Proactive Utilities Management in Public Private Ventures:
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 and emaciate already tight budgets. Subsurface Utility Engineering, the branch of engineering that specializes in utility identification, location, and advising, is quickly becoming the modus operandi for transportation departments nationwide. It is over twenty years old and yet no organizational system has been widely applied to harness the full potential of Subsurface Utility Engineering. Conflict analysis is an organizational tool for Subsurface Utility Engineering. Working with utility companies, designers, transportation departments, and contractors and employing a powerful new data management tool, the Conflict Matrix, conflict analysis provides a greater sense of coordination.

Utility Coordination is becoming a more prevalent service within the design build / PPV arena. Performing utility relocations as plans develop, presents many challenges to utility owners. Utility owners prefer to have complete plans to accommodate relocation efforts. This issue presents a challenge to utilities that typically relocate for projects in a design-bid-build environment. As PPV and PPP ventures look to minimize risk associated with firm fixed pricing contracts, innovative ideas in project delivery with respect to utility conflicts are becoming increasingly important.

The coalescence of Subsurface Utility Engineering and conflict analysis, though a young concept, is beginning to reshape the industry. With this intimate connection, data transmission and management work in tandem, resulting in very little data loss and confusion. Higher data efficiency in turn propagates fewer missed conflicts. The potential of savings becomes obvious. By merging symbiotically to become one integrated entity, Subsurface Utility Engineering and conflict analysis form the nexus of proactive utilities management that efficiently reduces needless utility relocations, minimizes utility complications, and diminishes overall cost.

Credits
Author(s)
Bob Clemens & Mike Woods

Publication(s)
Presented at American Road and Transportation Builders Meeting
October 2005