reach (table 3). 

A few medium to large dunes were observed in the channel, 

as well as numerous small dunes and ripples throughout the 

channel (fig. 26).

In the vicinity of pier 20, a small to moderate scour 

hole had a minimum channel-bed elevation of about 188 ft 

(table 7), which is about 10 ft below the average channel 

elevation upstream from the pier (fig. 26; table 7). In the vicinity of pier 17, a small scour hole had a minimum channel-bed 

elevation of about 202 ft (table 7), which is about 7 ft below 

the average channel elevation upstream from the pier (fig. 26; 

table 7). Although a discernable scour hole was not observed 

near pier 16 (fig. 26), the minimum channel-bed elevation 

near that pier was 192 ft, which is about 4.5 ft below the bottom of the seal course elevation for that pier (fig. 27; table 7). 

Information from bridge plans (Missouri Department of 

Transportation, written commun., 2007) indicates that bent 14 

and piers 15 to 18 are founded on piles, and piers 19 to 21 are 

founded on caissons, all with an unknown depth to bedrock 

(fig. 27; table 7); however, piers 18, 19, and 20 each are surrounded by a riprap blanket that seems to mitigate scour to 

some extent (fig. 27). These riprap blankets were installed at 

the time of bridge construction in 1973 (Missouri Department 

of Transportation, written commun., 2007), and were observed 

during the 2014 survey (figs. 1–9B through 1–9G). Piers 15 

and 21 were embedded in the stone revetment along the banks 

(figs. 26, 1–9A, 1–10E, 1–10F), and pier 16 seems to be surrounded by several almost random piles of riprap which may 

help mitigate scour (figs. 26, 1–10C, 1–10D).

This site has been the subject of several multibeam 

surveys that provide bathymetry at a variety of flow conditions 

for comparison. The earliest survey was a proof-of-concept 

survey on December 10, 2008 (hereinafter referred to as “the 

2008 survey”), in cooperation with the Tennessee Department 

of Transportation (TNDOT). The average water-surface elevation of the river in the survey area for the 2008 survey, determined by the RTK GNSS tide solution, was 228.4 ft (table 8). 

Discharge on the Mississippi River was about 156,000 ft3/s 

during the 2008 survey, as determined at the U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers streamgage upstream at Hickmann, Ky., for 

December 9, 2008, to allow for time of travel to Caruthersville 

(Jeanne C. Burns, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, written 

commun., 2014; fig. 1; table 8).

The 2008 survey area was about 1,525 ft long and about 

2,380 ft wide, extending across most of the active channel 

from the left (southeast) bank to the base of the right (northwest) bank in the main channel (fig. 28). The upstream end 

of the 2008 survey area was about 690 ft upstream from the 

centerline of structure A1700, and piers 15 through 20 were in 

the water; however, pier 15 was in shallow water on the right 

bank, and not surveyed. A few medium to large dunes with 

few ripples were observed in the right side of the channel, and 

numerous small dunes and ripples were observed in the left 

side of the channel (fig. 28).

Structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 47

89°36'50"

89°36'45"

89°36'40"

89°36'35"

89°36'30"

89°36'55"

89°37'

89°37'05"

36°07'05"

36°07'10"

36°07'10"

36°07'05"

36°06'55"

36°06'50"

36°06'45"

36°06'40"

36°07'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

225

230

235

240

245

205

210

215

220

185

190

195

200

165

170

175

180

145

150

155

140

160

250

255

260

265

No data

$

June 11, 2014

629,000 cubic feet per second

251.8 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 27

A

A'

Pier 15

Sunken

barge

Sunken

barge

Pier 16

Pier 18

Approximate

boundary of

riprap blanket

Piles of

riprap near

base of pier

Pier 17

Bent 14

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Pier 19

Pier 20

Pier 21

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 36G

B'

B Longitudinal sections

shown in figure 36

C'

C

D'

D

Figure 26. Bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014.
48 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Pier 16

Pier 15

Bent 14

Bent 13

Bent 12

Bent 22

Footing

Seal

course

Piles

Pier 20

Caisson

Ice breaker

Pier 21

Column Column

Ice breaker

Footing

Piles

Pedestal

Pedestal

Column

Caisson

Pier 19

Column

Ice breaker

Pier 18

Pier 17

Ice breaker

Column

Footing

Seal

course

Piles

Footing

Piles

Ice breaker

Column

Caisson

Pedestal

Column

Cap

3,300 3,700 4,900 4,100 4,500 5,300 5,700 6,100 3,500 3,900 5,100 4,300 4,700 5,500 5,900 6,300

350325300275250225200175150125100

t above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) eef ni , noit avel E

Distance from fill face of left (southeast) abutment, in feet

Part of bridge shown above

Survey is along cross-section line shown in figure 26, facing downstream

A A'

Substructural and superstructural details, approximate ground line,

 and riprap blanket data from 1973 bridge plans

(Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2007)

Approximate ground line from

Level II scour survey on 11/18/2007

Average water surface during June 2014 survey

(251.8 feet above NAVD 88)

Average water surface during December 2008 survey

(228.4 feet above NAVD 88)

Average water surface during May 2011 survey

(277.4 feet above NAVD 88)

Channel bed from December 2008 multibeam survey

Channel bed from May 2011 multibeam survey

Channel bed from June 2014 multibeam survey

Approximate ground line

from 1973 bridge plans

Riprap blanket from

1973 bridge plans

Figure 27. Key features, substructural and superstructural details, and surveyed channel bed of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 49

89°36'50"

89°36'45"

89°36'40"

89°36'35"

89°36'30"

89°36'55"

89°37'

89°37'05"

36°07'05"

36°07'10"

36°07'10"

36°07'05"

36°06'55"

36°06'50"

36°06'45"

36°06'40"

36°07'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

225

230

235

240

245

205

210

215

220

185

190

195

200

165

170

175

180

145

150

155

140

160

250

255

260

265

No data

$

December 10, 2008

156,000 cubic feet per second

228.4 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

 (based on discharge at streamgage at Hickman, Ky., on Dec. 9)

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 27

A

A'

Pier 15

Sunken

barge

Pier 18

Approximate

boundary of

riprap blanket

Piles of

riprap near

base of pier

Pier 19

Pier 21

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Pier 16 Pier 17

Pier 20

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 36G

B'

B Longitudinal sections

shown in figure 36

C'

C

D'

D

Figure 28. Bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on December 10, 2008.
50 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

During the 2008 survey, a moderate to substantial scour 

hole observed near pier 20 (fig. 28) had a minimum channelbed elevation of about 191 ft, about 20 ft below the average channel elevation upstream from the pier (fig. 28). The 

scour hole is asymmetric, which implies the pier is skewed 

to approach flow, likely the result of a substantial bend in the 

river upstream from the survey area and the bulge in the left 

bank downstream from the bridge (fig. 28). Similar to the 2014 

survey, a discernable scour hole was not observed near pier 16 

(fig. 28), the piles of riprap were observed, and the minimum 

channel-bed elevation near that pier was 192 ft, which is about 

4.5 ft below the bottom of the seal course elevation for that 

pier (fig. 27; table 7). As in the 2014 survey, the riprap blankets around piers 18 and 19 were observed during the 2008 

survey (fig. 28); the blanket around pier 20 was not observed, 

but apparently was covered in 15 to 20 feet of fluvial material 

deposited on top of the riprap blanket (fig. 27).

An emergency survey of the site occurred during flooding 

on May 5, 2011 (hereinafter referred to as “the 2011 survey”) 

at the request of MoDOT and TNDOT. Structure A1700 is 

the only bridge crossing the Mississippi River between Cairo, 

Ill., and Memphis, Tenn., and it was highly desirable that the 

bridge remain open to traffic, provided it was safe to do so 

given the record flood conditions on the Mississippi River at 

the time. The average water-surface elevation of the river in 

the survey area for the 2011 survey, determined by the RTK 

GNSS tide solution, was 277.4 ft (table 8). Discharge on the 

Mississippi River was about 2,040,000 ft3/s during the 2011 

survey, determined from a special discharge measurement at 

the stage-gaging station upstream at Tiptonville, Tenn. (Koenig and Holmes, 2013; fig. 1; table 8).

The 2011 survey area was about 1,640 ft long and about 

2,625 ft wide, extending across the active channel from the 

left (southeast) bank to the right (northwest) bank in the main 

channel (fig. 29). The upstream end of the 2011 survey area 

was about 790 ft upstream from the centerline of structure 

A1700 (fig. 29). Because of the flood conditions on the Mississippi River, all the piers and bents of the bridge were in the 

water; however, the condition of the channel bed near bent 14 

and piers 15 through 21 were of principal concern. Bent 14 

and pier 21 were in shallow water on the right and left banks, 

respectively (fig. 29). A substantial, deep thalweg was present throughout the reach along the left bank, with several very 

large dunes (17 to 20 ft), and numerous other large, medium, 

and small dunes and ripples were observed throughout the 

channel (fig. 29).

