Design

Avoiding Utility Relocations

Appendix A: Questions

1. Does your agency currently use the Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) process, as defined by the Federal Highway Administration, to obtain information about underground utilities?
2. If so, do your in-house designers and/or design consultants use the SUE information in the design of highway projects to avoid or minimize utility relocations?
3. If not, do your in-house designers and/or design consultants use any other sources of underground utility information in the design of highway projects to avoid or minimize utility relocations?
4. At what point in the development of highway projects does your agency notify utilities of upcoming projects that may have utility conflicts?
5. What other coordination activities does your agency engage in with utilities affected by proposed highway construction?
6. Who in your organization determines whether to relocate conflicting utilities or to design around them?
7. What are the factors that might contribute to the design being revised as opposed to the utility being relocated?
8. Are Life Cycle Cost considerations or other economic models used to evaluate relocation redesign issues?
9. What types of design changes have been made by your designers in order to avoid or minimize the need to relocate utilities?
10. During the design process, are there design practices that are implemented during the preliminary design stage to lessen the possibility of a utility conflict? If so, can you name some of these design practices?
11. If a utility conflict cannot be avoided and the utility needs to be relocated, do you have any methods in place to help minimize the cost of relocation?
12. Does your agency have any requirements concerning the placement of new utilities to help avoid future conflicts?
13. Does your agency have any policies or other strategies concerning utilities that may be pertinent to this study?
14. Does your agency have any policies on shared databases?
15. Does your agency do anything else other than the items previously mentioned to avoid or minimize the need to relocate utilities to accommodate highway construction?

Read the responses from State DOT's