Over the last several years McKim & Creed has worked with our aviation partners to develop an innovative approach to transmission line design surveys. Our method uses specialized fixed-wing aircraft to capture and process data at densities and accuracies previously reserved for helicopter-based approaches. This provides a significant cost saving to our clients.
After sharing this information with the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)—a Texas-based energy and water provider— McKim & Creed was chosen to provide design-scale mapping for a new transmission line. We captured data and mapped more than 250 miles of high-accuracy data along numerous proposed route alternatives. LCRA was very pleased with the quality of the data and the cost savings.
In other work with LCRA, we mapped more than 2,000 square miles in West Texas. Our services included LIDAR and imagery acquisition, ground survey, digital orthophotography production along with topographic and planimetric mapping. The data produced by McKim & Creed was used to develop routing options for transmission lines and to present LCRA’s project plans to the public and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.