The final project was an analysis of the preferred corridor construction of a Florida Power and Light (FPL) transmission line. FPL is a significant power company and has sought out help using ArcGIS in helping to find the most suitable route in two southwestern Florida counties, Manatee and Sarasota, to build the line. The corridor must cross sensitive environmental lands, conservation lands, roads, and landowner parcels.
The base map shows the area where the study takes place. It is mostly in the central part of Manatee County and the northern edge of Sarasota County where the two counties border each other. In a letter sent out by FPL to community residents impacted by the line construction, there were other routes to this one mentioned as possible alternatives. In this map is the preferred corridor that was studied for having the best possibility of being constructed taking into account the least cost and the least impact.
The map for objective one is of the conservation land and wetlands, wet and dry (upland). The proposed transmission corridor must take into account how construction will impact these lands. The total area of the transmission corridor is 6568 acres. The total acreage of the conservation lands within the study area is 10398. There were 163.5 acres of conservation land within the proposed corridor. The vast majority of wetland in the preferred corridor is upland dry land which accounts for 86% of the total, leaving the wet wetland at 14% of the total within the corridor.
The next map is objective two quantifies homes and parcels affected by the transmission line. Which homes and parcels lie within the preferred corridor itself and also a 400 feet buffer from the edge of the corridor? The parcels are shown by the separate counties and show that Manatee will be affected the most by the line construction, having 305 parcels compared to 56 from Sarasota County. These numbers are totals from each search parameter.
The objective three map shows the two counties' school system with universities, high schools, and on down to daycare facilities taking into consideration how they will be affected by the proposed construction. Fortunately, there were no schools on any level that are within the 400 feet buffer in the area analysis. This is good news for anyone attending or has someone attending anyone attending these schools.
Finally, the objective four map shows the estimated cost of the project based on a baseline formula from Peter Ng in California. It assumes a cost of $940, 000 per mile just for basic construction costs with the following given factors; flat Land, rural area setting, normal soil, environmental factors, and right of way acquisition. This is a formula from 2009 using California estimations for a power company on the west coast. Either way, it is very expensive at $77,268,000 so a study such as this is ideal to understand the best way to build in the most ideal area.
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