Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo

Galloway’s survey team was selected by the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) through a competitive bidding process to complete an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey of the 302-acre, state-run property in Pueblo, Colorado. The property is 80% developed and includes multiple youth detention buildings, several adult prisons — including a high security compound, and the largest women’s correctional facility in the state of Colorado. Additionally, there are numerous buildings for mental health evaluation, housing, and treatment. The property has served as a medical/mental health treatment facility for more than 120 years. The historical aspect of this facility served as an impetus to perform a survey of the entire property. Portions of the site infrastructure are also more than 100 years old, including portions of the 3.5-mile tunnel system that runs throughout the property.

The complexities of the property lines include:

Adjacency to public rights-of-way
Public roadways on property without right-of-way easements or rights of way
Older residential neighborhoods on multiple sides
State property leased to the city for parks
Adjacent BNSF railyard
Ancient lease agreements with BNSF perimeter fences that do not reflect the limits of the property
Property lines defined by aliquot corners (some established in the 1920s with stones)

Many of the historical records have been lost or destroyed over the years. This required Galloway to order a title report that goes back to the original patent date. CDHS also provided Galloway with a box of unrecorded documents to review and determine application to the property and denote those documents on the survey.

Complexities with the improvements on site include abandoned and uninhabitable buildings, closed sections of tunnels, asbestos through out the tunnels and older buildings, infrastructure from the 1910s forward still in use, including an active steam plant still used to provide heat to the buildings throughout the property.

Galloway provided an on-site GPS control network tied to NGS HARN, and observed with GPS using both static observations processed through NGS OPUS and RTK observations derived from the Lieca Smartnet Network to ensure accuracy and precision control for the site. This control is intended to be used by contractors for future site projects. Galloway provided full 3D scans of the entire tunnel network on property and provided the client with the scan data and converted it to a viewable format for dimensioning and planning purposes. All surface features were captured with “boots-on-the-ground” methods to maintain consistency of precision. Galloway has the underground utilities marked by conventional methods throughout the site and captured by field crews. In addition, the entire developed portions of the site we scanned with GPR (ground penetrating radar) in search for abandoned utility lines and tunnel locations above ground to match with the scanning of the tunnels. Galloway, in coordination with the client completed potholing in the southern portion of the site to assist with utility markings for lines that are known to exist but location was not previously determined or able to determine by other methods.

This project included nine roads totaling approximately 3,100 lineal feet. One task for this project was the evaluation and depiction of the existing right of ways within the project area. This required the survey team to perform assessor parcel research including obtaining the recorded subdivision plats in the project area. This allowed the survey team to evaluate the intent and execution of the right of way dedications and then search/locate for the monumentation along the right of way lines to determine actual on the ground alignments. This allowed the survey team to depict the right of way lines in relation to the actual roadway and the adjacent roadway improvements.

In addition, the survey team captured topographical information between the right of way lines within the project area and included: paving, landscape features, walls, trees, driveways, various improvements and observable utilities. Underground locates were marked and field captured including invert information for storm and sanitary lines. During the course of the project, it was discovered that several water valves had been possibly paved over within the roadways. With the assistance of the Engineering Team, Survey was able to locate and expose the water valves from below the pavement and obtain measurements to the top of the utility. To complete the survey utility portion of this project, the survey team provided potholing information for the water and gas lines, totaling sixteen potholes throughout the project area.

Galloway was able to complete the ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey and surpass the client’s expectations with the deliverables and service Galloway said they would provide. This survey is intended to last for the next 20 years, per CDHS.

Galloway’s civil engineering team is working on the first phase of the site, which consists of 97 acres at the south end of the property. The southern end of the site is bordered by a railroad and residential property, requiring all services to be provided on-site to avoid interfering with the railroad and to stay on schedule and within budget. Additionally, runoff water from the campus will be routed to a proposed detention and water quality pond to mitigate the flooding to the adjacent residential area.

Most of the existing infrastructure – watermain, sanitary main, storm main, water and sanitary services – will be updated. The design must account for a proposed new kitchen site and ensure no services to any building are disrupted at any time. Upgrades include replacing old pipes, rerouting the southern portion of the water main to the north side of the pond, and integrating a new storm sewer system that was previously absent from the south end of the site.

The existing road was realigned and meets the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) minimum radius standards. This improves vehicle access and navigation, especially for semi-trucks, which previously had to drive over the curb and gutter.