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Mapping
the Underworld
The location of buried utilities is becoming a major social
and financial issue worldwide, largely due to the ever-growing
underground infrastructure, the long history of its installation
and the lack of accurate positioning records of existing services
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Achieving
a More Complete View of the Subsurface with 3D Underground Imaging
Over the past several years, ground penetrating radar (GPR)
systems have been developed and improved upon to enable the
accurate mapping of underground utilities and other structures.
Many companies now consider the use of GPR a standard process
in their Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) investigations. |
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Subsurface
Utility Engineering Vs. Locating ... What's the Difference?
In 1998 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) made it clear
to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that Subsurface
Utility Engineering (SUE) should be used during the development
of highway projects and ... |
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Avoiding
Underground Utility Conflicts
Picture this. A military base begins construction of a new storage
facility building. Records, not recent enough, fail to show
a fiber optic cable (FOC) installed by the information technology
department. |
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Utility
Conflicts
Naval Station Mayport, Jacksonville, Fla., is the third largest
naval facility in the continental United States. It is host
to more than 70 tenant commands, including the aircraft carrier
USS John F. Kennedy, one of the last remaining... |
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A
Clearer View Beneath the Earth
Locating and identifying underground facilities, especially
in large or highly congested areas, has just gotten easier.
A new technology, called 3-D underground imaging, lets you see
in three dimensions... |
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SUE
Solves As-Built Deficiencies, Gathers Accurate Risk Assessment
Data
How confident are you in the spatial data relating to your underground
infrastructure? Is it based on 50-year-old as-built records,
or worse? An asset management database is only as good...
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On-Site
UC Consultants Ease Workload
With our nation's infrastructure aging and deteriorating, state
Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are feeling the burden
of an increasing workload... |
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Coordinating
Utilities: A Critical, Cost-Saving Piece of the Road Construction
Process
Obviously, what you don’t want is a road that runs right
in the path of a utility pole, as pictured here. Yet, what would
have been the most appropriate solution? Relocate the pole or
redesign the road... |
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Finding
Underground Utilities Before the Drilling Rigs Do
An automated people mover (APM) system, part of a $2.6-billion
capital development program, is currently under construction
at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The project
requires approximately 500 pier shafts... |
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Following
GDOT’s SUE Subconsultant Process
Since 1999, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)
has been incorporating Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE)
during the design phase of its highway construction projects.
By providing the project’s roadway designer... |
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Full
price costing is vital to restore and maintain our infrastructure
Much of our core infrastructure of sewers, watermains, roads,
bridges, electrical power and transit are coming to the end
of their life cycle. Ontario is on the verge of a new era of
renewed commitment to water and sewage infrastructure... |
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GPR:
Past, Present and Future
The continuous increase in American consumers' demand for additional
utility services, coupled with the depletion of available subsurface
space in the United States' rights of way due to the constant
addition of new subsurface... |
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Locating
Underground Utilities Before Construction
When the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s)
Air Route Traffic Control Center complex at the Indianapolis
International Airport was planning to install a new Lightning
Protection Grounding and Bonding System (LPGBS), the facility’s... |
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Moving
Quickly
In 2004, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue announced the Fast Forward
Congestion Relief Program, a comprehensive six-year, $15.5 billion
transportation effort to deal with Georgia’s rapidly growing
traffic congestion. Transportation projects... |
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TBE
Group Engineers Niche Market into Key to Success
TBE Group started off simply as Tampa Bay Engineering in Clearwater,
Fla., working primarily with the beach communities in the Tampa
Bay area and providing services similar to those cities that
had their own engineer. Its president and founder... |
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Surveying
Utilities Under the Port of Miami
A major development program is underway at the Port of Miami
which includes the creation of new cruise ship terminals, remodeling
of two existing terminals, construction of two multi-level parking
garages and access road reconfiguration... |
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Proactive
Utilities Management in Public Private Ventures
Plaguing the overwhelming number of projects dedicated to servicing
and updating the nation’s aging and increasingly congested
infrastructure, the seemingly unavoidable delays due to utility
complications continue to retard progress... |
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A
Process Named SUE
Southwestern Region is assessing a new utility location/identification
process to ensure project employees have all the information
they need on the job. This process, called Subsurface Utility
Engineering (SUE), identifies utility... |
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Protecting
America's Utilities Infrastructure
Acts of terrorism in the United States and around the world
have created concern about the possibility of future incidents.