In the 2011 survey, the riprap blanket around pier 20 

was evident (figs. 29, 30), and the scour hole from the 2008 

survey was obliterated by the removal of a substantial depth 

of bed material (figs. 27, 29). Similar to the 2008 and 2014 

surveys, a discernable scour hole was not observed near pier 

16 (fig. 29), the piles of riprap were observed, and the minimum channel-bed elevation near that pier was 195 ft, which is 

about 1.5 ft below the bottom of the seal course elevation for 

that pier (fig. 27; table 7). As in the 2008 and 2014 surveys, 

the riprap blankets around piers 18 and 19 were observed 

during the 2011 survey (fig. 29). The lower elevations of the 

thalweg caused several sunken barges to appear that were 

buried in sediment in the other surveys (fig. 29). The extent of 

the riprap blanket around pier 20 is clearly seen in the shaded 

TIN images for pier 20, as is more of the sunken object near 

the pier (fig. 30).

The surveyed bed generally varied substantially between 

surveys on the left side of the channel (from the left bank to 

pier 19), and varied minimally on the right side (from pier 

19 to the right bank; fig. 27). The 2008 survey was during 

relatively low flow conditions on the Mississippi River, and 

the cross-section along the upstream side of the bridge generally was the highest of all the surveys in the left side of the 

channel; however, on the right side of the channel, the 2008 

surveyed bed generally was the lowest (fig. 27). Conversely, 

the 2011 survey was during extreme flood conditions, and the 

cross-section was the lowest in the left side of the channel, and 

the highest in the right side (fig. 27). At the deepest point, the 

2011 surveyed bed was 161 ft, which is 24 ft below the lowest 

elevation of the cross sections from both the 2008 survey and 

2014 survey of 185 ft. The riprap blanket around pier 20 is 

not apparent in the 2008 survey (fig. 28), and the scour hole 

observed during the 2008 survey seems to penetrate the riprap 

blanket around that pier (fig. 27). The riprap blanket is much 

more evident in the subsequent 2011 and 2014 surveys (figs. 

26, 29), and the cross sections from those subsequent surveys 

confirm that the riprap blanket has seemed to slump around 

the nose of the pier (fig. 27). Whether this slumped blanket is 

the result of how the riprap was dumped around the pier, or the 

result of armoring of subsequent scour activity is unknown.

The difference between the surveys on June 11, 2014, 

and the flooding of May 5, 2011 (fig. 31), indicates substantial deposition of as much as 30 ft has occurred throughout 

the left side of the channel. On the right side of the channel, 

scour of as much as 20 ft along with deposition of as much 

as 10 ft has occurred (fig. 31). The mean difference between 

the May 2011 and June 2014 bathymetric surfaces (9.05 ft, 

table 8) indicates substantial deposition overall, as evident in 

the difference map, and consistent with the much lower flow 

rate of the 2014 survey compared to the 2011 survey (table 8); 

however, the maximum difference observed near the upstream 

pier faces was -5.5 ft (table 8). The stone revetment on the left 

bank seems to have areas of scour and deposition indicative 

of sediment deposit and removal of slumping of the revetment 

(fig. 31). No scour or deposition was observed on the stone 

revetment on the right bank near bent 14 and pier 15. There 

was scour and deposition of up to 5 ft within the boundaries of 

the riprap blankets around piers 18, 19, and 20. The appearance of substantial deposition or scour near the piers results 

from changes near vertical surfaces from minor horizontal 

positional variances (of about 3 feet) between the surveys 

(fig. 31).

The difference between the surveys on June 11, 2014, and 

December 10, 2008 (fig. 32), indicates an apparent balance 

between areas of moderate scour and moderate deposition 

of up to 15 ft each; however, the 2011 flood event obviously 
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 51

89°36'50"

89°36'45"

89°36'40"

89°36'35"

89°36'30"

89°36'55"

89°37'

89°37'05"

36°07'05"

36°07'10"

36°07'10"

36°07'05"

36°06'55"

36°06'50"

36°06'45"

36°06'40"

36°07'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

225

230

235

240

245

205

210

215

220

185

190

195

200

165

170

175

180

145

150

155

140

160

250

255

260

265

No data

$

May 5, 2011

2,040,000 cubic feet per second

277.4 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

 (based on measurement made at Tiptonville, Tenn.)

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 27

A

A'

Pier 15

Sunken

barge

Sunken

barge?

Sunken

barge

Pier 18

Approximate

boundary of

riprap blanket

Piles of

riprap near

base of pier

Bent 14

Pier 19

Pier 21

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Pier 16 Pier 17

Pier 20

Longitudinal section

shown in figure 36G

B'

B Longitudinal sections

shown in figure 36

C'

C

D'

D

Figure 29. Bathymetric survey of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, during flooding on May 5, 2011.
52 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

152162172182192202212222232242252

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

Flow

Sunken

barge?

Submerged

sheet pile

panel

Pier 20

Top of

riprap

blanket Top of

riprap

blanket

Pier 20

Figure 30. Shaded triangulated irregular network (TIN) visualization of the channel bed and left (southeast) side of 

main channel pier 20 of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 over the Mississippi River near Caruthersville, Missouri, during 

flooding on May 5, 2011.

had a substantial impact on the bathymetry between these two 

surveys. The mean difference between the December 2008 and 

June 2014 bathymetric surfaces (-0.52 ft, table 8) indicates 

only minor apparent scour overall, despite the substantially 

different flow rates (473,000 ft3/s difference, table 8). The 

maximum difference observed near the upstream pier faces 

was -3.5 ft (table 8). The stone revetment on the left bank 

seems to have only small areas of scour and deposition indicative of sediment deposit and removal, whereas scour of as 

much as 5 ft has occurred at the stone revetment on the right 

bank near bent 14 and pier 15 (fig. 32). Only minor deposition was observed within the boundaries of the riprap blankets 

around piers 18 and 19, whereas the bed material near pier 

20 experienced moderate to substantial scour, likely down to 

the riprap blanket as indicated by the area of no change near 

the pier. The appearance of substantial deposition or scour 

near the piers results from changes near vertical surfaces from 

minor horizontal positional variances (of about 3 feet) between 

the surveys (fig. 32).

The difference between the surveys during flooding 

on May 5, 2011, and December 10, 2008 (fig. 33), indicates 

substantial scour of as much as 75 ft has occurred throughout 

the left side of the channel. On the right side of the channel, 

scour of as much as 20 ft is balanced by deposition of as much 

as 20 ft. The mean difference (-10.8 ft) indicates substantial 

scour overall, as evident in the difference map, and consistent 

with the much higher flow rate of the 2011 survey compared 

to the 2008 survey (table 8). The stone revetment on the left 

bank seems to have areas of scour and deposition indicative of 

sediment deposit and removal or of slumping of the revetment, 

as does the stone revetment near pier 15 (fig. 33). There was 

deposition of up to 3 ft within the boundaries of the riprap 

blankets around piers 18 and 19, whereas the bed material near 

pier 20 experienced substantial scour, likely down to the riprap 

blanket as indicated by the area of no change near the pier. 

The appearance of substantial deposition or scour near the 

piers (particularly piers 16 and 17) results from changes near 

vertical surfaces from minor horizontal positional variances 

(of about 3 feet) between the surveys (fig. 33).

The vertically averaged velocity vectors for the 2014 

survey indicate mostly uniform flow throughout a majority 

of the reach, with small areas of flow disturbance and shear 

flow, particularly along the banks near the constrictions at 

the bridge and downstream (fig. 34). Velocities ranged from 

about 6 to 10 ft/s for the left side of the channel, and from 2 

to 6 ft/s for the right side of the channel, and low velocities 

and flow reversals were observed downstream from the bank 

constrictions at the bridge and the pile near the upstream end 

of the reach. The piers generally were aligned with flow, with 

minimal wake vortices observed downstream (fig. 34). Velocity data were not collected in the 2008 or 2011 surveys.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 53

89°36'50"

89°36'45"

89°36'40"

89°36'35"

89°36'30"

89°36'55"

89°37'

89°37'05"

36°07'05"

36°07'10"

36°07'10"

36°07'05"

36°06'55"

36°06'50"

36°06'45"

36°06'40"

36°07'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

$

No data

EXPLANATION

Change in channel-bed 

 elevation, in feet 

-1

-3

-5

-7

-10

-15

-20

-30

-45

-60

-75

20

15

10

7

5

3

1

30

45

60

DEPOSITION SCOUR

Cross section shown

in figure 27

A

A'

Pier 15

Sunken

barge

Pier 16 Pier 18

Approximate

boundary of

riprap blanket

Piles of

riprap near

base of pier

Bent 14 Pier 17

Pier 19 Pier 20

Pier 21

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Figure 31. Difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014, and May 5, 2011.
54 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

89°36'50"

89°36'45"

89°36'40"

89°36'35"

89°36'30"

89°36'55"

89°37'

89°37'05"

36°07'05"

36°07'10"

36°07'10"

36°07'05"

36°06'55"

36°06'50"

36°06'45"

36°06'40"

36°07'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

$

No data

EXPLANATION

Change in channel-bed 

 elevation, in feet 

-1

-3

-5

-7

-10

-15

-20

-30

-45

-60

-75

20

15

10

7

5

3

1

30

45

60

DEPOSITION SCOUR

Cross section shown

in figure 27

A

A' Pier 15

Sunken

barge

Pier 16 Pier 18

Approximate

boundary of

riprap blanket

Piles of

riprap near

base of pier

Bent 14 Pier 17

Pier 19 Pier 20

Pier 21

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Figure 32. Difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014, and December 10, 2008.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 55

89°36'50"

89°36'45"

89°36'40"

89°36'35"

89°36'30"

89°36'55"

89°37'

