Call before you dig

[bdhsfz6]

Back in 1968, the NJ Turnpike was building an extension that required filling in marshland along the Hackensack River. It wouldn't be permitted under today's environmental laws but back then, such laws didn't exist.

A company was hired to bring in fill by barge up the Hackensack. The barges were so heavily laden, one of them crushed an underwater transcontinental coaxial cable that transmitted coast to coast TV broadcast signals. Luckily, there were enough spare coaxial tubes in a second cable and service was restored in a few hours.

The barge company was under a time sensitive contract and ignored the warnings. Three days later, another barge crushed the second coaxial cable. Network TV was disrupted for almost a month until new submarine coaxial cables could be laid.

I don't remember the $$ figure of the lawsuit. It wasn't much compared to today's settlements but it forced the barge company into chapter 11. I was a lineman for NJ Bell at the time and my overtime paid for a brand new 1968 Chevy Corvette.

 

[dodge man]

My wife worked for the phone company and my son works there now. They deal with fiber optic all the time. That picture of the cable laying on the ground is not a major fiber optic cable, it’s much to small. That doesn’t mean it’s not some kind of important cable though.

 

[Cycledude]

Here in Wisconsin you are supposed to call diggers hotline before doing ANY digging, even in your garden !
So last summer I needed to dig up my 90 years old basement drain to replace it because it was plugged.
Your supposed to call 2 weeks prior to digging and I did, well the day before the digging was supposed to start diggers hotline folks hadn’t shown up so I called again, they said they would send someone out the next day, well the next day it was raining like crazy but there was a white pickup truck sitting at the end of my driveway for quite awhile, eventually he drives into my yard, I had put white stakes in my lawn to mark where I wanted to dig, so I go out in the rain to talk to him, says he is there to mark my telephone line, so I tell him I know where the telephone line is but it was disconnected nearly 20 years ago when I got a cellphone but go ahead a mark it if that’s what your supposed to do but I need the underground power line marked that what I called about. He tells me he is not authorized to mark power lines and I need to call the power company for that. So I start complaining that I called weeks ago to get the power line marked even though I know pretty well where it’s buried and it shouldn’t be any problem with my basement drain. So he feels sorry for me and marks the power line with some orange paint and some red flags it was exactly where i thought it was and no problem for my basement drain project. The next day another guy shows up to supposedly mark the underground power line but says I will have to pay to have it marked. Well I tell him it’s already marked, he says those red flags are for telephone line. I tell him there definitely ain’t no telephone line there and I ain’t paying him anything. So he leaves and a few days later we dig in the new basement drain, everything turned out well. That diggers hotline crap is another one of those crazy government involved messed up programs.

 

[RjCorazza]

^^^
That's certainly odd! Sounds more like the guy charging was out ripping people off.
The only marginal experience I've had with utility marking was last year getting a large gas line marked. I had a good idea where it ran, but the utility guy was wandering around marking areas that I knew were no where near the line. After chatting with him, he was looking at an entirely different area on his map because he had inverted a number in the address (10520 instead of 10502). He was pleasant enough, and got it right in the end.

 

[grsthegreat]

If I submit a locate ticket, the phone company (AT&T) will come out and locate all of their lines. There are at least 2 fiber optic cables running through my property on the highway frontage. All of the fiber cables around here are much larger than what is in your picture. They are at least 2" and are bright orange.

The plastic conduit is bright orange. The wire is black and is pulled thru the plastic conduit.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

The plastic conduit is bright orange. The wire is black and is pulled thru the plastic conduit.

I agree the orange is the conduit. Here in Louisiana, we are required to call or submit a 'locate request' online at least 3 business days before digging. Also, the utility companies pay to be a member of 'Louisiana One Call' which is the organization that handles all locate request. I get an email from them telling me what the utility companys have found and marked, or that the area is clear of their lines.
As a contractor, there is no cost to me for anything to be marked. When I was on our rural water board, we would pay our operator for each time he had to go locate our water lines.

 

[Thorpaws]

Got to throw my 2cents in been in the business for over 30 years. Cables come in lots of different colors and sizes. Installation is just about the same. As for locators different in all states they have different laws concerning them. From someone who has repaired and billed telecommunication lines I would advise anyone who is going to disturb any soil to know their states laws regarding locates at the least it could bankrupt you the most might kill you. To the OP knowing Lumen that "fix" will probably stay that way for years.

 

[orezok]

Years ago I was building a condo project. The project was near completion but one of my contractors needed to do an additional trench. Back in that day,the General Contractor arranged the location.

Gas company came out and marked “all” the underground lines. My sub proceeded to trench and hit a gas line.

Gas company comes out to repair and sez that I will be billed for repair. I pointed out that there were no markings indicating a gas line.

The gas guy goes and gets his as builts and states “there is NO GAS LINE HERE!

I said that ib that case I didn’t hit a gas line.

Never did get a bill. LOL

 

[ultrarunner]

I’ve called a few times and found responsive… the guys coming out get paid so they don’t complain.

 

[WranglerX]

If I submit a locate ticket, the phone company (AT&T) will come out and locate all of their lines. There are at least 2 fiber optic cables running through my property on the highway frontage. All of the fiber cables around here are much larger than what is in your picture. They are at least 2" and are bright orange.

That is just INNERDUCT.... Actual fiber cable is much smaller and pulled in when all the innerduct is connected to appropriate building/fixtures....