utilities Tag

How Excavation Damage Harms the Vulnerable

09 Aug 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

The world beneath our feet is vibrant and complex. Although we cannot see it and often do not think about it, tens of millions of miles of pipelines, cables, and wires run across the country just underfoot. Every time a shovel or power tool makes contact with the dirt to…

How to Halve Excavation Damages in Five Years

08 Mar 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Construction and excavation activity that damages buried infrastructure in the United States is on the rise. For over 10 years, damage numbers have risen – now exceeding 500,000 annual incidents of striking pipelines, cables, and wires below the surface. It is estimated that this leads to economic harm of over…

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…

What Does Damage Prevention Leadership Look Like?

27 Oct 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

The damage prevention process is tried and true. Notifying a One-Call center through 811 has worked for over a decade, and for at least 30 years prior, other phone numbers and communication methods did the trick. With so firm a foundation and such an established system, how can innovation and…

FEATURE: Making a Homeowner Locate Request

14 Jul 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

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…

Resilience of Regional Roots

29 Mar 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

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…

How Low Do Modern Roots Go?

24 Mar 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

In any natural landscape, a wide variety of vegetation have different root networks belowground. The same is true for the Modern Roots that deliver water, Internet, and much more to all different types of structures. The utilities that run beneath our feet are buried at different depths depending on a…

Hey! Don’t Dig Yet! See This First!

22 Mar 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Are you planning to dig a hole? Maybe you’re just planting a small tree, installing a mailbox, or leveling out a wonky slope in your yard – but there may be something important underground that you can hit! Picture that you are standing below ground with your eyes at surface…

Why Roots and Not Overhead Lines?

17 Mar 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

If you have been following the Aii educational series Modern Roots March this month, you’ll know that we want to get you thinking about underground utilities like you think about the roots of plants and trees. The reason is simple: if you start to recognize that modern life is supported…

The Costs of Digging Blind

15 Mar 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Everyone knows you wouldn’t dig right next to the base of a tree if you thought there were roots underfoot. The same intuition should govern your decisions wherever you are because modern life is so interconnected that utilities, pipes, and wires run under your feet almost anywhere you are! That…

Identifying A Structure’s Roots

10 Mar 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Beneath our households, sidewalks, and backyards, a hidden network of utilities enables a multitude of services to be delivered to consumers, like roots to a tree. Across the U.S., there are more than 20 million miles of underground utility infrastructure. These range from municipal sewer lines to privately-owned telecommunications lines…

Detecting Modern Roots

08 Mar 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

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…

Technology Highlight: GPR for Drone Usage

24 Sep 2021, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

        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. Aii has looked…

Over 99.999% of all U.S. Hazardous Material is Transported Safely

21 Sep 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Massive oil spills, natural gas explosions, produced water leaks, and train derailments are environmental and human tragedies. These rare but terrible events grab headlines and linger in the public memory for years or even decades. The extent of these issues are often difficult to conceptualize – and that is part…

Technology Highlight: AI Applications for Damage Prevention

16 Sep 2021, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

      Artificial Intelligence (AI) has changed the way companies update, monitor, and build infrastructure. In the damage prevention sector, innovations like 24-hour monitoring systems, gas leak detection technology, and improvements in safety gear have also made worksites and infrastructure projects safer. Often overlooked in the damage prevention field…