Lately Ive been getting work digging in the ROW and I had a pretty big one for me which I finished up today but it was pretty stressful digging across primary power and gas. Im only going about 24" deep for telecom but we found the gas @ 12"... I know there are lots of people here who do utilities and I was looking for any tips when digging in the ROW. The way I do it now is basically just scratching with the bucket after my spotter digs down a few inches in the same direction Im pulling before every pass. We do that until we get to depth then heel it and repeat 10' more. Forgot to mention we shredded a phone line in like 5 places, repaired it twice then I was just like whatever, it looked to be an old line, neither of the buildings we were near had a land line. It was running in the same direction we were going. Thanks guys.
After the locating service is done marking the only safe way is to hand dig or use a soil vacuum to excavate until you find the utility. Any other way is going to get you burned, physically or financially or possibly both. Just because the code says the utility is supposed to be deeper it does not relieve your responsibility if it is marked within 3 feet horizontally. On hard to find utilities we would hand dig a foot deep trench six feet long, peel out that foot with the hoe, make sure the teeth are not going deeper and repeat until the utility is found.
In Alaska the DOT&PF requires that a contractor (or anyone) get a ROW permit to dig in our ROW. You might want to check with those with jurisdictional authority in your area before digging. Another thing that keeps me real busy with my projects is historic properties. Your SHPO can guide you if you have concerns about historic resources in or nearby the ROW.
plate across the teeth and steady digging , its all i do most days
We have all locates complete and in hand then hydro excavate and expose all utilities before doing any digging.
the city here just got a state natural gas guy (H.N.I.C) come out t their sidewalk job & inform them that they were in violation of the law cause they had to hydro excavate the line every 4-6' along the way they are going!! and just because they are a mulnicipality they were NOT exempt from anything!!! as the mayor was misinformed the crew!!! !n this day & age Aliate you are living very dangerously digging as you say!!! I have been on jobs before & heard all the sayings like can feel it when it hits something or the ground is to hard to hand dig BUT its not worth the risk to take when something happens & IT WILL!!!! it just did across the street from my shop last year a company dug thru the BIG over 4" fiber optic line with a pole auger!!! the phone guys (4 trailers with 2 guys in each trailer) were there for 2 day & nights straight putting stuff back together again!! I heard rumors of the $10000 a minute price for the repairs!!
What I have noticed lately is even after you call in a locate some companies simply just don't show up in the time frame given . They are on the list of notified parties ...... They just refuse to take time to locate the line . Had this happen on a job site where we were dipping out a creek for a farmer . Phone company was a no show on the locate . I'm thinking .... OK .... That's fine .. I knew where the line was & we were fine on the job . Then ....... Farmer asks ...." Hey while you are here dip out that short section beside the road ". I replied ... No .. phone line in there and aint worth the trouble . Call the county Highway department & have them dip the road side out . If the phone company complains after the highway department digs up the line the county will tell the phone company to go to hell & get your Damn phone line out of our ditch ! Kind of strange how it all works . We do have a pretty good county highway department
Thanks for all the advice guys. By the way I do carry my own locator and at least verify power marks.
You are most likely right, I am required to carry a 7 mil umbrella for this reason. Just to clarify, I am calling 811 first, and making sure everything is marked before I start digging, I am saying when Im digging even where I am supposedly in the clear, I still have my spotter dig down before every pass just to be sure, I was curious if everyone else did this as well.
Call center requires hand digging. In the trench, the helper can dig like he is working in a garden...start with a small hole then next shovelful goes back into the hole and the hole is moved a bit and continue for about three or four feet then the machine's bucket carefully takes away five inches or six, then repeat procedure....the idea is the shovel is doing the excavating and the tractor is removing the loose dirt.... If the machine is a tractor backhoe, sometimes if the loader bucket is off the ground and the outriggers can be raised to put some weight on the rubber, the force available on the bucket is lessened but the machine is much more jumpy so if you think you are smooth then try this in a safe area like a stock pile....sometimes
I dig alot of time with no spotter what works best for me is to scratch with the bucket curled out as much as possible while only pulling until about half stroke. So i never let the teeth point vertically also watch the ground around you because even lightly touching a pipe will move the ground you even a tiny bit letting you know something is there 99% even when i have a spotter i find things before they do