9-year Capital Project
This 9-year, $38M capital project involved underground and overhead power upgrades and installation that included two new substations. While not the original intent, RCI through our diligence, expertise and client coordination became the lead consultant. The project was made possible through several agency partnerships, involved four separate contractors, several subconsultants, and was completed on time and within budget.
Multiple Agency Involvement
Multiple agencies were involved in the planning, environmental and permitting stages, including the U.S. Forest Service, Army Corps of Engineers, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, Central Valley Water Quality Control Board, California Division of Dams and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Additionally, RCI coordinated the acquisition of and prepared the legal descriptions for construction and permanent easements across portions of private land.
Services Provided
- Civil design
- Site surveying and construction staking
- Environmental design
- CEQA, NEPA and environmental documentation
- Site revegetation design
- Permitting
- Project management & construction oversight
- Joint Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report
- Baseline surveys
- Technical reports
Environmental Expertise
RCI responsibility included preparing all environmental permits and regulatory authorizations, serving as the lead civil design engineer to ensure the project complied with all environmental design criteria and permit conditions, completion of the site restoration plans, subconsultant coordination, serving as the Environmental Coordinator during construction inspection, and overall construction management of four separate construction contracts and numerous owner furnished materials contracts.
Survey Services
RCI was retained to provide survey support services. RCI’s survey team drafted both permanent easement and construction easement legal descriptions and prepared all supporting figures for recording. In addition, RCI was tasked with all construction staking for the 3.1 miles of overhead power line, 25 miles of underground power line and both substations. RCI provided construction staking of 53 towers, many of which were in extremely rough and steep terrain that was only accessible by foot.
Ongoing Services
RCI continues to be retained by the District as the Project Manager and Civil Engineer for ongoing environmental monitoring of the power line corridor and oversight of the maintenance activities of the project access roads.