Right-of-Way Mapping

Right-of-way mapping is a boundary survey of contiguous parcels of land to be acquired for roadway or drainage purposes. The right-of-way map, parcel plats and property descriptions must be prepared under the supervision of a Registered Professional Land Surveyor (RPLS) and in compliance with all rules set forth by the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying. Although right-of-way mapping involves boundary surveying, there are important considerations that make right-of-way mapping unique. First; right of way mapping must delineate all fee title and easements interests required in land to meet the requirements of the proposed improvements. Second; for appraisal purposes right-of-way mapping must identify the “parent tract” and all existing improvements which may be impacted by the acquisition. Third; right-of-way mapping must identify all utilities which may need to be adjusted and/or relocated as a result of the proposed improvements. Fourth; right-of-way mapping should depict the proposed improvements sufficiently to communicate to property owners the necessity of the acquisition. The surveyor preparing right-of-way mapping must understand that the preparation of right-of-way mapping and the preparation of plans, specifications, and estimates for a roadway improvement project are concurrent activities. As soon as possible, the surveyor must inform the design engineer of any existing condition which might impact the design and the design engineer must in turn inform the surveyor of any design change, which will impact the right-of-way mapping.

Areas of Special Concern

a. Research of real property records and other public records must be sufficiently comprehensive to insure that all property interests (fee title and easement rights) are identified.

b. All existing improvements must be located and properly identified to address appraisal, relocation and clearance of right-of-way issues.

c. All existing utilities must be located and identified to address relocation and adjustment issues.

d. Right-of-way mapping be thoroughly proofread to eliminate all errors and inconsistencies to the extent possible. A certain percentage of all right-of-way acquisition will be conducted in a hostile environment and may require litigation. Relatively insignificant errors which might be tolerable in a normal land transaction will be sufficient to delay the acquisition process for months.

e. The preparation of the maps, parcel plats and property descriptions must be to current TxDOT standards and prepared with the goal of communicating required information to design engineers, right-of-way agents, appraisers, attorneys and affected property owners.

Right-of-Way Mapping Task Sequence and Quality Control Measures

a. Request right-of- entry and inform property owners of purpose for surveys. RODS Surveying will request the name of a TxDOT contact person that would be responsible for addressing specific questions regarding proposed improvements.

b. Research real property records and other public records (State, County, City, etc.). RODS Surveying will utilize the services of a permanent professional research firm of demonstrated competence.

c. Prepare a digital working sketch of property lines based of deed research to be used by field crews to locate corners and right-of-way line markers, and later by technicians for analysis purposes.

d. Superimpose working sketch on TxDOT or commercially available aerial images to identify parent tracts, identify landlocked parcels, and review impacts to improvements and land use.

e. Field locate improvements and utilities, and make preliminary recovery of property corners and existing right-of-way line markers based on the working sketch.

f. Perform calculations and analysis to determine property line and existing right-of-way line locations. An RPLS will normally perform this function, but may be assisted by an experienced technician to the extent the RPLS is familiar with and confident in the abilities of the technician.

g. Field locate property corners and existing right-of-way line markers not recovered during the preliminary survey. The field crews will be provided search coordinates for this purpose. All existing corners must be recovered. No property line or existing right-of-way line location will be defined by calls when controlling monumentation exists.

h. Field inspection of improvements and utilities. This task is performed by a technician after all data collection files are processed and improvements and utilities are plotted.

i. Finalize property line and existing right-of-way line locations. All final locations are reviewed in depth by the supervising RPLS.

j. Monument existing and/or proposed right-of-way lines as required by the District. All monuments set are field verified to be in the correct location by relocating the monument from control other than the control used to set the monument.

k. Prepare right-of- way map sheets, parcel plats and property descriptions. It should be noted that policies and requirements change with time. A map prepared for a District a year ago may not be exactly what is required of the same District today. RODS Surveying works closely with the designated TxDOT representative to insure that deliverables meet the requirements of the individual District.

l. Proofread all right- of-way mapping documents to insure consistency of presentation and elimination of errors.

m. Submit mapping deliverables for TxDOT review.

n. Address any mark ups made by TxDOT personnel and resubmit mapping.

Right-of-Way Mapping Deliverables

Deliverables for right-of-way mapping will consist of paper and mylar plots of the map sheets and parcel plats as required, copies of property descriptions on bond paper, area calculation sheets on bond paper, photostatic copies of research records, Microstation 7 (.dgn) files of the right-of-way map sheets and parcels plats, Microsoft Word (.doc) files of the property descriptions, ASCII (.txt) files of the area calculation sheets and the Geopak 2004 (.gpk) file of all mapping data. This listing is representative of right-of-way mapping deliverables and may vary depending on the requirements of the individual District.