There is an interesting dustup in Tucson now concerning overhead electric lines, so I wonder how the rest of you show and label overhead lines on an ALTA survey.
Perhaps because I worked for Florida Power & Light I'm a little more sensitive to showing power lines, so if the lines appear to be close to the propery line I shoot the conductors with reflectorless so I can accurately draw the actual line location. Regular lines I label as 3-phase overhead electric lines, while major lines I label 3-phase overhead transmission lines. There are critical restrictions on improvements near transmission lines, more so than the usual electric lines, and noting them is important.
How do you locate and label them?
> How do you locate and label them?
I usually just locate the poles and eyeball (with a tape) the crossarm length, showing the wires at the crossarm distance.
We distinguish between distribution and service. And we locate (by attachment point) the conductors AND sag point if they cross public rw. But we do a lot of work for a few utility companies also.
The major issue that I show on drawings is the apparent encroachment of a cross-arm onto private property; like when the utility pole is 2' from the edge of the rw and the cross-arm is 12' long and centered on the pole. We call the 4' encroachment "the overhang".
The utility companies are sensitive to this and aware of it. New construction and RW planning takes this into consideration. But there are thousands of miles of distribution plant that was placed in years past that turned a blind eye. The nature of the easement or right-of-way can be an issue, also.
From a legal standpoint, we always show the overhang if it exists. I know of only one case where a property owner "complained" and the power company moved the line. This was residential property that was rezoned multi-family and a developer was building multi-story apartments and clearance became an issue.
We shoot them all with a reflectorless TS. Easy, peazy, japa...you get the idea!
Almost all distribution line agreements are for the placement of the pole with wires. We label a drawn single line pole to pole as "Overhead Wires". They may be vertical or horizontal but the line is just to show from pole to pole or pole to structure or to neighboring structure. A nearby house may not be close to the line but is shown if the overhead wires cross the P.Q. If the structure is very distant or the line crosses the P.Q. to another pole a partial line is shown offsite labeled "Overhead Wires To House # 123 or Lot # 456".
Transmission lines are within a described easement or easements. Years ago I located transmission towers more than 100' offsite each way. My research showed 2 separate easements prior to construction, I believe a multi pole line was designed and then a tower line was constructed with a wider easement required (35' + 40' I believe). Without detailed descriptions or maps on record I centered the combined easement on the towers making the P.Q. barely useable and the adjacent vacant lot useless. Other surveyors were showing only a single easement that barely contained the wires. No one in the township ever did a thorough check and I see structures within the total right of way. When there are detailed easements I have found tower lines that were not centered or centered within 1 of 2 easements, specifically to allow future construction. Lastly are the described or mapped easements with no line yet installed 20 or more years later.
I would not locate the outer wires without specific contract language to do so. I have never been asked to get the low hanging point and would be cautious in doing so. So depends on ambient temperature and the actual power going through the lines at that time.
Lastly we had some brother farmers who never accepted the power company check. Every summer they would lay out their aluminum irrigation line under the power line, start their engine driven pump and run. When the power went out the news would report a problem at a specific substation and we knew what had happened. All they ever said to the judge is "we have the right to farm our land".
Paul in PA
I'm not sure what the situation will be in the USA but in UK there is also a legal requirement to consider the sideswing of major conductors - normally taken as 45 degree swing about a pivot line between the attachment points, at maximum operating temperature.
It can come into play in compensation cases.
Otherwise we pick up the same info as Paden - attachment points, clearance at highways or buildings etc. We might plot the catenary in special cases.
We locate the poles and attachment points and connect them with lines labelled "OH" and a legend description "Overhead Utility Lines". Got into an issue once years ago because we showed all crossarms on several poles when in actuality they were not, so now we don't show them at all.
I show a kinda heavy dot line, and label it "Ugg 'Lectric"
Usually take the excavator and tear them down, lay our pipe and call the utility to replace them!! Just kidding. This is one very good application of reflectorless tech.
Pretty much do the same thing as you do Bruce.
-JD-
