The Subsurface Utility Engineering Process (WEBINAR)

In The Subsurface Utility Engineering Process , you'll learn ...

• The Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) Standard, ASCE Standard 38-02
• Quality levels of SUE service and their relative costs and benefits
• The utility designating process, including survey, computer drafting, and final quality review
• The test hole process, including test hole setup, excavation, data retrieval, backfill, survey, and computer drafting
• Important issues that pertain to contracting a SUE vendor, SUE vendor liability, license requirements, and insurance needs

Overview

With the 2003 release of the ASCE Standard 38-02, Standard Guideline for the Collection and Depiction of Existing Subsurface Utility Data, the relatively new field of subsurface utility engineering (SUE) became a principle branch of engineering. The history of SUE dates back to the early 1980s when the author and a handful of other professionals engaged in the utility mapping and test hole services that form this process. This webinar explores the developmental history of the Standard and offers an in-depth study of the quality levels of SUE services A through D and the core services that make up the overall process.

We will look in detail at the electromagnetic theory, equipment, and techniques used in the designating process, one of the main components of SUE. The presentation includes numerous photographs and graphics to help explain the specific uses of the equipment and convey the amount of field effort required when performing this service. We will also discuss the related survey and cad mapping, using numerous examples of SUE work sheets and finished products.

Additionally, you will learn the equipment and process used to perform an equally important aspect of SUE: air vacuum excavation utility test holes. A step by step discussion will take place to demonstrate the effort involved in test hole setup, traffic control, excavation with air, inspection of the utility, the recording of test hole parameters, and backfill of the test hole. Here, too, we will look at the associated survey and computer drafting.

Before concluding, this webinar will present various cost studies that show the benefits of SUE on transportation projects, and we will discuss contracting with a SUE vendor, SUE vendor liability, license requirements, and insurance needs.