Streamlining Cultural Resource Studies for a 300-Mile Multistate Transmission Line

Client

Great Basin Transmission, LLC

Location

Nevada and Idaho

Challenge

The project consists of a proposed 500-kV transmission line from central Nevada to south central Idaho that is approximately 300 miles in length. The line crosses a mix of federal and private land in both states. Terracon is conducting cultural resource studies on behalf of Great Basin Transmission (GBT), to fulfill stipulations of the Notice to Proceed granted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), including a cultural site visual effect assessment.

For this assessment, Terracon identified cultural resources, including archaeological and built environment resources, within a corridor extending 5 miles on either side of the proposed transmission line. The BLM requested that the client notify private landowners within the 10-mile-wide study corridor to determine whether cultural resources on private property could be assessed for visual effects.

The client had landowner data for the 200-foot-wide proposed transmission line easement, but not for the broader 10-mile-wide corridor across Nevada and Idaho. Gathering that information through traditional county-by-county tax assessor research could have taken months, potentially delaying project progress and increasing the time and effort needed to move the study forward. The challenge was not selecting the corridor — it was quickly identifying affected parcels and landowners along the preferred corridor so the client could meet notification requirements and keep the cultural resource assessment moving.

Solution

To expedite this process, the team turned to Pivvot,Terracon’s cloud-based platform that uses location intelligence and curated geospatial data to help teams evaluate routes, sites, parcels, and project considerations earlier in the planning process.

Our environmental professionals used Pivvot to quickly obtained parcel and landowner data for the full 10-mile-wide study corridor. The Terracon project team then overlaid that parcel data with cultural resource information to identify which landowners needed to be notified and contacted for access to support the visual effect assessment.

This approach gave the project team a clearer, more complete view of affected parcels and landowners in approximately one week. Instead of relying on a months-long manual research process, the client was able to move forward with landowner notifications, helping keep the assessment on track for planned field visits by Terracon cultural resources staff.

Results

Using Pivvot, Terracon helped the client avoid months of expected county-by-county research by delivering landowner parcel data for the broader 10-mile-wide cultural resource study corridor in approximately one week. The information allowed the client to issue landowner notifications more efficiently and helped keep the cultural site visual effect assessment moving forward.

The approach also gave the project team a more complete view of the parcels, landowners, and cultural resource locations associated with the proposed transmission corridor, supporting more efficient access coordination and planning for future field visits.

Click below to learn more about how Pivvot supports site selection and early project planning: