Land Acquisition

BLA understands the importance of starting right-of-way coordination early. We have a talented team of engineers, surveyors, abstractors and right-of-way managers to manage land acquisition in order to minimize takings and keep project timelines intact. Services include:

• Right-of-Way Engineering
• Waterline Relocation & Rehabilitation, St. Clair County, Illinois

  • Client: Illinois American Water

    This fast-track project involved preparing all CADD plans and plats to acquire easements for a waterline relocation to make way for a new highway. Serving both agricultural and a growing residential area, the new line was expanded to accommodate the need for increased services. All title documents had to be reviewed carefully to ensure descriptions were accurate in order to avoid conflicts with other utility easements, including gas lines and electric. BLA also negotiated acquisition of easements for 20 parcels. All engineering and acquisitions services were completed in less than 3 months.

• Conwell Street Right-of-Way Engineering, Aurora, Indiana

  • Client: Aurora Board of Public Works

    BLA provided right-of-way engineering and right-of-way services for the reconstruction of Conwell Street from US 50 to near Fourth Street in the City of Aurora. The Conwell Street project offered some unique right-of-way engineering challenges due to age of the original town plats and owner title descriptions. BLA needed to accurately position subdivisions that were established in the late 1800s in this old Ohio River town. Only a combination extensive historical research, survey ground recognizance, and careful analysis allowed us to establish the existing rights-of-way and to correctly locate property lines. This mile-long project involved the purchase of permanent and temporary easements from 70 landowners.

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  Right-of-Way Services
• Canal Road, Terre Haute, Indiana

  • Client: Vigo County Board of Commissioners

    The central focus of this project was to realign and widen McDaniel Road and Canal Road from a narrow 2-lane facility to a 4-lane facility from State Road 641 (the Terre Haute Bypass) to 13th Street. BLA performed right-of-way services, including four relocations, as well as property management using federal funds. There were a total of 33 parcels owners along the 2.49-mile route. The types of properties to be acquired included agricultural, agricultural with development potential, residential (developed and undeveloped), and commercial/light industrial. The complexity of the land acquisition was increased by an active oil well and a variety of sewer and septic issues.

• FA 310 (U.S. Route 67) from the Madison/Jersey County Line to the New Delhi Bypass, Godfrey, Illinois

  • Client: Illinois Department of Transportation

    This ongoing project involves the construction of a four-lane divided freeway between Godfrey and Jerseyville involving the acquisition of 52 parcels that include relocation, acquisition of access rights, and significant damage to the remainder properties.

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