Many jurisidictions are recognizing the human and economic cost of not knowing the location of underground utilities and other infrastructure and are looking at legislative, regulatory, technological, business practice and other measures to find ways to ensure the capture and sharing of reliable underground utility location data. An important question that each jurisdiction needs to decide is whether participation in a scheme for compiling and sharing underground infrastructure data should be voluntary or mandatory. The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) initiative in the UK has adopted a voluntary approach, most likely because it grew out of a initial grass-roots collaboration of asset owners and the organizations involved in working on maintaining embedded asset networks.
Mandatory or voluntary ?
Colorado
Colorado is among the first state/provincial jurisdiction in North America and in the world to mandate a subsurface utility engineering survey (SUE) at the pre-construction stage. Colorado's legislation provides for strong enforcement options. The new regulations mandates the electronic submission to CDOT of a digital plan, typically the result of a SUE survey, showing all physical offsets, both horizontal and vertical, to all existing utilities, including laterals to buildings, before commencing work on a public construction project. Furthermore, the new regulation requires that accurate as-builts, stamped by a PE or PLS, must be submitted electronically to CDOT within 45 days of the completion of work on a public construction project.
A technical innovation that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has adopted and mandated is a mobile and cloud-based hybrid GIS/surveying system for recording and sharing underground utility location data. CDOT requires its construction contractors to use this app so they are all able to view CDOT data in the field and add to the data as new infrastructure is installed or existing infrastructure is located or relocated in preparation for a road or highway project. CDOT now requires that over 150 utility companies and more than 1,000 utility installation stakeholders to also use this app to capture and record the location of underground utilities. Furthermore, anyone conducting a SUE survey is required to use this app to record underground utility location and other data collected.
Ontario
In Ontario legislation since 2020 provides strong enforcement options when locates are not completed accurately and in a timely manner. In addition legislation provides strong measures for compelling utilities and other infrastructure owners to improve utility treatments and relocations. But instead of adopting a traditional mechanism involving fines and other penalties for noncompliance based on the legislation, Infrastructure Ontario has implemented a new approach to utility coordination by fostering collaboration among utility owners and government agencies. Infrastructure Ontario decided to keep the regulatory “big stick” as a rarely used exception and focused on developing a collaborative approach to utility coordination as a more productive and efficient way to achieve better utility coordination. In this vein the Utility Coordination Program (UCP) was launched in March 2020 with the goal of formalizing a new, more streamlined way of performing utility relocation work by enhancing coordination between stakeholders groups. Infrastructure Ontario began working with key utilities and telecoms, the Ministry of Transportation, and the transit agency Metrolinx to develop a program to improve utility coordination. It was recognized that the foundation for a collaborative approach to utility coordination is a single source of project truth. The Office of Utility Coordination (OUC) was setup to became the single custodian of project data and applications. It was recognized that the foundation for a collaborative approach to utility coordination is a single source of project truth. The Office of Utility Coordination (OUC) was setup to became the single custodian of project data and applications. The primary source of the data is provided by utility and other partners. Metrolinx improves on that data by requring SUE surveys.
Scotland
Scotland has a history of asset owners and roads authorities working collaboratively. For many years this tradition has enabled utilities and telecoms to share details of planned works. In 2012 Scotland implemented a nation-wide collaborative system for sharing information about the location of underground infrastructure among stakeholders involved in road construction including roads authorities, utility and telecom network operators, and Transport Scotland. The Scottish Vault system was implemented by the Scottish road works community on a voluntary basis and remains voluntary. (One of provisions in the recently passed Transport (Scotland) Bill could make the sharing of data mandatory, but it has not been implemented.)
England and Wales
The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) initiative in England and Wales has also adopted a voluntary approach to bringing utility owners, government agencies and others together in a collaborative environment to share underground utility data. An important reason that participation is voluntary is this initiative grew out of a bottom-up collaboration among actual asset owners and the organizations involved in working on maintaining embedded asset networks in the North East of England and in London. Feedback from the field was that with the practices currently in place data is delivered inconsistently in terms of scale and content making it difficult to integrate and interpret the data in the field. The strong message from the asset owners and those responsible for maintaining the assets was that a simpler, comprehensive, and standardized approach was required. The NUAR project was formally initiated by the Geospatial Commission, which is part of the Cabinet Office at the heart of the UK government. While NUAR is being driven from government, this is very much picking up on a bottom-up requirement.
NUAR background
In 2018 Northumbrian Water brought network operators and local government agencies in Newcastle upon Tyne together at the Northumbrian Water Group Innovation Festival. The event benefited from a spirit of cooperation which enabled 20 utilities, telecoms, local government authorities to voluntarily sit down at the table to collaborate in developing a shared underground infrastructure map showing the location of water, wastewater, gas, electricity, telecoms and other underground services provided by the network owners.
The UK government created the Geospatial Commission to unlock the significant economic opportunities offered by geospatial data. The NUAR initiative was very much a case of the coincidence of top down interest in digitalization, in general and specifically around geospatial data, and bottom up initiatives by actual asset owners and the organizations involved in working on maintaining embedded asset networks. The Geospatial Commission built on the grass roots initiative in North East England. In addition the Mayor of London’s Office was awarded a share of £3.9m to create a digital map of the utilities and pipes below ground. Known as London's Underground Asset Register (LUAR), the Mayor’s Office worked closely with utilities, transport providers, and six local authorities to create a shared digital map of underground infrastructure. Together in North East England and Central London some 40 utility and telecom network operators and local government agencies voluntarily collaborated to share their data using a harmonized data model and symbology to enable viewing all underground utilities on a single map.
Since completion of the two pilots the Geospatial Commission has announced that it intends to complete procurement for a National Underground Asset Register by Summer 2021. Initially it plans to develop products for three regions, London, Wales, and the North East of England with the intention to complete a national implementation by 2024.
This post is partly based based on the contribution of Neil Brammall, Geospatial Commission, to the panel discussion on the role of government in underground infrastructure at the Canadian Underground Forum (CUF). You can listen to all the talks at CUF on the GeoIgnite CUF Youtube channel.
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