I have studied damage prevention for several years. From reading reports and best practice guides to ride alongs with locators and even calling in an 811 locate request, I felt like I had a good understanding. But it was this summer when I made an online homeowner locate request that…
April is recognized across the U.S. as National Safe Digging Month. As the April showers wind down and the May flowers sprout up, it is important to keep in mind the lessons learned from National Safe Digging Month. While spring can be a great time for gardening and backyard projects,…
Do you know what is below? After a month of emphasizing modern roots, it is time to move into national safe digging month! Throughout March, Aii has been educating on the importance of building intuition about what is below your feet every day. While no one has X-ray vision, everyone…
Across the U.S., underground utilities occupy space at different depths. Many factors influence the depth you may find these pipes, cables, and wires, such as the local landscape, population density, and importantly, the regional climate. Due to regional climate variations within the U.S., these modern roots must be protected from…
A single call to 811 for an excavation project sets in motion a process that will reveal modern roots in a dig site. Damage prevention is a collaboration of different stakeholders who pass information on down the line until each party has completed their task and the site is ready…
Building anything, from a suburban family home to a 50-story skyscraper in a downtown business district, requires preparing the building site. A crucial part of the preparation begins before any machinery makes contact with the Earth: locating underground utilities at the construction site. Pipelines, cables, wires, and other utilities can…
Throughout your daily routine – whether it’s your commute to work, grocery shopping, or visiting grandma – your life is dependent on crucial pieces of infrastructure you may not even notice. The foundation of our ability to enjoy electricity, running water, and home heating rests on millions of miles of…
While you may know March 14 as pi day (3.14) and May 4 as Star Wars day (May the fourth), today is of even greater consequence. August 11 – or 8-11 – is a day dedicated to safe digging known as 811 Day. Why does safe digging matter? Because every…
This blog series Technology Highlight explores some of the ways that investments in innovation lead to better outcomes for infrastructure and public safety. When technology advances, it often becomes cheaper, more widely available and accessible, and helps facilitate faster, safer, and greener projects. This series launched by…
This blog series Technology Highlight will explore some of the ways that investments in innovation lead to better outcomes for infrastructure and public safety. When technology advances, it often becomes cheaper, more widely available and accessible, and helps facilitate faster, safer, and greener projects. While technology is…
The ground we walk on is covered with asphalt for roads, concrete for sidewalks, and is naturally decorated with grass, flowers, shrubs, and trees. Intermingled within are telephone polls, electricity wires, buildings, and other structures requiring power. We all understand that natural organisms have roots that ground them…
Washington D.C, District of Columbia – August 27, 2020 – The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) today released a new report for industry leaders and public officials entitled ‘811: One-Call Before You Dig | The Development and Future of Damage Prevention Efforts’ reviewing the history of One-Call centers and raising…
In March of 2005, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated 811 as the nationwide phone number for excavation damage prevention. Now, 15 years later, we have seen damages decline as everyone from homeowners to construction crews call before they dig. The federal designation unified the nation’s programs into one simple,…
