Sterling Highway MP 44.5-58: Base Mapping for Existing ROW - 2019

This project is located near Cooper Landing at MP 48 of the Sterling Highway.  Generally, the 13.5 mile project will follow the existing ROW at each end with the significant "Juneau Creek Realignment" to be located between MP 46.5 and MP 56 and up to a mile and a half north of the existing Sterling Highway.  My role was to research and calculate the existing right-of-way and parcel boundaries and share the base mapping task with another R&M surveyor.  I prepared the December 2, 2019 (Draft) Summary of Boundary Problems Report that explains the decisions and logic used in determining the existing ROW and parcel boundaries.  The report can be found below under the folder titled "Draft Base Map - C: Draft Summary of Problems Report".  This project could also be considered as non-linear in development with design, acquisitions and construction being phased on varying schedules.  This is one reason why the Report was never formally finalized and remains in "Draft". Another decision log located below in the "Research" folder is the "jfb-Sterling AutoCAD log" file.  This is a summary of decisions I made regarding boundary calculations as I was piecing the base map together using Civil3D.

The existing ROW for this project presented a few somewhat unique issues for consideration.  The project lies within large tracts of land owned by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Alaska DNR and the Kenai Peninsula Borough.  The Chugach Forest was established in 1907, many years prior to the first Public Land Order (PLO 601 - 1949) that established highway easements over lands managed by the Department of the Interior.  As the Forest Service was not within DOI, the PLO would have no effect to set aside highway ROW.  As a result we find that highway ROW within the Forest is often based on Highway Easement Deeds (HED) issued through the Federal Highway Administration. Where lands are subject to a PLO ROW, the Sterling Highway is considered a "Through" route subject to a 300-foot wide ROW.  On the east end of this project, the HED issued by the Forest Service is limited to a 200-foot width.  At a later date,  certain lands were released from the Forest and patented to the State of Alaska.  These lands were eventually subdivided by ASLS and in order address the desire of the State to maintain a 300-foot wide ROW for the Sterling, the platted ROW was dedicated at 200-feet north of the as-built centerline providing the full 300-foot width.  There were also questions regarding the applicability of the full PLO ROW to U.S. Survey lots after they were released from the Forest Service jurisdiction.  Based on DNR/DOT&PF policy and past decisions, the existing ROW was restricted to that width identified by the U.S. Survey and not the full 300-foot PLO width.  This was just another base mapping project showing that the legal, historical, survey, title and policy elements can weave together to form a complex but very interesting existing right-of-way determination.