Bathymetric Survey and Topography of Portions of the Quinnipiac River in Meriden and Southington
Project Spotlight – Franklin Surveys has recently completed comprehensive topographic and bathymetric survey for 2 planned restorations along the Quinnipiac River in Meriden and Southington. The removal of ancient stone impoundments will allow diadromous fish to migrate the remaining 16.6 miles of habitat in the headwaters of the river, and will also help to restore the downstream habitat. With the initial field work complete, design is expected to occur through the fall and the physical restoration will take place next summer.
To summarize, preparations for the bathymetric survey started off with research of utility records, land ownership, and CTDOT maps and plans. We mobilized to the site for a field survey, including Army Corps and Connecticut-definition wetland delineation, cross sections of the river bottom, and detailed structural surveys of existing dam features. Several thousand individual point locations were captured for 2 sites, including various bridges, river tributaries and a distributary, in addition to depicting the relief of sediment build-up, embankments, cross sections, and long profiles. Finally, Franklin Surveys produced digital mapping in three dimensions for the entirety of the project areas.