How many times have you found where another surveyor did not find the original road?
My latest was a fork where people stopped using the left turn. Portions are visible on the ground. The road to the fork and to the right are part of a 1970 layout that shows the remains of the Old Road (unlabeled). The 1976 Land Court Plan does not show the Old Road. The 2011 plan for an abutter does not show an old road.
So I called the surveyor who completed the abutters plan. He recalled finding an old stake about 8' east of the rear corner. He also used a bound along the road layout and did not hold the Old Road. He dismissed the stake since it missed the deed distance by so much and held the deed distance. When I told him there was an old road that should have been held and that the Bound he held has a noticeable "G" in the top for Gorham - the fellow who owned on the other side of the road, he replied, 'Huh'.
I have seen this a few dozen times and I am less and less impressed.
I have seen that around here. I have found on the USGS site, the aerials can go back to the 50's or earlier with quality good nuff to pick out where the road used to be. Another problem is when the DOT moves a road they could care less about saving the property corners. No offense to the DOT guys on here intended, just seems to be the case in this neck of the woods.
A lot of surveyors don't care enough to work hard to reveal the details, nor know enough about how to handle apparently conflicting evidence. Like you did, they should know about it when someone reveals their survey to be incorrect.
Adam: Old aerials can make or break a survey. The trick is finding all the photo sources, like state forestry or geology or agricultural offices, assessors, etc.
Regarding a DOT moving a road, it has occurred to me that on a project that will wipe out old roads, road fences, hedgerows, "boundary fences", other lines of occupation, and monuments, a pre-project survey should should be done solely to document that old evidence. This is especially so where there is potential for multiple widely differing boundary solutions. I don't think a typical DOT design topo really covers that need, though it does get a lot of it. You should try to try to get the design topo map from your DOT. Here in CA we have survey monument preservation laws. Does your state have anything similar? Either way, via your state or local surveyors association and their contacts, make the DOT change their ways. DOT's have to deal with everything else physical on a site, yet they get away with destroying "property line infrastructure"?
http://www.californiasurveyors.org/moncon.html
NC isn't a recording state. Old DOT plans are helpful sometimes, other times not so much.
Yeah, some rules to help would be nice.
Then we have the Land Court. I often try holding Land Court Plans as if they make sense to the record. I find it much easier to expect the Land Court Plan to be wrong because those from the 60's 70's and 80's often are. In this survey, the LC plan is wrong on several boundaries, but it is decreed and there is no way to fight it.
Adam, post: 342852, member: 8900 wrote: I have seen that around here. I have found on the USGS site, the aerials can go back to the 50's or earlier with quality good nuff to pick out where the road used to be. Another problem is when the DOT moves a road they could care less about saving the property corners. No offense to the DOT guys on here intended, just seems to be the case in this neck of the woods.
Adam, do you have a link to the USGS site that you mentioned above? Especially, one for online aerials.
JEFLS, post: 342953, member: 1771 wrote: Adam, do you have a link to the USGS site that you mentioned above? Especially, one for online aerials.
Not sure about aerials, but I hope this helps:
How do I upload a snippet(jpg), it wants a url? , anyway if you go to usgs Earth Explorer, then chose aerial photo mosaics. I just looked at the overview and the photos may not be available for all areas.
earthexplorer.usgs.gov
Adam, post: 342962, member: 8900 wrote: How do I upload a snippet(jpg), it wants a url? , anyway if you go to usgs Earth Explorer, then chose aerial photo mosaics. I just looked at the overview and the photos may not be available for all areas.
If it were a snake I would have been in trouble. Thanks Brad.
USGS Earth Explorer is a MUST.
I download aerial LiDAR data, Imagery (old and new) and there is a bunch of other stuff. The old roads sometimes show up in the aerial LiDAR data. Another reason I run GPS on every traverse to make sure I can use data like this.
Brad Ott, post: 342958, member: 197 wrote: Not sure about aerials, but I hope this helps:
Thanks,
