When to have underground utilities marked?

[orezok]

Back in the 70's I was building a sub division in Southern California. That was in the day when the current dig alert system did not exist. We were running utilities in an old dirt road, but we knew utilities existed in the right of way. I called each of the local utilities to locate and sure enough the phone company had a line in the road. They marked it out and we potholed it to determine it's depth before the contractor arrived. It was buried only about 12".

When the pipeline contractor arrived the first day, I took their foreman to the pothole location and showed him the telco line. Warned him that this was a DIRECT BURIAL MAIN TRUNK LINE between San Diego and LA. The line was about 3 1/2 in diameter. That day, the foreman left the site for something and forgot to tell the operator about the line. Yeah, they trenched right through it.

Telco came in and set up a pair of portable microwave towers on both sides of the break and spliced the 900 lines into each. It took several days at 24 hours per day. They required the contractor to install a large underground splicing vault at the break location. After several weeks of replacing in the vault the line was restored.

The Telco charged the contractor for all work to restore plus line charges for every minute of loss revenue of each line broken until the service was restored.

The final cost to the contractor was over $500,000! ...and to boot, the contractor was self insured. Fortunately they were large enough to suffer the loss and continue in business.

 

[Mace Canute]

If it's marked wrong it's on the locator doing the marking.

In most places it's 2 ft on each side of paint mark (4 ft total) and whatever the depth the utility is does not matter. The locator is not required to give a depth so if it's marked and under a leaf and you hit it. It is on you.

It's the same here for the provincial utility's buried electrical lines. Back when I first started in district work part of my duties was locating lines and the equipment we used had no provision for depth. The newer locators have a depth provision but without daylighting the cable it's impossible to verify what they give as a measurement so we never would give a depth. Besides that, tell them it's two feet deep and many of them will try to dig 23 inches deep. Some would ask how deep the lines were and the only thing we would tell them is what it was supposed to be when installed but from experience, many times the grade was changed after the cables was buried.

 

[kevin37b]

Yep , We ran power for lot lights , with 2 ft of cover a few weeks ago . Then started coring the parking lot and driveway . Not a good layout by the engineer . Saw the top of the conduit more than once .

 

[bdog]

The 811 guys love me. We drill dynamite shot holes for seismic exploration. The holes are 10-20' deep typically and a typical job may be 4000 acres with over a thousand holes spaced all across it. Since we are using explosives not only do we have to worry about drilling into a line but there are certain distances the holes must be from various underground utilities. Last job I had them mark it took them three weeks to mark all the lines.

For your scenario I would always make the call. It is the law that you do. You have to call at least 48 hours before work begins and then you have a limited amount of time to do the work or it has to be remarked.

As a general rule things that are really dangerous like gas or electric lines are deep but not always. At my place the electric service line to the house is six feet deep. We have a gas pipe line running across our field in the back and I chisel plow that field all the time about a foot deep. Things like cable and phone lines are often very shallow.

 

[MHarryE]

I am not sure of the details but there are some times you do not have to call. I farm several fields along roads and from what I have been told I do not need to call for my agricultural land. My nephew has twice caught telephone cable which then needed to be replaced at no cost to him. When the power company was running a power line under one of my fields to my new neighbor's place, I asked the question. The crew told me that in agricultural land they needed to be buried at least 18 inches, but usually are around 24".

 

[DarkBlack]

I install irrigation systems , I hit a fiber cable that was mismarked and it was an inch in the ground . I always take pics of the site before I dig to verify where the marks were . The locaters are quick to spray lines after a problem to cover their butts

Why, or how, do you bury a cable 1" deep?

 

[TerryR]

Why, or how, do you bury a cable 1" deep?

Sounds strange for a "real" cable, but I've seen telephone drops buried barely under the roots of the grass. The reason? To avoid cutting previously placed drops that were 1" deep, that were placed that shallow to avoid cutting those already there that were 2" deep.

 

[paulharvey]

Sounds strange for a "real" cable, but I've seen telephone drops buried barely under the roots of the grass. The reason? To avoid cutting previously placed drops that were 1" deep, that were placed that shallow to avoid cutting those already there that were 2" deep.

When I was a commercial superintendent, the cable/data company hired by the building owner literally lifted fresh sod to lay the drop and the set the sod back down. Shovel or trenches never hit the ground.

 

[paulharvey]

I am not sure of the details but there are some times you do not have to call. I farm several fields along roads and from what I have been told I do not need to call for my agricultural land. My nephew has twice caught telephone cable which then needed to be replaced at no cost to him. When the power company was running a power line under one of my fields to my new neighbor's place, I asked the question. The crew told me that in agricultural land they needed to be buried at least 18 inches, but usually are around 24".

Well, a big thing with that is that buried electric should be in an easement or ROW, they can't just put it across someone's private property.

Agricultural land often has exemptions, but I would always call. It's free, and covers your butt.

As a point, most 'transmission' gas isn't placed it the road right of way, and often crosses pastures. There should be markers of coarse, but they can get knocked out from animals and or ag work. Even a small 6" steel high pressure gas line will be bad news. They should in theory be at least 36" deep, but with 20+ years of erosion, cut/fill, and other stuff, that 36" could easily turn into 12".

Edit; gas pipe lines are often patrolled from air, and they are places in plotted, recorded right of ways and or easementw, bit you can't always see from in the field

 

[JerryK]

I called ' Miss Dig ' as soon as I procured my backhoe. I knew where everything was except the phone line out thru the woods. Does not cost anything, and worth it for peace of mind.