RESPEC PROJECT

RESPEC designed, implemented, and led the control surveys for this ambitious four-phase, 83-mile Alaska Railroad Corporation railway extension project. The project goal was to connect the rail corridor from its terminal at the Chena Flood Control project in North Pole, Alaska, south toward the area of Delta Junction, Alaska. This project significantly benefitted the regional transportation system by extending commercial civilian freight and passenger services as well as providing military personnel with direct access to the training areas west of the Tanana River.

The control survey portion of the project started with the initial horizontal and vertical control surveys along the Richardson Highway from North Pole to Fort Greely, Alaska, in 2005. These initial surveys tied 13 National Geodetic Survey control monuments and benchmarks in a high-precision, static Global Positioning System (GPS) network control survey and a 160-mile loop of differential levels. The following year, RESPEC established and surveyed more than 40 photo-control monuments and panels in a multi-crew, helicopter-borne, photo-control survey on both sides of the Tanana and Delta Rivers. Subsequent control surveys from 2006 to 2015 included additional static GPS and conventional control surveys for hydrographic, topographic, engineering design, and construction surveys; rail-centerline profile traverses; and bridge-site and macro-control surveys for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.