The Role of SUE Surveys in Construction

SUE applications prevent construction, excavation, and disaster management risks and enhance construction accuracy.

FREMONT, CA: Subsurface utility engineering (SUE) is expanding its applications to broader use cases. SUE facilitates state departments of transportation (DOT) to locate utilities and assist their project-development teams while avoiding utility infrastructural challenges. Utility infrastructures like roadways and highways can contribute to civic inefficiencies and slowdowns, and utility construction can often contribute to utility-related issues that delay transportation projects.

The SUE industry applies surveying and scanning techniques to develop 3D models of various locations. SUE surveying facilitates the mapping of underground utilities. Municipal entities can rely on SUE data to carry out construction and excavation projects safely and without incident.

SUE surveying is important for its following applications.

Construction projects: SUE surveying is important in construction planning. Contractors rely on SUE-generated maps of underground utilities. SUE maps give workers an understanding of underground networks and construction so workers avoid pitfalls and construction errors. Data-based planning prevents damage to existing infrastructure and ensures smooth construction processes without triggering flooding and electrical damage.

Excavation: Workers develop a better sense of underground infrastructure through SUE maps. Excavation projects can navigate around the required underground infrastructure and avoid essential utilities. Workers work around underground utilities and prevent damage during excavation. SUE surveying is important in excavation to guide workers around cases where the ground is settling and needs re-filling.

Emergency response: SUE surveying capabilities are important after natural disasters. Disaster management teams utilize data from SUE surveys to assess the damage and identify damages to underground utilities. Ground disruptions require SUE surveying to avoid major underground utility infrastructure and leverage utility mapping applications.

SUE surveys are useful to risk management. Contractors can guide construction progress across the site while avoiding appropriate areas. Accurate surveying capabilities promote workspace safety, efficiency, and accuracy.

Construction companies need to account for some of SUE's challenges to leverage its use cases and benefits.

Coordination: Operational SUE surveying is effective when there is coordination between different parties, like the owner of the utilities, the contractor, and the surveyor.

Technology: Technology and equipment quality contribute the effective and accurate surveys. Inaccurate surveys have a greater chance of introducing errors in a project and causing resource drains.