Applying

Subsurface Utility Engineering

to
Highway and Road Projects
 Existing Underground Utilities are the
Veins and Arteries of our
Cities and Roads

And yet, we know very little

about where they are

Communication
Gas / Propane
Petroleum
Sewerage
Drainage
Power
Steam
Water
 WHY?
We keep adding and changing utilities
 Expansion
 Modernization We don’t keep good records
 Changing Utility  Referenced to
Technology changed topo
 Changing Facility features
Missions  No centralized
records storage
 No standard format
 No responsibility
Where do we get Utility Info?
Old Project Plans (As-Designed)
Old Project Plans (Red-Lined)

Utility Records (As-Designed)

Utility Records (As-Built)

Maintenance
Records
Repair Records
 Visual Observation

 Field Survey
 The Engineer uses these
sources to compile a utility
composite that overlays the new
design

Nowadays, we frequently
digitize this data into a
CADD or GIS System…

This can result in even more errors

 The Engineer ends up
with utility data of
unknown reliability
I think the gas line is here, but
I’m not really sure. It might be in
conflict with this proposed piling.
This makes it
extremely difficult
to manage the I guess we’ll let the
risks that are contractor worry
created by existing about that !
underground
utilities
What are these Risks?
Utility Damages
Affecting the Safety
of
Construction crews,
or the Public
The Telecommunications
and other industries
recognize this
 There are a lot of other risks too
 Redesign costs
Project delays
 Higher construction
bids Detours

$$ 


Change orders
Extra work orders
Construction Claims
 Higher insurance
TIME costs
 Higher financing
costs
Intangibles  Bad publicity
Fortunately, there’s a way
to handle this risk

SUBSURFACE UTILITY ENGINEERING

 S.U.E. Combines Traditional
Engineering Practices, such as …..

Utility Records Research Relocation Cost Estimates

Utility Design/Relocation Design Plotting of Utilities from Records

with New Technologies

Utility Designating
via
Surface Geophysical
Methods
Utility Locating
Via Non-Destructive
Vacuum Exposure
The Most Significant Advancement
is the
Utility Quality Level Attribute
Quality Level Attributes are attached to plotted utilities

They indicate how utility data was developed

Reliability and Accountability

are defined
 “Quality Level D”
The least reliable utility data

 Plotted on plans from records.

 Sometimes a field visit - to look for
utility indications on the site - is
This level of effort made.
is great for Project
Planning purposes,  Sometimes “verbal recollections”
utility “inventories,” are plotted.
and very preliminary
utility relocation cost
estimates
 “Quality Level C”
The “traditional” utility depiction

 Surface Appurtenances are

surveyed and accurately plotted on
a current site plan
Problems with records  Utility data from records (QL D) are
interpretations still correlated to the appurtenances
exist: e.g. schematics,
no appurtenances
depicted, utilities not
straight between
appurtenances, no
records exist, and so on.
 “Quality Level B”
A significant upgrade in quality

 Surface Geophysical Methods

used to search for and trace
existing utilities.
Non-recorded utilities  Designated utilities are then
found. Utilities’ routes surveyed and plotted on site plan.
between appurtenances
are imaged.

Typically used in early

preliminary design for
construction footprint
decisions.
 “Quality Level A”
A guarantee in 3-D

 Utilities exposed via non-

destructive air-vacuum means
 Exposed utilities are then surveyed
Typically used in final and plotted on site plan
design stages. Allows Elevations, Size, Condition,
small adjustments in
design for big savings in Materials, Precise Horizontal
construction Positions are measured and
documented
 QL A and QL B upgrades
have been successful in
reducing risk on tens of
thousands of highway
and road projects.
Used extensively by

Eastern State DOTs

Municipalities This is a tried
and true
process
 SUE has an Outstanding Record
Under recent contracts with various departments of transportation including the
Texas DOT,
New Jersey DOT,
North Carolina DOT,
Virginia DOT,
Pennsylvania DOT,
Delaware DOT,
Ohio DOT,
Georgia DOT,
Florida DOT,
Arizona DOT,
and the Maryland State Highway Administration,

This represents tens of thousands of separate projects, some of which

involved
over 200,000 feet of utilities (Quality Level B)
and 850 test holes (Quality Level A).
 Yet, SUE has not been used as a
professional standard practice in some
areas for many reasons.

 No concerted local or regional effort to

educate project owners or engineers of
benefits
 Lack of interest by state DOTs
 Development of SUE has been primarily
on the east coast
 Few national providers
 Combined construction values in some
areas lower than in others
 Lack of a well defined standard of care
created little incentive for changing the
status-quo
 These
Impediments to
SUE are rapidly
disappearing
 There are now national standards under
development
American Society of Civil Engineer /
American National Standards Institute’s
National Standard Activity
This will
redefine the
Standard Guidelines for the
standard of care Collection and Depiction of
for utility Existing Subsurface Utility Data
mapping by the
engineering
profession
With an anticipated publish
date of December 2001
 A January 2000 FHWA / Purdue University
study (Publication No. FHWA-IF-00-014)
states the following:

“A savings of $4.62 for every $1.00

spent on SUE was quantified from a
total of 71 projects. These projects
had a combined construction value
in excess of $1 billion. The costs of
obtaining Quality Level “B” (QL B)
and Quality Level “A” (QL A) data
on these 71 projects were less than
0.5 percent of the total construction
costs, and it resulted in a
construction savings of 1.9 percent
over traditional Quality Level C
(QL C) and/or Quality Level D (QL
D) data.” .62 for every $1.00 spent on SUE
 One individual project had a $206.00 to
$1.00 return on investment (North Carolina
DOT).
Only 3 of 71 projects had a negative return
on investment.
The simple conclusion of this study is that
SUE is a viable technologic practice that
reduces project costs related to the risks
associated with existing subsurface utilities
and, when used in a systematic manner,
will result in significant quantifiable and
qualitative benefits.
 And there’s more!
SUE is recognized as
a
BEST PRACTICE
by
 AASHTO
 Federal Highway Administration
 Associated General Contractors
 Office of Pipeline Safety
 National Transportation Safety Board
 Network Reliability Council
 Many state DOTs
SUE offers a One-
Stop Shop for all
of a projects’
utility needs
 A SUE Provider has the Diverse Experienced Staff
necessary for these services

Highway Designers Field SUE Specialists

Utility Design Experts Field SUE Technicians
Utility Accommodation Policy Experts Survey Party Chiefs

Records Researchers Professional Engineers

CADD Technicians Professional Surveyors
Utility Engineers Professional Geologists

Equipment Repair Techs

Air/Vacuum Fabrication
Vehicle Maintenance
Subsurface Utility Engineering offers tremendous value
for your projects, too

With a mix of
field and office
activities
Field survey of utility appurtenances, designating, and locating data
Utility designating via surface geophysical techniques
Utility locating via non-destructive vacuum exposure
Utility mapping using quality level attributes

Utility Conflict avoidance advice and design

Utility design and relocation design
Utility relocation coordination
Relocation cost estimates

Utility records research

Utility easement plats

Slide show and pictures courtesy of So-Deep, Inc.