89°37'05"

36°07'05"

36°07'10"

36°07'10"

36°07'05"

36°06'55"

36°06'50"

36°06'45"

36°06'40"

36°07'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

$

No data

EXPLANATION

Change in channel-bed 

 elevation, in feet 

-1

-3

-5

-7

-10

-15

-20

-30

-45

-60

-75

20

15

10

7

5

3

1

30

45

60

DEPOSITION SCOUR

Cross section shown

in figure 27

A

A'

Pier 15

Sunken

barge

Pier 16 Pier 18

Approximate

boundary of

riprap blanket

Piles of

riprap near

base of pier

Bent 14 Pier 17

Pier 19 Pier 20 Pier 21

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Figure 33. Difference between bathymetric surfaces created from surveys of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on May 5, 2011, and December 10, 2008.
56 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

89°36'50"

89°36'45"

89°36'40"

89°36'35"

89°36'30"

89°36'55"

89°37'

89°37'05"

36°07'05"

36°07'10"

36°07'10"

36°07'05"

36°06'55"

36°06'50"

36°06'45"

36°06'40"

36°07'

FLOW

Base from Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, 2006

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 16 North

Horizontal coordinate information referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Vertical coordinate information referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

0 100 200 300 400 500 FEET

0 50 100 150 METERS

Channel-bed elevation,

 in feet above NAVD 88

EXPLANATION

225

230

235

240

245

205

210

215

220

185

190

195

200

165

170

175

180

145

150

155

140

160

250

255

260

265

No data

$

0−1

1−2

2−3

3−4

4−5

5−6

6−7

7−8

8−9

9−10

10−11

11−12

Vertically averaged velocity, 

 in feet per second

June 11, 2014

629,000 cubic feet per second

251.8 feet above NAVD 88

Survey date

Discharge

Average water-surface elevation

Cross section shown

in figure 27

A

A' Pier 15

Sunken

barge

Sunken

barge

Pier 16 Pier 18

Approximate

boundary of

riprap blanket

Piles of

riprap near

base of pier

Bent 14 Pier 17

Pier 19 Pier 20 Pier 21

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Stone revetment

Figure 34. Bathymetry and vertically averaged velocities of the Mississippi River channel in the vicinity of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri, on June 11, 2014.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 57

General Findings and Implications

Several of the findings at each surveyed bridge were 

common to all of the bridges, and some findings were evident 

only when the surveys were examined as a set. These general findings are of benefit in the assessment of scour at the 

surveyed bridges, as well as other bridges in the vicinity or in 

similar settings.

Effects of Low to Moderate Flooding Compared 

to Previous Surveys

Richardson and Davis (2001) separate long-term aggradation and degradation of a channel from the contraction and 

local scour that occurs at a bridge site during floods. Contraction scour is the general change in the channel-bed elevation 

across a bridge opening resulting from the passage of a flood 

through a constriction, where more material is in suspension 

and transport. Local scour is the localized erosion of material 

caused by flow vortex action that forms near bridge piers and 

abutments. Although all of the scour processes (long term, 

contraction, and local scour) continually are at work, contraction and local scour generally are cyclic, and result in a 

decrease and subsequent increase of the channel-bed elevation 

during the passage of a flood.

Dynamics of flooding can be slightly different between 

the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Most large flood durations on both rivers can be measured in weeks and months 

because of the large upstream contributing drainage area; 

however, the presence of locks and dams on the Mississippi 

River upstream from St. Louis can lessen the magnitude 

and lengthen the duration of a given flood wave, particularly upstream from St. Louis. Downstream from St. Louis, 

the increase in drainage area from the Missouri River can 

increase the magnitude and lengthen the duration of a given 

flood wave if flood conditions on the Missouri River combine 

with flood conditions on the Mississippi, or a flood wave on 

one river may be entirely mitigated if the other river is not in 

flood. A similar phenomenon exists on the Mississippi River 

downstream from Cairo, Ill., based on the flow conditions 

on the Ohio River. As described in the “Description of Flow 

Conditions” section earlier in this report, the two surveys on 

the Missouri River (sites 1 and 2) were before or on the rising 

limb of a short-duration flood pulse (fig. 2A), the surveys at 

Hannibal and Louisiana on the Mississippi River upstream 

from St. Louis (sites 31 and 32) were near the peak or on the 

receding limb of a very short-duration flood pulse (fig. 2B), 

and the three surveys on the Mississippi River downstream 

from St. Louis (sites 36–38) were on the rising limb of a 

longer-duration flood pulse (fig. 2B). Huizinga (2014b) noted 

the fixed scour monitors on structures L0550 and A4997 at 

Jefferson City, Mo., indicated that many of the scour holes 

observed at the upstream nose of the piers does not fill in 

rapidly after the recession of a flood (see fig. 35 in Huizinga, 

2014b); nevertheless, deposition does occur in the scour holes 

upon flood recession. At the sites for which previous bathymetry data exist and a change from flood conditions is available 

(sites 1, 2, and 38), it might be reasonable to assume that the 

scour holes near the piers and the general scour observed 

under the bridge crossings might be of a lesser magnitude than 

the scour observed during a previous survey during flood conditions. Generally, this assumption proved to be true, particularly with respect to the depth of observed scour near the piers 

when compared to results from the 2011 flood.

For the two sites on the Missouri River (structure L0098 

at Brownville, Neb., and dual bridge structure A3664 at St. 

Joseph, Mo. [sites 1 and 2]), flows were about 18 and 30 

percent of the 2011 flow rate during the 2014 surveys, and 

water-surface elevations were about 14 and 17 ft lower in 

2014 than in 2011 for site 1 and 2, respectively (table 8). At 

structure A1700 near Caruthersville, Mo. (site 38), the flow 

was 31 percent of the 2011 flow rate, and the 2014 watersurface elevation was about 26 ft lower than in 2011 (table 8). 

As expected, the bathymetric surfaces from the 2014 surveys 

were higher than the 2011 surveys for structures L0098 at 

Brownville, Neb., and A1700 near Caruthersville, Mo., with 

a mean difference between the bathymetric surfaces of 3.93 ft 

and 9.05 ft (higher) for L0098 and A1700, respectively (table 

8; figs. 8, 31), likely the result of less material in transport 

through the bridge opening. However, the bathymetric surface 

from the 2014 survey was lower than the 2011 survey for 

structure A3664 at St. Joseph, Mo., with a mean difference 

between the bathymetric surfaces of -2.04 ft in 2014 than 

2011 (table 8; fig. 12). Although this negative mean difference 

indicates overall net scour between the compared bathymetric 

surfaces, the survey at this site covered substantially less area 

in 2014 than the survey in 2011 (more than 27 percent less; 

table 8), and the area surveyed was along the thalweg and 

away from the spur dikes on the right bank (fig. 10), downstream from which deposition has been observed in other surveys during low to moderate-flow conditions (see figs. 29 and 

40 in Huizinga, 2014b). It is likely that the area not surveyed 

in 2014 would have experienced deposition because it is on 

the inside of a bend in the river, and is implied by the deposition observed along the left edge of the 2014 survey area. The 

statistics of the differences between the bathymetric surfaces 

for this site may have been skewed by not including this area 

of potential deposition.

Despite the general deposition observed in 2014 compared to 2011, the depth of the scour hole from the upstream 

channel bed near the piers was greater in 2014 than in 2011 for 

the bridges on the Missouri River, which seems inconsistent 

with the lower flow conditions. At pier 3 of structure L0098 

at Brownville, Neb. (site 1, fig. 1), the depth of the scour 

hole from the upstream channel was 19 ft in 2014 (table 7) 

compared to 17 ft in 2011 (table 6 in Huizinga [2012]). The 

relative similarity of the scour hole depths likely is a result of 

the similarity of the velocities in 2014 and 2011, which both 

were about 6 to 8 ft/s near pier 3 (fig. 9; see fig. 10 in Huizinga [2012]). At pier 10 of dual bridge structure A3664 at St. 

Joseph, Mo. (site 2, fig. 1), the depth of the scour hole was 
58 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

substantially greater at 19 ft in 2014 (table 7) compared to 

10 ft in 2011 (table 6 from Huizinga [2012]). The velocities in 

the immediate vicinity of pier 10 were somewhat less in 2014 

(about 8 ft/s, fig. 13) compared to 2011 (about 10 ft/s; see 

fig. 13 in Huizinga [2012]); however, the channel bed elevation was substantially lower near the end and downstream 

from the spur dike near pier 10 in 2014 compared to 2011 

(figs. 11, 12), possibly because of wake vortices and shear 

flow from the end of the spur dike, all of which (depth, wake 

vortices, and shear) may have contributed to the difference in 

scour hole depth at the pier. Velocity differences and nonuniform flow were noted by Huizinga (2014b) to contribute 

to the relative size of scour holes in different events, which is 

consistent with the pier scour predictive equations in Richardson and Davis (2001). On the Mississippi River, at structure 

A1700 near Caruthersville, Mo. (site 38, fig. 1), the depth of 

the scour hole from the upstream channel bed near pier 20 was 

greatest during the lowest flow conditions in 2008 (fig. 28); 

however, scour at pier 20 was mitigated in 2011 and 2014 by 

the presence of a riprap blanket (figs. 29, 26), and the scour 

hole observed in 2008 was in bed sediment previously deposited above the riprap blanket (fig. 27).