Steps have been taken and are continually being taken to assure
the safety of all Americans. But do those steps adequately... |
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Reducing
Utility Risks
A partnership led by the Virginia Dept. of Rail and Public Transportation
(DRPT) is planning a 23-mile extension of its Metrorail, from
the Orange Line, near Falls Church, to Route 772 in Loudoun
County, beyond Dulles Airport... |
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Subsurface
Utility Engineering: An engineering process obtaining reliable
underground utility information
PIARC Committee on Roads, Transportation and Regional Development
(C4) does not directly examine the topics linked to road construction,
but is interested in all the procedures, methods and experiments
which help reduce costs... |
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State
Highway Depts. Accelerate Locating of Utilities in Road Design
Accidental damage to underground utility facilities during highway
construction results in lost lives, serious injuries, project
delays, and aggravating service disruptions. This has been a
problem... |
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Company
sucks up dirt under street
For the next month, a Florida firm will be sucking up Wyoming
ground from under the 16th Street in downtown Cheyenne and causing
minor traffic disruptions while it does. The project began Tuesday... |
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Subsurface
Utility Engineering: Reducing Risk on Construction Projects
Professional engineers, working with public and private infrastructure
systems and projects, all too often encounter unexpected costs
and delays due to inaccurate or incomplete utility drawings.
Typically, the responsibility for providing accurate... |
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Avoiding
Utility Relocations
Many utilities are unnecessarily relocated each year to accommodate
highway construction. This is because highway projects are often
designed without consideration of underground utilities information... |
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Subsurface
Utility Engineering: A common language we can all understand
and use
Unfortunately, in a lot of situations, the utility record information
that engineers and designers use on projects is GIGO, with information
that is incomplete, inaccurate or non-existent. And the problem
can't be changed overnight... |
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Subsurface
Utility Engineering: Cutting construction costs and claims
Since people began building civil infrastructure in North America
the task of obtaining reliable, accurate, and up-to-date information
about the location of underground utilities has been a formidable
one. While the location of these subsurface utilities... |
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Subsurface
Utility Engineering Undergoing Exponential Growth
From its early beginning more than two decades ago, Subsurface
Utility Engineering (SUE) continues to evolve as an engineering
process that envelopes an entire spectrum of technologies to
use utility data... |
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Subsurface
Utility Engineering Services Gaining Momentum in Ontario
An accurate survey of surface features is an integral part of
almost every construction project. These are features that can
easily be seen with the naked eye. Why then are features that
can't be seen ignored... |
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Impact
of New ASCE Utility Standard on Highway Agencies
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has just released
a new publication entitled Standard Guidelines for the Collection
and Depiction of Existing Subsurface Utility Data. This document
was reviewed and approved nationally... |
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Proactive
Utilities Management: Conflict Analysis and Subsurface Utility
Engineering
Plaguing the overwhelming number of projects dedicated to servicing
and updating the nation’s aging and increasingly congested
infrastructure, the seemingly unavoidable delays due to utility
complications continue to retard progress... |
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SUE
Subsurface Utility Engineering
Canada is lagging in the use of a well-established technology
that could save money, avoid delays, save lives and prevent
injuries. In light of the recent devastating gas explosion from
a damaged pipe... |
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SUE:
Then and Now
Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) is an engineering process
that has evolved considerably over the past few decades. It
has been used primarily by State transportation departments
(DOTs), local highway agencies... |
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Subsurface
Underground Engineering: "The next best thing to X-ray
vision".
Subsurface utility engineering is, simply put, an engineering
process that accurately locates and characterizes buried utilities.
And it does so, as Harter explains, not just in two dimensions.
Using a variety of geophysical prospecting technologies....
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SUE's
Reputation is Growing
On any construction project, it's the unknown that poses the
most significant risk to a job's schedule. What's hidden behind
walls in an older building can be a nightmare for a renovation
contractor. Similarly, erecting a new building on wet clay or
solid rock... |
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Subsurface
Utility Engineering: A Technology-Driven Process
A lack of reliable information on the location of underground
utilities can result in costly conflicts, damages, delays, service
disruptions, redesigns, claims, and even injuries and lost lives
during construction activities. While the location of subsurface
utilities... |
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Learning
To Reduce The Risk Of Utility Conflicts
Recently, TBE Group, a recognized leader in Subsurface Utility
Engineering (SUE), was approached by the American Consulting
Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Georgia to present a workshop... |
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Just
Where are Those Utilities, Anyway?
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) plans to allocate
approximately $80 million on a 1.2-mile section of Route US131
in downtown Grand Rapids, according to MDOT Region Engineer
Steve Earl. The section, called the "S-Curve,"... |
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SUE
vs. Locating ... What’s the Difference?
In a response to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
on March 2, 1998, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
made it very clear that subsurface utility engineering (SUE)
should be used during the development of highway projects and
one-call notification centers and/or utility companies should
be notified to mark the ground indicating the location of the
underground utilities prior to any excavation. |
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SUE
Demonstration
TBE Group Inc. (TBE) loaded their 3D-UI (Three Dimensional Underground
Imaging) equipment into their trailer and brought it and their
other Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) equipment to the
corner of Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Polly Avenue to investigate
underground utilities for the Santa Barbara Extension project. |
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Knowledge
is Needed to Uncover Hidden Costs and Hazards
The location of buried utilities is a major social and financial
issue. This is particularly true with transportation projects.
The lack of accurate positioning records for underground utilities
can create engineering and construction challenge and health
and safety hazards. |
