DIRT Tag

More Damage, Most Costs, Less Clarity

17 Jan 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

The Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report from the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) is the definitive word on excavation damage to underground facilities. Stakeholders and policymakers alike go to this resource to understand the level of damage, estimate the costs imposed on society, and peer inside the root causes in…

A $90 Billion Problem with Obvious Solutions

20 Dec 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Every year, nearly $100 billion are lost in the U.S. economy due to excavation damage and the inefficiencies in the system designed to prevent them. With systemic issues unaddressed, these costs are poised to keep rising year after year. What is even worse, Congress enacted a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package…

Building New Infrastructure, Damaging the Old

10 Dec 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Constructing new infrastructure, buildings, or even planting trees all require breaking ground. These excavation projects use shovels, augers, jackhammers, backhoes, and other excavation equipment to scrape away earth and make way for new foundations, new pipelines, and new facilities. The problem is that this often threatens the subsurface infrastructure already…

532,000 Excavation Damages Cost The US $30 Billion in 2019, What Are States Doing About It?

16 Oct 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Analysis, Blog Posts

Excavation Damage Every person is required to call 811 or notify their safe digging One-Call center before breaking ground. That is for backyard projects, tree planting, home construction, or professional-level excavation. Failing to do this threatens to expose or damage a pipeline, electrical line, telephone or Internet cable, water main,…

New Report: Improving Upon Our Dig Laws

30 Apr 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts, Press Releases

Washington D.C, District of Columbia – April 30, 2020 – The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) today released a new report for industry leaders and public officials entitled ‘Improving Upon Our Dig Laws: Excavation Damage, Data, and Trends for Industry and Policymaker Analysis (2018 Data)’ analyzing the increasing excavation…

DIRT Blog Update

08 Jun 2017, Posted by staff in All Posts, Blog Posts

Last summer, we published “Improving Upon Our Dig Laws: How State Legislatures Can Help Us Dig Safer,” where we performed an extensive review of the incident data revealed in the Common Ground Alliance’s (CGA) 2014 DIRT report (released in Fall 2015), offered some recommendations states could incorporate into their Damage…