A comparison of the dune sizes at the various sites also 

is indicative of the different flow regimes between 2011 and 

2014. At structures L0098 at Brownville, Neb. (site 1, fig. 1), 

and A3664 at St. Joseph, Mo. (site 2, fig. 1), the dunes were 

smaller in magnitude, sometimes substantially, in 2014 (figs. 

6, 10) than in 2011 (figs. 8, 12). Similarly, at structure A1700 

near Caruthersville, Mo. (site 38, fig. 1), the dunes were substantially smaller in magnitude in the channel thalweg on the 

left side in 2014 than in 2011, whereas the dunes are smaller in 

2011 than 2014 for the right side of the channel (figs. 26, 29). 

The dune sizes were similar on the right side of the channel in 

both the 2008 and 2014 surveys (figs. 26, 28). The small dunes 

and ripples superimposed on the larger dunes in the left side of 

the channel in 2014 were of a similar size to the small dunes 

and ripples throughout the left side of the channel in 2008 

(figs. 26, 28).

Effects of Riprap Blankets near Piers

Several of the piers at the Mississippi River bridges had 

riprap blankets or piles of rock surrounding them (see figs. 14, 

17, 23, 26). It is unknown whether all these features were specifically designed to resist scour, or if they simply were construction detritus or an ad-hoc placement of riprap to mitigate 

observed exposure of a particular substructural bridge element. 

Nevertheless, the presence of such a feature had a substantial 

effect on the observed scour at a given pier, particularly when 

compared to other piers at the same site without such a feature.

Piers 2 and 3 of structure K0932 at Louisiana, Mo. 

(site 32, fig. 1), were surrounded by riprap blankets, whereas 

pier 4 was not (fig. 17). The width and depth of the scour hole 

at pier 4 was substantially different from those at piers 2 and 3 

(table 7; figs. 17, 18). Although the scour hole at pier 4 may 

have been exacerbated by the pier’s proximity to the spur dike 

on the left bank immediately downstream from the bridge, 

the presence of a riprap blanket near piers 2 and 3 seemed to 

substantially limit the scour at those piers.

Piers 18 through 20 of structure A1700 near Caruthersville, Mo. (site 38, fig. 1), also were surrounded by riprap 

blankets (fig. 27) that were a minimum of 5 ft thick per the 

1973 bridge plans (Missouri Department of Transportation, 

written commun., 2007). The blankets limited pier scour near 

piers 18 and 19 in all of the surveys, and prevented additional 

scour near pier 20 during the two later surveys at the site 

(figs. 26, 28, and 29); although scour was observed near pier 

20 during the 2008 survey, the hole was in material deposited 

on top of the blanket (fig. 27). The top surface of the blanket 

around pier 20 is very irregular (figs. 26, 28, 29), and seemed 

to have a depression adjacent to the pier that seems to penetrate the top of the blanket (fig. 27), which may have been the 

result of back-filling an existing scour hole or other low spot 

when the blanket was installed, per 1973 bridge plans (Missouri Department of Transportation, written commun., 2007). 

The random piles of riprap around the base of pier 16 (figs. 26, 

28, 29) may help mitigate scour near that pier.

Several other piers seemed partially surrounded by 

random piles of riprap or rock, which may or may not help 

mitigate scour near those piers. Piers 9 and 10 of structure 

A5054 at Hannibal, Mo. (site 31, fig. 1), have hummocks on 

either side that may be partial riprap blankets (fig. 14), and 

piers 3 and 4 of structure A5076 at Cape Girardeau, Mo. (site 

37, fig. 1), seemed to be partially surrounded with piles of 

coarse material (fig. 23). However, the effectiveness of the 

scour mitigation is uncertain, because the placement seems 

random and non-uniform. Scour immediately downstream 

from piers 3 and 4 of structure A5076 at Cape Girardeau, Mo., 

was substantial (fig. 23).

Size and Shape of Scour Holes

Scour holes were observed at most piers in the main 

channel area, except those on banks, on bedrock, or surrounded by riprap. As discussed in previous bathymetric 

surveys in Missouri (Huizinga, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014b), the 

size and shape of these holes often was different from pier to 

pier because, as Richardson and Davis (2001) indicate, pier 

scour is a function of several factors, including the depth and 

velocity of approach flow, the width and nose shape of the 

pier, the angle of approach flow, and the condition and armoring of the channel bed. Several of these factors are discussed 

below.

For the various bridges in this study, flow velocities generally were greater in the deeper parts of the channel (the thalweg) and lower in the shallow parts of the channel. Of course, 

there were local exceptions, such as downstream from a spur 

dike where a local deep area may have had a low velocity (for 

example, figs. 9, 19, 25). Exceptions notwithstanding, the size 

of the scour holes at sites having more than one pier in the 

water was related to the depth and velocity of flow upstream 

from the pier in question, and consistent with the local pier 
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 59

scour equation in Richardson and Davis (2001); deeper flow 

or higher velocity generally resulted in larger, deeper scour 

holes than shallow flow or lower velocities (figs. 16, 22, 25) 

in the absence of a rock outcrop or riprap blanket that might 

limit local scour (piers 1–3 in fig. 19, piers 12–13 in fig. 22, 

and piers 18–20 in figs. 26, 28, 29). Similar findings have been 

observed during the various previous studies using the MBMS 

in Missouri (Huizinga, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014b). 

A longitudinal profile was drawn upstream from the nose 

of each pier with a well-defined scour hole (figs. 35, 36), and 

the approximate frontal slope (computed as horizontal distance 

over vertical distance, or run over rise) was determined for 

each hole (table 7). The frontal slope was not determined for 

piers with poorly defined scour holes or those on bedrock; 

however, the frontal slope was determined for scour holes at 

several piers surrounded by riprap blankets because they often 

were sufficiently well-defined to be observed and profiled 

(fig. 36).

The approximate frontal slope (defined herein as run over 

rise for relatability to highway embankment slopes) of the 

well-defined scour holes ranged from 1.58 to 3.45 (figs. 35, 

36; table 7); however, the hole with the largest slope value—or 

the shallowest frontal slope—(3.45 at structure K0932 pier 3 

[figs. 17, 35J; table 7]) is at a pier surrounded by a riprap 

blanket and likely is not indicative of scour in a purely fluvial 

material. Similarly, the third largest slope value (2.22 at structure A5054 pier 9 [figs. 14, 35E; table 7]) is at a pier that also 

seems surrounded by riprap or rock. The second largest slope 

value (2.70 at structure L0135 pier 10 [figs. 20, 36B; table 7]) 

is at a pier in a lower velocity area of the channel. If the three 

largest slope values are not included, the frontal slopes ranged 

from 1.58 to 2.16, with a mean value of 1.86. Richardson 

and Davis (2001) noted that the side slope of a scour hole in 

cohesionless sand in air could range from 1.0 to 1.8 depending on the composition of the bed material and its dry angle of 

repose, and suggest using a value of 2.0 for design purposes to 

account for the wet angle of repose. The slope values determined in the current (2014) study generally are similar to the 

values noted in Richardson and Davis (2001), and to values 

determined for scour holes in the Kansas City and St. Louis, 

Mo., areas (Huizinga, 2010, 2011).

As discussed in the section titled “Structure A1700 on 

Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Missouri,” the presence 

of a riprap blanket near pier 20 had a substantial effect on 

the size and depth of the scour hole observed at that pier in 

the three different surveys. The frontal slopes of the scour 

holes observed in the 2008 and 2014 surveys are very similar, whereas there is no discernable hole in the 2011 survey 

(fig. 36G). The bottom of the scour hole seemed to have 

coincident elevations in the 2008 and 2011 surveys, whereas 

the bottom of the scour hole is about 1 ft lower in the 2014 

survey (fig. 36G). It is unknown if this difference is a function 

of minor horizontal or vertical position differences between 

the surveys, or an actual change in the elevation of the top of 

the riprap blanket near the front of the pier. The pile of riprap 

in front of pier 16 indicates a similar minor change between 

the three surveys (fig. 36I).

Several of the surveyed bridges had piers that were 

skewed to approach flow, resulting in asymmetric scour holes 

at those bridges: pier 10 of structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 

36 at St. Joseph, Mo. (fig. 10); piers 6 through 8 of structure A5054 on Interstate 72 at Hannibal, Mo. (fig. 14); pier 

10 of structure L0135 on State Highway 51 at Chester, Ill. 

(fig. 20); piers 3 and 4 of structure A5076 on State Highway 

34 at Cape Girardeau, Mo. (fig. 23); and pier 20 of structure 

A1700 on Interstate 155 near Caruthersville, Mo., during the 

2008 survey (fig. 28). The scour hole typically was deeper 

and longer on the side of the pier with impinging flow, with 

some amount of deposition on the leeward side. At all of the 

structures except A1700, the skew to approach flow is apparent in the velocity vectors (figs. 13, 16, 22, 25). At structure 

A3664, the skew seems to be partly caused by shear flow from 

the spur dike upstream from the pier (fig. 13). Velocity data 

were not collected during the 2008 survey at structure A1700, 

so no specific conclusions can be drawn beyond those based 

on observations during the survey.

