A Federal Highway
Administration-Purdue
University study in 1999
concluded that acquiring SUE
data for construction projects
provided a return of $4.62 for
every $1 invested, using a sample of
71 projects in four states. Today, with
increased costs for construction delays and
lawsuits, the return likely is much higher, said
Janice Sands Ash, Ayres’ manager of municipal and
utilities services for Southeast Operations.
“The roadway is not just commerce with trucks going
down the road,” Ash said. “What’s going through data
cables underneath – the fiber optics – have far more
commerce in them than any trucks on the road. What
people are finally realizing is that cutting those fiber optic
lines will interrupt commerce.”
Service blends several disciplines
‘Safety first’
“It helps mitigate the risk for striking an existing utility,
which if hit, will cause potential injury or heartache for
someone,” said Kevin Mazzei, a project manager with The
Beck Group, a construction and architecture firm that has
hired Ayres to provide SUE for several of its Tampa-area
projects. “It’s one of those things that you can take for
granted. If someone has a backhoe out there and needs to
put something in the ground, it’s easy to just start digging.
But there are so many things underground – out of sight,
out of mind.
“We always keep what’s potentially out there fresh in our
workers’ minds,” Mazzei said, including displaying utility
data on construction plans in visible areas at all times at
construction sites. “Our firm is big on safety first, and it is a
huge part of our safety orientation on the job site.”
SUE services combine research, engineering, utility
coordination, land surveying, and nondestructive
exploratory skills. From a technical standpoint, the process
is complex and involves significant training. SUE data
acquisition includes various methods to deliver specific
quality levels governed under America Society of Civil
Engineers National Consensus Standards:
D – Basic records research
C – Visual inventory of aboveground utilities
B – Electronic designating of underground anomalies using
electromagnetic detection or ground penetrating radar
A – Physically locating a utility with nondestructive
methods, usually vacuum excavation
Utilities designated or located in a project area are marked
and staked in the field; confirmed using topographic
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