Culvert Data, Location and Condition are Important to Towns

and County Government

By Scott M. GaletkaLand Information Officer/GIS Project

CoordinatorLincoln County Land Information and Conservation Department

Reasons for the Inventory

• To obtain culvert location on all county and eventually all town roads

• For Watershed delineation for Land Conservation Projects

• To acquire culvert condition and location data for a replacement plan

• To plan accurate budgets

Inventory Participants

• County Highway Department GPSed the culvert locations on county roads when doing their yearly bridge inventory

• Towns GPSed the culvert locations• GIS staff facilitated the project

Inventory Process

1. Determine data to be collected

1. Location2. Condition

• Good• Fair• Poor

3. Height4. Length5. Road

6. Type• Concrete• Galvanized• Aluminum• Plastic

7. Shape• Arched• Round• Box

8. Date9. Revisit Date10. Collector

Inventory Process

2. Set up the code in the GPS a. Collect most of the data in the fieldb. Create the code in the GPS with drop down menus

3. Training on GPS4. Data download5. Data Review

• Quick Prints

6. Merge data

Inventory Process

7. Create unique identifier8. Map creation9. Inventory products, hard and digital copy of the

data in an Excel spreadsheet format10. Inventory maintenance, the entity can update

their records of each replaced culvert in hard or digital format

a. Re-link the culvert data to the shapefiles

When is the best time to do the Inventory?

• Early Spring, just after the snow melts• Before the vegetation starts to grow• Before the mosquitoes hatch

How long does it take for the field work?

• The Town of Corning took about 7 days for 260 culverts in the late spring early summer

• The Town of Scott took about 4 days for 211 culverts in the winter with minimal snow/ice cover

• The County roads took 11 days for 845 culverts in the winter with minimal snow/ice cover

How long does it take for the office work?

• Downloading data takes about 10 minutes per download

• Merging data takes about 5 minutes• Exporting data takes about 5 minutes• Creating hard copy maps takes about 2-3 days

per entity• Training on GPS takes about 5-10 minutes

Inventory Outcomes

• To check the 24K Hydro Layer• By the Conservation Department staff for

watershed delineations• To maintain detailed records of culvert locations

and tracking system• For the development of a County and Town

Culvert Replacement Plan

Inventory Outcomes

• The government entity is responsible for its own updates

• Utilized by Sheriffs Department for crash site mapping measurements

• More GPS-trained people able to collect data in the field

Questions?