Occasionally, in the previous bathymetric survey studies 

on the Missouri River and particularly in the Kansas City area 

(Huizinga, 2010, 2012) and at Jefferson City, Mo. (Huizinga, 

2012), it was observed that the movement of bed material 

affected the shape of the scour holes at some of the bridges, 

such that several of the scour holes displayed subtle “steps” 

and waves in the front of or along the sides of the holes. These 

“steps” are presumed to be caused by lateral or longitudinal 

sand input into a larger scour hole remnant (Huizinga, 2010, 

2012), perhaps during the receding limb of the hydrograph, or 

during a new flood event occurring a short time after a more 

substantial flood event (a local temporal maxima). During the 

2011 flood study (Huizinga, 2012), the Missouri River was 

in moderate- to high-flow conditions at all of the bridges that 

resulted in substantial and dynamic movement of bed material, 

yet “steps” and waves were observed at only a few bridges. No 

such “steps” or waves were observed in the most-recent previous study on the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. 

Louis (Huizinga, 2014b), presumably because of the low to 

moderate-flow conditions. However, no such “steps” or waves 

were observed in the present (2014) study, perhaps because of 

the timing of the surveys on the rising limb of the hydrograph 

at most of the sites or because the observed scour holes were 

the result of a local temporal maximal flow.
60 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

A. Structure L0098, Pier 3

B B'

Face of

sheet pile

caisson

Ice breaker

B. Structure A3664, Pier 10

B B'

Face of

pedestal

Footing

Seal course

C. Structure A5054, Pier 11

B B'

Face of

pedestal

Footing

D. Structure A5054, Pier 10

C C'

Footing

Seal course

Face of

pedestal

E. Structure A5054, Pier 9

D D'

Footing

Seal course

Face of

pedestal

F. Structure A5054, Pier 8

E E'

Footing

Seal course

Face of

pedestal

G. Structure A5054, Pier 7

F F'

Footing

Seal course

Face of

pedestal

H. Structure A5054, Pier 6

G G'

Footing

Seal course

Face of

pedestal

B B'

I. Structure K0932, Pier 4

Face of

caisson

J. Structure K0932, Pier 3

C C'

Face of

caisson

Channel-bed elevation , in feet above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

Distance upstream from pier face, in feet

395

400

405

410

415

420

425

435

440

445

450

455

460

465

845

850

855

860

865

870

875

760

765

770

775

780

785

790

435

440

445

450

455

460

465

425

430

435

440

445

450

455

415

420

425

430

435

440

445

415

420

425

430

435

440

445

415

420

425

430

435

440

445

50 40 30 20 10 0

405

410

415

420

425

430

435

50 40 30 20 10 0

50 40 30 20 10 0

EXPLANATION

Channel bed from 2014 bathymetric

 surveys, in feet above North

 American Vertical Datum of 1988

Channel bed from 2011 bathymetric

 surveys, in feet above North

 American Vertical Datum of 1988

Approximate frontal slope line

Pier substructural elements

Figure 35. Longitudinal profiles upstream from selected piers at structures L0098 and A3664 over the Missouri River 

upstream from Kansas City, Missouri, and structures A5054 and K0932 over the Mississippi River upstream from St. Louis, 

Missouri.
Results of Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys 61

A. Structure L0135, Pier 11

B B'

Caisson

Face of

pedestal

B. Structure L0135, Pier 10

C C'

Face of

pedestal

C. Structure A5076, Pier 6

B B'

Face of

column

Footing

D. Structure A5076, Pier 5

C C'

Footing

Seal course

Face of

column

E. Structure A5076, Pier 4

D D'

Distribution

cap

Caisson

Face of

column

F. Structure A5076, Pier 3

E E'

Distribution cap

Caisson

Face of

column

B B'

G. Structure A1700, Pier 20

Face of

ice breaker

H. Structure A1700, Pier 17

C C'

Seal course

Face of

ice breaker Footing

I. Structure A1700, Pier 16

D D'

Face of

ice breaker

Pile of

riprap

Footing

Seal course

Channel-bed elevation , in feet above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)

Distance upstream from pier face, in feet

190

195

200

205

210

215

220

305

310

315

320

325

330

335

305

310

315

320

325

330

335

325

330

335

340

345

350

355

290

295

300

305

310

315

320

280

285

290

295

300

305

310

280

285

290

295

300

305

310

50 40 30 20 10 0

195

200

205

210

215

220

225

50 40 30 20 10 0

195

200

205

210

215

220

225

50 40 30 20 10 0

EXPLANATION

Channel bed from 2014 bathymetric

 surveys, in feet above North

 American Vertical Datum of 1988

Channel bed from 2011 bathymetric

 surveys, in feet above North

 American Vertical Datum of 1988

Channel bed from 2008 bathymetric

 surveys, in feet above North

 American Vertical Datum of 1988

Approximate frontal slope line

Pier substructural elements

Figure 36. Longitudinal profiles upstream from selected piers at structures L0135, A5076, and A1700 over the Mississippi 

River downstream from St. Louis, Missouri.
62 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Summary and Conclusions

Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected on the 

Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in the vicinity of 8 highway 

bridges at 7 crossings on the periphery of Missouri by the U.S. 

Geological Survey in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation. A multibeam echosounder mapping 

system was used to obtain channel-bed elevations for areas 

ranging from 1,525 to 1,640 feet longitudinally, and generally 

extending across the active channel from bank to bank in the 

Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during low- to moderate-flow 

conditions. These bathymetric surveys provide a “snapshot” of 

the channel conditions at the time of the surveys and provide 

characteristics of scour holes that may be useful in the development of predictive guidelines or equations for scour holes. 

These data also may be used by the Missouri Department of 

Transportation as a low- to moderate-flow comparison to help 

assess the bridges for stability and integrity issues with respect 

to bridge scour during floods.

The estimated total propagated uncertainty for the 

bathymetric surface of each survey area was computed as an 

estimate of the accuracy to be expected for each point with all 

relevant error sources taken into account. An analysis of the 

surveys indicated that over 88 percent of the bathymetric data 

at all the sites have a total propagated uncertainty of less than 

1.00 feet, and more than one-half (59.6 percent or more) of the 

channel bed at the sites have a total propagated uncertainty of 

0.50 feet or less.

At all of the surveyed bridges, a variety of fluvial features 

were detected in the channel ranging from small ripples to 

large dune features that indicate moderate transport of sediment. Rock outcrops also were detected at several sites where 

the alluvial material of the channel bed had been washed 

away, usually on one side of the channel.

Bathymetric data were collected around every pier that 

was in water, except those at the edge of water or in very 

shallow water (less than 6 feet of depth). Scour holes were 

observed at most piers in the main channel area, except those 

on banks, on bedrock, or surrounded by riprap. The observed 

scour holes at the surveyed bridges were examined with 

respect to shape and depth, and the effects of riprap blankets 

or other rock near the piers.

Although exposure of parts of substructural support elements was observed at several piers, at most sites the exposure 

likely can be considered minimal compared to the overall 

substructure that remains buried in bed material at these piers. 

The notable exceptions are piers 1 and 2 at structure K0932 

on U.S. Highway 54 at Louisiana, Missouri, and piers 12 and 

13 at structure L0135 on State Highway 34 at Chester, Ill.; at 

these piers, the bed material thickness between the minimum 

channel-bed elevation near the pier and bedrock was 6 feet or 

less. In modern construction, bridge substructural elements 

usually are pinned or socketed to bedrock, but full exposure of 

usually buried substructural elements warrants special consideration and observation, even when designed to be exposed.

Previous bathymetric surveys had been done at both of 

the sites on the Missouri River in this study, and at structure 

A1700 over the Mississippi River near Caruthersville, Mo. 

Comparisons between bathymetric surfaces from the previous 

surveys during the 2011 flood and those of this study generally indicate that there was an increase in the elevation of the 

channel bed at these sites that likely was caused by a substantial decrease in discharge and water-surface elevation compared to the 2011 surveys, resulting in less material in transport through the bridge opening. However, the scour holes 

observed at these sites were either the same size or larger in 

2014 compared to the 2011 surveys, indicating that the overall 

flow condition is not the sole variable in the determination of 

the size of scour holes, and that local velocity and depth also 

are critical, as indicated by predictive pier scour equations.

The presence of riprap blankets, depth of fluvial material on top of a riprap blanket, and alignment to flow had a 

substantial effect on the size of the scour hole observed for a 

given pier. Piers that were surrounded by riprap blankets had 

scour holes that were substantially smaller (to non-existent) 

compared to piers at which no rock or riprap was present. 

The notable exception was at pier 20 of structure A1700 

near Caruthersville, Mo., during a survey in December 2008, 

wherein a substantial scour hole was observed in the 15 to 

20 feet of fluvial material on top of the riprap blanket near 

that pier. The frontal slope values determined for scour holes 

observed in the current (2014) study generally are similar to 

recommended values in the literature and to values determined 

for scour holes in the Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo., areas 

in previous bathymetric surveys. Several of the structures had 

piers that were skewed to primary approach flow, and scour 

holes near these piers generally displayed deposition on the 

leeward side of the pier and greater depth on the side of the 

pier with impinging flow.

References Cited

American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, 2012, AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications, 

Section 10, (Customary U.S. Units, 6th ed.): Washington, 

D.C., 167 p.

Applanix Corporation, 2009, POS-PacTM MMSTM GNSSinertial tools user guide, Rev. 4: Richmond Hill, Ontario, 

Canada, PUBS-MAN-001768, 523 p.

