Subsurface Utility Engineering
 

Subsurface utility engineering or SUE, is an engineering practice that uses nondestructive geophysical investigating techniques to verify the existence, condition and exact location of underground utilities. With SUE services, technicians can pinpoint natural gas lines, electric cables, water and sewer pipes, fiber optic cables and telephone and cable TV lines. Unexpectedly discovering these utilities during construction can wreak havoc on project safety, schedule and budget.

 

 

SUE has been credited with creating safer job sites, reducing utility conflicts and relocations, curbing project delays, minimizing traffic disruption and decreasing right-of-way acquisition costs. For every dollar spent on SUE, $4.62 is saved in construction cost, according to an independent study sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration and published by Purdue University. The study also documented that the cost of SUE services is typically less than one-half of one percent of the total construction cost.

 

An article in the March/April 2004 edition of ASCE’s Journal of Construction Engineering and Management noted that “the cost-benefit analysis, based on 71 actual construction projects where SUE was employed, revealed that more than ten times the funds invested in the SUE services were returned to project owners.” The highest cost savings factor was the reduced number of utility relocations.

Information gained from utilizing SUE can be used during both design and construction. When designers know where utilities are located, they can plan accordingly by siting structures to avoid the need for utility relocation. Contractors who have complete utility information upfront are less likely to damage utilities during construction.

SUE services provide utility data in four quality levels of information, defined by the Federal Highway Administration. Each quality level is important depending upon the degree of accuracy and comprehensiveness needed. McKim & Creed provides all four levels:

 

  • Quality Level D: Most basic level. Information is obtained from historical research of utility records.

  • Quality Level C: Involves mapping above-ground utility features to correlate with Quality Level D information.

  • Quality Level B: Uses surface geophysical prospecting techniques to determine the two-dimensional horizontal position of a utility.

  • Quality Level A: Involves non-destructive excavation methods at critical conflict points to expose and collect exact 3-D position of underground features.

McKim & Creed provides SUE services for a variety of projects—from small expansions to 700-mile long utility installations. Our clients include federal, state and local governments, design consultants, DOTs and utility providers. Our SUE data helps to update and increase accuracy to GIS systems. We understand every phase of the SUE process, and our experience has proven, time and again, that construction costs are reduced when SUE is applied to a project site.

 

Working with our SUE specialists, McKim & Creed’s award-winning team of engineers and surveyors can collect data and design infrastructure systems that cause minimal disruptions with maximum safety considerations.

 

Together, subsurface utility engineering, surveying and engineering professionals can help you stage construction that will reduce negative and costly impacts and eliminate many unknowns. The result is a better-engineered project that minimizes the likelihood of damage, improves safety and saves you money.

 

Projects

 

River Street, Savannah - Quality Level A

Greensquare Large Vacuum Excavation

ENCNG Survey SUE Services

NCSU Jordan Hall SUE




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