Surveying the Documentation Necessary during Design

The quality and thoroughness of topographic, utility location, property, and control surveys prepared for design of a linear infrastructure project is the foundation for a successful design and minimal field changes and change orders. Multiple North American Datum (NAD) surveys established locally, statewide, and nationally have been known to have varying base elevation differences. In addition, agency surveys and monuments can vary between agencies and United States Geological Surveys (USGS). The location of existing wet and dry utility infrastructure is paramount information needed by design engineers to finalize contract documents. Property surveys are required during design to establish property lines and corners and ownership information that are necessary to determine needed permanent and final easements and right-of-way for construction and ultimately operation and maintenance. During design, control surveys are needed to confirm existing monuments and establish new monuments that will be used for construction staking and asset management. This paper will present the requirements for these design surveys, the methods used and actual project experiences that will provide lessons learned to help existing and future designers, contractors and owners mitigate project overruns resulting from incorrect, inaccurate, or missing survey information and data.