Brown, D.A., Turner, J.P., and Castelli, R.J., 2010, Drilled 

shafts—Construction procedures and LRFD Design Methods: U.S. Federal Highway Administration Publication 

FHWA–NHI–10–016 Geotechnical Engineering Circular 

no. 10, 970 p.

Calder, B.R., and Mayer, L.A., 2003, Automatic processing 

of high-rate, high-density multi-beam echosounder data: 

Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 4, p. 1,048.
References Cited 63

Czuba, J.A., Best, J.L, Oberg, K.A., Parsons, D.R., Jackson, 

P.R., Garcia, M.H., and Ashmore, P., 2011, Bed morphology, flow structure, and sediment transport at the outlet of 

Lake Huron and in the Upper Saint Clair River: Journal of 

Great Lakes Research, v. 37, no. 3, p. 480–493.

Densmore, B.K., Strauch, K.R., and Dietsch, B.J., 2013, 

Hydrographic surveys of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers at selected bridges and through Bismarck, North Dakota, 

during the 2011 flood: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific 

Investigations Report 2013–5087, 59 p. [Also available at 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5087/.]

Dietsch, B.J., Densmore, B.K., and Strauch, K.R., 2014, 

Hydrographic surveys at selected highway bridges crossing 

the Missouri River using a multibeam echosounder, 2011: 

U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 

2014–5062, 53 p.

Environmental Systems Research Institute, 2013, ArcGIS: 

accessed July 2013 at http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/.

Huizinga, R.J., 2010, Bathymetric surveys at highway bridges 

crossing the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri, using 

a multibeam echo sounder, 2010: U.S. Geological Survey 

Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5207, 61 p. [Also 

available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5207/.]

Huizinga, R.J., 2011, Bathymetric surveys at highway bridges 

crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers near St. Louis, 

Missouri, 2010: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5170, 75 p. [Also available at http://

pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2011/5170/.]

Huizinga, R.J., 2012, Bathymetric and velocimetric surveys 

at highway bridges crossing the Missouri River in and 

into Missouri during summer flooding, July–August 2011: 

U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 

2012–5204, 166 p. [Also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/

sir/2012/5204/.]

Huizinga, R.J., 2013, Results of repeat bathymetric and 

velocimetric surveys at the Amelia Earhart Bridge on U.S. 

Highway 59 over the Missouri River at Atchison, Kansas, 

2009–2013: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5177, 50 p. [Also available at http://

pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5177.]

Huizinga, R.J., 2014a, Bathymetric surveys and area/capacity 

tables of water-supply reservoirs for the city of Cameron, 

Missouri, July 2013: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File 

Report 2014–1005, 15 p. [Also available at http://dx.doi.

org/10.3133/ofr20141005.]

Huizinga, R.J., 2014b, Bathymetric and velocimetric surveys 

at highway bridges crossing the Missouri River between 

Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, April–May, 2013: U.S. 

Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2014–

5116, 79 p. [Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/

sir20145116.]

Huizinga, R.J., Elliott, C.M., and Jacobson, R.B., 2010, Bathymetric and velocimetric survey and assessment of habitat 

for pallid sturgeon on the Mississippi River in the vicinity 

of the proposed Interstate 70 Bridge at St. Louis, Missouri: 

U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 

2010–5017, 28 p. [Also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/

sir/2010/5017/.]

Huizinga, R.J., and Rydlund, P.H., Jr., 2004, Potential-scour 

assessments and estimates of scour depth using different 

techniques at selected bridge sites in Missouri: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004–5213, 

42 p.

HYPACK, Inc., 2011, HYPACK® Hydrographic survey software user’s manual 02/11: Middletown, Conn., 1582 p.

Koenig, T.A., and Holmes, R.R., Jr., 2013, Documenting the 

stages and streamflows associated with the 2011 activation 

of the New Madrid Floodway, Missouri: U.S. Geological 

Survey Professional Paper 1798–E, 31 p. [Also available at 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1798e/.]

Lagasse, P.F., Shall, J.D., Johnson, F., Richardson, E.V., 

Richardson, J.R., and Chang, F., 1991, Stream stability at 

highway structures: U.S. Federal Highway Administration 

Publication FHWA–IP–90–014 Hydraulic Engineering 

Circular no. 20, 195 p.

Mueller, D.S., Wagner, C.R., Rehmel, M.S., Oberg, K.A., and 

Rainville, Francois, 2013, Measuring discharge with acoustic Doppler current profilers from a moving boat (ver. 2.0, 

December 2013): U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and 

Methods, book 3, chap. A22, 95 p. [Also available at http://

dx.doi.org/10.3133/tm3A22.]

National Marine Electronics Association, 2002, NMEA 0183 

Standard for interfacing marine electronic devices, version 

3.01: National Marine Electronics Association, 88 p.

Parsons, D.R., Jackson, P.R., Czuba, J.A., Engel, F.L., Rhoads, 

B.L., Oberg, K.A., Best, J.L., Mueller, D.S., Johnson, K.K., 

and Riley, J.D., 2013, Velocity Mapping Toolbox (VMT)—

A processing and visualization suite for moving-vessel 

ADCP measurements: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 38, p. 1244–1260. [Also available at http://dx.doi.

org/10.1002/esp.3367.]

Richardson, E.V., and Davis, S.R., 2001, Evaluating scour at 

bridges (4th ed.): U.S. Federal Highway Administration 

Publication FHWA NHI 01–001 Hydraulic Engineering 

Circular no. 18, 378 p.
64 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Rydlund, P.H., Jr., 2009, Real-time river channel-bed monitoring at the Chariton and Mississippi Rivers in Missouri, 

2007–09: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations 

Report 2009–5254, 27 p.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004a, Upper Mississippi 

River System flow frequency study, appendix F: Rock 

Island, Ill., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, accessed 

December 2014 at http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/FRM/UpperMissFlowFreq/App.%20F%20

Omaha%20Dist.%20Hydrology_Hydraulics%20Report.pdf.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004b, Upper Mississippi 

River System flow frequency study, appendix E: Rock 

Island, Ill., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, accessed 

December 2014 at http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/FRM/UpperMissFlowFreq/App.%20E%20

Kansas%20City%20Dist.%20Hydrology_Hydraulics.pdf.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004c, Upper Mississippi 

River System flow frequency study, appendix C: Rock 

Island, Ill., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, accessed 

December 2014 at http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/FRM/UpperMissFlowFreq/App.%20C%20

Rock%20Island%20Dist.%20Mississippi%20River%20

Hydrology_Hydraulics.pdf.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004d, Upper Mississippi 

River System flow frequency study, appendix D: Rock 

Island, Ill., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, accessed 

December 2014 at http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/FRM/UpperMissFlowFreq/App.%20D%20

St.%20Louis%20Dist.%20Hydrology_Hydraulics.pdf.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2004e, Engineering and 

design—Hydrographic surveying: Washington D.C., U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, manual no. EM 1110–2–1003, 

560 p.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2014, RiverGages.com, Water 

levels of rivers and lakes—Mississippi River at Caruthersville, MO: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, accessed December 2014 at http://rivergages.mvr.usace.army.mil/WaterControl/stationinfo2.cfm?sid=MS117&fid=CRTM7&dt=S.

U.S. Geological Survey, 2003, User’s manual for the National 

Water Information System of the U.S. Geological Survey—Automated Data Processing System (ADAPS): U.S. 

Geological Survey Open-File Report 2003–123, 413 p., 

accessed September 2010 at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/

ofr03123/.

U.S. Geological Survey, 2014, National Water Information 

System: U.S. Geological Survey database, accessed March 

2014 at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/.
Appendixes 1–2
66 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Appendix 1. Correction of Latency Issue Observed in Global Navigation

Satellite System Reference Timing in Velocity Transects

As explained in the “Surveying Methods” section of the 

main text, a latency issue was observed in the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data received during velocity measurements with the acoustic Doppler current profiler 

(ADCP). This appendix provides some background on the 

ADCP velocity reference methods, as well as the subroutines 

used to adjust for the observed latency.

Measurement of water velocity with an ADCP from a 

moving boat will yield the velocity of the water relative to 

the boat (Mueller and others, 2013). Therefore, to determine 

the velocity of the water relative to the earth, the velocity of 

the boat must be determined by bottom tracking or through 

the use of a GNSS. Bottom tracking determines the velocity 

of the boat by measuring the Doppler shift of acoustic signals 

reflected from the channel bottom, but is susceptible to error 

caused by a moving bed, often present in large, sand-bed 

rivers (Mueller and others, 2013). Therefore, using a GNSS 

to measure the boat velocity is the preferred method of data 

collection when moving-bed conditions are present (Mueller 

and others, 2013). There are two options for determining boat 

velocity from a GNSS: differentiated position using the GNSS 

fix data (GGA) National Marine Electronics Association 

(NMEA)-0183 output sentence or the velocity reported in the 

velocity track made good (VTG) NMEA-0183 output sentence 

(National Marine Electronics Association, 2002) from the 

GNSS receiver (Mueller and others, 2013).

