Call before you dig

[JeepHead]

They're installing fiber in front of my house now. They have damaged my asphalt drive during the process as well. THe drive cracked where they bored under it to run the lines and they put two gouges in the asphalt with their equipment. The only good thing is that I grew up with the guy who owns the large company doing all this work so hopefully getting it repaired won't be an issue.

 

[Jstpssng]

We don't get too many line hits anymore. People are pretty good about calling "Call Before You Dig

It's the law here, as in many other states. Discussions like this also can't hurt to get the word out.

 

[Tinhack]

It's the law here, as in many other states. Discussions like this also can't hurt to get the word out.

I called the number over 20 years ago before putting in fence posts. I was going to be using a post hole digger for the wood posts. I made one call and had about five different agencies calling back to verify locations of gas, water, electric, phone and oil lines and how deep I was digging. They all came out within a week and marked all the buried pipe and lines. Most were along the front in the highway right of way, so I was clear to dig. All my posts are one foot inside the property lines.

 

[mrqfarmsllc]

Some state it's law the to call Dig Safe,doing so there no responsibility on landowner if damages result.

Odd thing is I filled out online form CBUD years ago after buying 30+ acres. AT&T was the only company that never replied until I threatened them with complaint to the state utility authorities. Next day they called and stated nothing on your property and "PLEASE" don't call the utilities authority. On second note, here in upstate SC county i live in, phone, cable, and fiber junction boxes are target practice for state mowing crews.

 

[Santa Craig Cringle]

Dumb question: if you own an excavator or backhoe and you want to be able to dig year round all over your property because you’re always doing something, do you call before you dig every month? Because where I am the markings are only good for thirty days.

 

[Hoho223]

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

Fiber optic cable is orange-ish at least in my yard.

 

[JeepHead]

Fiber optic cable is orange-ish at least in my yard.

Being a former AT&T lineman that has installed a LOT of fiber, I have never once seen orange cable, it's always black. The conduit is orange.

 

[onetonford]

Years ago when I lived in another house out in the county Almond orchards all around me. While working in my front yard a guy pulls up and hands me his card. He was from AT&T and he told me to flip over the card and it said if I dig I needed to call this number. It also said that if their fiber optic cable was damaged it would cost $640000 a minute until it got repaired. I asked him where it was located and he replied in front of the power poles I told him I was changing the front to a parking area and wasn't going anywhere near his line. I then joked with him if I damaged his line I would have to give him my home at that price. Later as the city I lived by annexed me into the city they acquired 20 feet of my front yard which was my parking area. They then widened the road to put in utilities for the housing that was going in. When they dug up the old road and put the underground sewer to service my home I got to see where this fiber optic was and yes it was right where the other guy told me. But funny I myself would never been able to damage it as it was encased in concrete about two feet square and maybe 24 inches down. I found out from the road contractor it was a service cable from a military base in the next city over and was a secret cable not on the maps except they were informed about it like I was. Now it is about in the middle of the road and they had to move a planned intersection over to ovoid the manhole further down from me.

 

[Dukeisok]

In my area there is a centrally managed 811 number. They have 72 hours to mark, and if they don't mark in time you are good to go, liability wise.

I have dug in my yard so often I have a pretty good idea where everything is. There is an ATT private fiber line for a call center in the ditch next to main road on my property. In more than a dozen calls over the decade I've lived here, they have never come to mark it when I call. I think it's an old line with no locator/tracer wire in it, so not exactly sure how they would find it.

But, even though I know I don't have any liability my butt still puckers everytime I dig the ditch out with the excavator

 

[bordercollie]

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 fiber optic here (in the country) is in orange plastic tubing. They ran the tubing off of a big reel trailer and used some kind of machine with a long point, that ran it deep and without trenching. I picked up some of the discarded tubing (small pieces) off of the ground after they finished the job. They ran this tubing under trees and even put a splicing box under a massive tree. I mean right in the massive roots. Certainly could have cut a few feet off and spliced before that .There are colored post every so often marking it. It appears to all be on the roadway's ditches.
We have called to have it marked whenever we are rebuilding the fence (cattle) using the auger on the skid steer for the brace posts.