Value of Subsurface Utility Engineering

Building and rebuilding are facts of life in today's world—from wider roads to larger housing complexes, more significant buildings, and revitalized downtowns

FREMONT, CA: Wider roads, larger housing complexes, larger buildings, and rejuvenated downtowns are only some examples of the constant building and rebuilding that characterizes the modern world. While these alterations to roads and buildings are extremely apparent, the utility infrastructure is an often-overlooked aspect of any project.

The utility infrastructure consists of potable water, sanitary sewer, gas, electricity, telecommunications, and the transportation of stormwater. The need for these services continues to escalate as the global population expands. These new utilities have increased the strain on America's right-of-way since most of these lines are underground in an intricate network of pipes, conduits, and cables. A contractor's utility strike during construction can cause substantial inconveniences and potentially risk injury or death.

Due to the significance of utility findings, numerous states, including Colorado, have lately developed their guidelines for subsurface utility engineering, or SUE.

What Does Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) Encompass?

Traditionally, a contractor will call 811 or submit an online request for a free utility find to avoid these issues. The required "dig area" would then be designated with paint and flags to identify publicly owned utilities. SUE services differ in that they are performed ahead of construction during the design phase to discover utility conflicts, which can assist in alleviating those conflicts in a controlled manner rather than during construction, reducing delays, downtime, and increased costs. Nonetheless, clients are increasingly utilizing SUE to obtain more reliable information regarding the location of utilities beneath the surface of their projects during design and construction. Using SUE services enables projects to stay on schedule and within budget while ensuring worker and public safety.

Simply put, SUE data is excellent insurance. It affirms what is known (or unknown) about a site, and it may be the most valuable, cost-effective, and accurate approach for ensuring that a project is constructed safely, on time, and within budget. Due to these factors, SUE has gained appeal as a proactive way for engineers and contractors to avoid construction project problems.

How is SUE employed?

Many contractors and engineers rely on utility locating services for information during the design and construction phases; however, this process is evolving as each state has its own utility locating regulations. One-call locator services are typically performed without a complete picture of all the utilities on a construction site, are frequently performed by multiple individuals working for different utility owners, are performed with limited equipment, and can only provide an approximate and incomplete picture of the utilities on a site. During the design phase, the comprehensive use of SUE comprises the display of subterranean utilities on design drawings and sheets, evaluating potential conflicts, and conflict resolution.