As mentioned in the “Surveying Methods” section of the 

main text, the bottom-track reference method for determining 

boat speed was anticipated to be unusable because of moving channel-bed material, and the VTG reference method was 

used instead (Mueller and others, 2013). On review of the 

velocity data, however, a latency issue was observed between 

the timestamps of the ADCP and GNSS data received during 

the measurements. Two custom Matlab® subroutines were 

written to determine the amount of latency and to correct for 

it. In the first subroutine (fig. 1–1), the amount of the latency 

is determined by minimizing the difference between the 

boat speed as determined by the two GNSS methods and the 

bottom-track reference method. Although the bottom-track 

boat velocity likely was biased by moving-bed conditions, the 

pattern of the time series of boat speed as the boat traverses 

the channel is very similar in all of the reference methods, 

and the time series patterns can be matched by a time shift 

(analogous to a phase shift to match a sine and cosine wave). 

The GNSS data are iteratively adjusted from -20 to 0 seconds 

in 0.05 second increments, and the difference in the GGA and 

VTG velocities from the bottom-track reference at each time 

step are computed. The time step with the minimum difference between the GNSS and bottom-track references was 

taken to be the latency amount for that transect. The second 

subroutine (fig. 1–2) allows the user to adjust the GNSS data 

by the determined latency amount and create a corrected file 

that can be used in the Velocity Mapping Toolbox (VMT; 

Parsons and others, 2013).
Appendixes 1–2 67

function lat_sec = ADCP_EstimateLatency(ADCP);

% This function estimates the latency of a GPS signal by comparing the bottom-track boat speed

% timeseries to that from the GGA and VTG strings. 

% P.R. Jackson, USGS, 2-17-15

%% Determine the latency

tshifts = -20:0.05:0; %Range of time shifts from -20 sec to 0 seconds 

n = length(tshifts);

figure(2); clf

para1 = ADCP.Vb.bt;

para2 = ADCP.Vb.vtg;

tvarpara = nan.*ones(1,n);

sdpara = nan.*ones(1,n);

for i = 1:n

 ShiftedTime_T = ADCP.dtnum -(tshifts(i)/86400);

 newpara2 = interp1(ADCP.dtnum,para2,ShiftedTime_T);

 sdpara(i) = nansum(abs(newpara2-para1));

 if 0 %k == 4

 figure(3); clf; 

 plot(ADCP.ens,newpara2,'r.'); hold on

 plot(ADCP.ens,para1,'k.'); hold on

 ylabel('Boat Speed')

 xlabel('Ensemble number')

 tshifts(i)

 pause

 end

end

figure(2);

semilogy(tshifts,sdpara,'k.-')

xlabel('Time Shift, in seconds')

ylabel('SV')

optindx = find(sdpara == min(sdpara));

lat_sec = tshifts(optindx) ;

ShiftedTime_T = ADCP.dtnum -(lat_sec/86400);

newpara2 = interp1(ADCP.dtnum,para2,ShiftedTime_T);

figure(3); clf

plot(ADCP.ens,para1,'k-'); hold on

plot(ADCP.ens,newpara2,'r-'); hold on

ylabel('Boat Speed')

xlabel('Ensemble number')

Figure 1–1. Subroutine used to determine the amount of latency observed between the Global Navigation Satellite System and 

acoustic Doppler current profiler timestamps.
68 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

function A = Huizinga_CustomAscii(A,fileName);

%Correct latency issue for Huizinga data 

%P.R. Jackson, USGS, 2-6-15

%% Select the file to load

% defaultpath = ‘C:\’;

% datpath = [];

% if exist(‘ASC\ASC_LastDir.mat’) == 2

% load(‘ASC\ASC_LastDir.mat’);

% if exist(datpath) == 7

% [file,datpath] = uigetfile({‘*.dat;*.txt’},’Select ASCII Data File’,datpath); 

% else

% [file,datpath] = uigetfile({‘*.dat;*.txt’},’Select ASCII Data File’,defaultpath);

% end

% else

% [file,datpath] = uigetfile({‘*.dat;*.txt’},’Select ASCII Data File’,defaultpath);

% end

% infile = [datpath file];

[file_path,file_name,extension] = fileparts(fileName);

tsct = file_name(end-15:end-13); %transect number

infile = [file_path ‘\boatvelts_ascii_template_’ tsct ‘_ASC.txt’];

disp(‘Processing ASCII File...’ );

disp(infile);

%% Load the custom ascii data

data = dlmread(infile);

%% Parse the data

ens = data(:,1);

yr = data(:,2);

mo = data(:,3);

day = data(:,4);

hr = data(:,5);

min = data(:,6);

sec = data(:,7) + data(:,8)/100;

lat = data(:,9);

lon = data(:,10);

VggaE = data(:,11);

VggaN = data(:,12);

VvtgE = data(:,13);

VvtgN = data(:,14);

VbtE = data(:,15);

VbtN = data(:,16);

Vb_bt = data(:,17);

Vb_gga = data(:,18);

Vb_vtg = data(:,19);

dtnum = datenum([yr mo day hr min sec]);

%clear data

Figure 1–2. Subroutine used to adjust the Global Navigation Satellite System data by the determined latency and create a corrected 

file for use in the Velocity Mapping Toolbox (Parsons and others, 2013).
Appendixes 1–2 69

% Remove bad values

VggaE(VggaE==-32768) = nan;

VggaN(VggaN==-32768) = nan;

VvtgE(VvtgE==-32768) = nan;

VvtgN(VvtgN==-32768) = nan;

VbtE(VbtE==-32768) = nan;

VbtN(VbtN==-32768) = nan;

Vb_bt(Vb_bt==-32768) = nan;

Vb_gga(Vb_gga==-32768) = nan;

Vb_vtg(Vb_vtg==-32768) = nan;

% Make a data structure to pass to the latency script

ADCP.Vb.bt = Vb_bt;

ADCP.Vb.gga = Vb_gga;

ADCP.Vb.vtg = Vb_vtg;

ADCP.ens = ens;

ADCP.dtnum = dtnum;

%% Plot the boat speed timeseries

figure(1); clf;

subplot(2,1,1)

plot(ens,Vb_bt,’y-’); hold on

plot(ens,Vb_gga,’m-’); hold on

plot(ens,Vb_vtg,’k-’); hold on

xlabel(‘Ensemble’)

ylabel(‘Boat Speed, in m/s’)

title(‘Uncorrected’)

legend(‘BT’,’GGA’,’VTG’)

%% Estimate latency

lat_sec = ADCP_EstimateLatency(ADCP)

%% Correct the data in the A structure

if 1

 ShiftedTime = dtnum -(lat_sec/86400);

 lat_s = interp1(dtnum,lat,ShiftedTime);

 lon_s = interp1(dtnum,lon,ShiftedTime);

 VggaE_s = interp1(dtnum,VggaE,ShiftedTime);

 VggaN_s = interp1(dtnum,VggaN,ShiftedTime);

 VvtgE_s = interp1(dtnum,VvtgE,ShiftedTime);

 VvtgN_s = interp1(dtnum,VvtgN,ShiftedTime);

 Vb_gga_s = interp1(dtnum,Vb_gga,ShiftedTime);

 Vb_vtg_s = interp1(dtnum,Vb_vtg,ShiftedTime);

end

%% Plot the corrected boat speed timeseries

figure(1);

subplot(2,1,2)

plot(ens,Vb_bt,’y-’); hold on

plot(ens,Vb_gga_s,’m-’); hold on

plot(ens,Vb_vtg_s,’k-’); hold on

xlabel(‘Ensemble’)

ylabel(‘Boat Speed, in m/s’)

title(‘Corrected’)

legend(‘BT’,’GGA’,’VTG’)

%pause

Figure 1–2. Subroutine used to adjust the Global Navigation Satellite System data by the determined latency and create a corrected 

file for use in the Velocity Mapping Toolbox (Parsons and others, 2013).—Continued
70 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

%% Correct the A data structure

% Unapply boat velocity (sets reference back to none)

for i = 1:A.Sup.nBins

 A.Wat.vEast(i,:) = A.Wat.vEast(i,:) + A.Nav.bvEast’;

 A.Wat.vNorth(i,:) = A.Wat.vNorth(i,:) + A.Nav.bvNorth’;

 A.Wat.vVert(i,:) = A.Wat.vVert(i,:) + A.Nav.bvVert’;

end

% Compute the ensemble time vector (datenum)

ensdtnum = datenum([(A.Sup.year + 2000) A.Sup.month A.Sup.day A.Sup.hour A.Sup.minute 

(A.Sup.second + A.Sup.sec100/100)]);

% Compute the shifted time

ensdtnum_shifted = ensdtnum -(lat_sec/86400);

% Compute the corrected GPS data at the shifted time

A.Nav.lat_deg = interp1(ensdtnum,A.Nav.lat_deg,ensdtnum_shifted);

A.Nav.long_deg = interp1(ensdtnum,A.Nav.long_deg,ensdtnum_shifted);

A.Nav.bvEast = interp1(ensdtnum,A.Nav.bvEast,ensdtnum_shifted);

A.Nav.bvNorth = interp1(ensdtnum,A.Nav.bvNorth,ensdtnum_shifted);

A.Nav.bvVert = interp1(ensdtnum,A.Nav.bvVert,ensdtnum_shifted);

%figure(1); subplot(2,1,2); hold on; plot(A.Sup.ensNo,sqrt(A.Nav.bvEast.^2 +

 A.Nav.bvNorth.^2)/100,’b-’);

% Reapply boat velocity (sets reference back to gps)

for i = 1:A.Sup.nBins

 A.Wat.vEast(i,:) = A.Wat.vEast(i,:) - A.Nav.bvEast’;

 A.Wat.vNorth(i,:) = A.Wat.vNorth(i,:) - A.Nav.bvNorth’;

 A.Wat.vVert(i,:) = A.Wat.vVert(i,:) - A.Nav.bvVert’;

end

% Recompute the velocity magnitude and direction

A.Wat.vMag = sqrt(A.Wat.vEast.^2 + A.Wat.vNorth.^2);

A.Wat.vDir = ari2geodeg((atan2(A.Wat.vNorth, A.Wat.vEast))*180/pi);

Figure 1–2. Subroutine used to adjust the Global Navigation Satellite System data by the determined latency and create a corrected 

file for use in the Velocity Mapping Toolbox (Parsons and others, 2013).—Continued
Appendixes 1–2 71

 References Cited

Mueller, D.S., Wagner, C.R., Rehmel, M.S., Oberg, K.A., and 

Rainville, Francois, 2013, Measuring discharge with acoustic Doppler current profilers from a moving boat (ver. 2.0, 

December 2013): U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and 

Methods, book 3, chap. A22, 95 p. [Also available at http://

dx.doi.org/10.3133/tm3A22.]

