Feasibility of Mapping and Marking Underground Utilities by State Transportation Departments

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This document is a technical summary of the Federal Highway Administration report Feasibility of Mapping and Marking Underground Utilities by State Transportation Departments (FHWA-HRT-16-019).

INTRODUCTION

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) conducted research to document issues associated with State transportation departments asserting their responsibility to manage utility installations within the highway right-of-way.⁽¹⁾ The research focused on the use of three-dimensional (3D) techniques by State transportation departments. More specifically, the research addressed the following topics:

• Feasibility of State transportation departments serving as the central repository of utility data within the State highway right-of-way.
• Benefits of having reliable, accurate utility data available during project delivery.
• Barriers to collecting and managing utility location data as well as strategies to overcome those barriers.
• Cost to manage 3D utility location data and mark utilities with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.

To address these topics, the research team did the following:

• Completed a literature review on the use of 3D technology.
• Contacted State transportation departments to document business practices and learn lessons from a review of a sample of case studies.
• Conducted an analysis of strategies, barriers for implementation, and return on investment (ROI).
• Reviewed the use, benefits, and costs of using RFID technology to mark underground utility installations.