National Marine Electronics Association, 2002, NMEA 0183 

Standard for interfacing marine electronic devices, version 

3.01: National Marine Electronics Association, 88 p.

Parsons, D.R., Jackson, P.R., Czuba, J.A., Engel, F.L., Rhoads, 

B.L., Oberg, K.A., Best, J.L., Mueller, D.S., Johnson, K.K., 

and Riley, J.D., 2013, Velocity Mapping Toolbox (VMT)—

A processing and visualization suite for moving-vessel 

ADCP measurements: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 38, p. 1244–1260. [Also available at http://dx.doi.

org/10.1002/esp.3367.]
72 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Appendix 2. Shaded Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) Images of Channel 

and Side of Pier for Each Surveyed Pier

848852856860864868872876880884

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

Flow

Flow

A

B

Ice breaker

Sheet pile caissons

Ice breaker

Sheet pile caissons

Figure 2–1. Shaded triangulated irregular network (TIN) visualization of the channel bed and A, left (northeast) side and B, 

right (southwest) side of main channel pier 3 of structure L0098 on U.S. Highway 136 over the Missouri River at Brownville, 

Nebraska.
Appendixes 1–2 73

760765770775780785790795800

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

Flow

Flow

A

B

Figure 2–2. Shaded triangulated irregular network (TIN) visualization of the channel bed and A, left (east) side and B, right 

(west) side of main channel pier 10 of dual bridge structure A3664 on U.S. Highway 36 over the Missouri River at St. Joseph, 

Missouri.
74 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

464

460

456

452

448

444

440

436

432

428

424

420

416

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Pier 11

Pier 11

Pier 10

Pier 10

Missing data

Partial

riprap

blanket?

Submerged log

Missing data

Pier 9

Pier 9

A

D

E

F

C

B

Partial

riprap

blanket?

Partial

riprap

blanket?

Figure 2–3. Shaded triangulated irregular network (TIN) visualization of the channel 

bed and A, left (northeast) side and B, right (southwest) side of main channel pier 11; 

C, left (northeast) side and D, right (southwest) side of main channel pier 10; and E, 

left (northeast) side and F, right (southwest) side of main channel pier 9 of structure 

A5054 on Interstate 72 over the Mississippi River at Hannibal, Missouri.
Appendixes 1–2 75

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

464

460

456

452

448

444

440

436

432

428

424

420

416

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Pier 8

Pier 8

Pier 7

Pier 7

Missing data

Pile of

riprap

Submerged log

Pier 6

Pier 6

Pier 5

A

D

E

F

G

C

B

Figure 2–4. Shaded triangulated irregular 

network (TIN) visualization of the channel 

bed and A, left (northeast) side and B, 

right (southwest) side of main channel 

pier 8; C, left (northeast) side and D, right 

(southwest) side of main channel pier 7; E, 

left (northeast) side and F, right (southwest) 

side of main channel pier 6; and G, left 

(northeast) side of main channel pier 5 of 

structure A5054 on Interstate 72 over the 

Mississippi River at Hannibal, Missouri.
76 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

450

445

440

435

430

425

420

415

410

405

400

395

390

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Pier 5

Pier 4

Pier 4

Pier 3

Riprap

blanket

A

C

D

B

Pier 3

Riprap

blanket

E

Figure 2–5. Shaded triangulated irregular network (TIN) visualization of the channel 

bed and A, right (southwest) side of main channel pier 5; B, left (northeast) side and 

C, right (southwest) side of main channel pier 4; and D, left (northeast) side and E, 

right (southwest) side of main channel pier 3 of structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 

over the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri.
Appendixes 1–2 77

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

450

445

440

435

430

425

420

415

410

405

400

395

390

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Pier 2

Pier 2

Pier 1

Pier 1

Riprap

blanket

A

C

D

B

Riprap

blanket

Figure 2–6. Shaded triangulated irregular network (TIN) visualization of the channel 

bed and A, left (northeast) side and B, right (southwest) side of main channel pier 

2; and C, left (northeast) side and D, right (southwest) side of main channel pier 1 of 

structure K0932 on U.S. Highway 54 over the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri.
78 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

362

358

354

350

346

342

338

334

330

326

322

318

314

310

306

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Pier 12

Pier 11

Pier 12

Pier 11

Pier 10

Pier 10

A

D

E

F

G

C

B

Pier 13

Figure 2–7. Shaded triangulated irregular 

network (TIN) visualization of the channel 

bed and A, left (southwest) side of main 

channel pier 13; B, left (northeast) side and 

C, right (southwest) side of main channel 

pier 12; D, left (northeast) side and E, right 

(southwest) side of main channel pier 11; 

and F, left (northeast) side and G, right 

(southwest) side of main channel pier 10 of 

structure L0135 on State Highway 51 over 

the Mississippi River at Chester, Illinois.
Appendixes 1–2 79

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

332

328

324

320

316

312

308

304

300

296

292

288

284

280

276

272

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Pier 6

Pier 5

Pier 5

Pier 4

Pier 4

Pier 3

Pier 3

A

D

E

F

G

H

C

B

Pier 6

Missing data

Piles of

riprap Pile of

riprap

Pile of

riprap

Piles of

riprap

Piles of

riprap

Piles of

riprap

Figure 2–8. Shaded triangulated irregular 

network (TIN) visualization of the channel 

bed and A, left (east) side and B, right 

(west) side of main channel pier 6; C, left 

(east) side and D, right (west) side of main 

channel pier 5; E, left (east) side and F, right 

(west) side of main channel pier 4; and G, 

left (east) side and H, right (west) side of 

main channel pier 3 of structure A5076 on 

State Highway 34 over the Mississippi River 

at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
80 Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

252

248

244

240

236

232

228

224

220

216

212

208

204

200

196

192

188

184

180

176

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Pier 20

Sunken

barge?

Submerged

sheet pile

panel

Top of

riprap

blanket

Pier 19

Pier 20

Pier 19

Pier 18

Pier 18

A

D

E

F

G

C

B

Pier 21

Stone revetment

Sunken

barge?

Submerged beams

Wake

vortex

Top of

riprap

blanket

Top of

riprap

blanket

Top of

riprap

blanket

Top of

riprap

blanket

Top of

riprap

blanket

Wake

vortex

Wake

vortex

Figure 2–9. Shaded triangulated 

irregular network (TIN) visualization of 

the channel bed and A, right (northwest) 

side of main channel pier 21; B, left 

(southeast) side and C, right (northwest) 

side of main channel pier 20; D, left 

(southeast) side and E, right (northwest) 

side of main channel pier 19; and F, left 

(southeast) side and G, right (northwest) 

side of main channel pier 18 of structure 

A1700 on Interstate 155 over the 

Mississippi River near Caruthersville, 

Missouri.
Appendixes 1–2 81

Elevation of point, in feet above the 

 North American Vertical Datum of 1988

EXPLANATION

252

248

244

240

236

232

228

224

220

216

212

208

204

200

196

192

188

184

180

176

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Flow

Pier 17

Sunken

barge?

Piles of

riprap

Pile of

riprap

Stone

revetment Stone

revetment

Pile of

riprap

Pier 16

Pier 16

Pier 15

Pier 15

A

D

E

F

C

B

Pier 17

Pile of

riprap

Submerged

logs and debris

Submerged

logs and debris

Stone

revetment

Submerged beams

Figure 2–10. Shaded triangulated irregular network (TIN) visualization of the 

channel bed and A, left (southeast) side and B, right (northwest) side of main channel 

pier 17; C, left (southeast) side and D, right (northwest) side of main channel pier 

16; and E, left (southeast) side and F, right (northwest) side of main channel pier 15 

of structure A1700 on Interstate 155 over the Mississippi River near Caruthersville, 

Missouri.
Publishing support provided by:

Rolla Publishing Service Center

For more information concerning this publication, contact:

Director, USGS Missouri Water Science Center

1400 Independence Road

Rolla, MO 65401

(573) 308–3667

Or visit the Missouri Water Science Center Web site at: 

http://mo.water.usgs.gov/

Huizinga—Bathymetric and Velocimetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers—Scientific Investiigations Report 2015–5048

ISSN 2328-0328 (online)

http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20155048

Flow

Flow

BA