Optimizing Utility Investigations on Large Design-Build Projects

Existing utilities can present large risks to projects of every kind, including design-build projects. One need not look any further than recent news releases to get a sense of the cost and time issues that can happen. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser states: “Years before utility line clearances posed the “most significant risk” to Honolulu rail, key project consultants downplayed Hawaiian Electric Co.’s warnings of a potential problem and stated that the plans they were developing should be OK.” ENR states “The I-405 expansion was Caltrans’ first design-build project. … utility maps for the Sepulveda Pass caused some of the delays on I-405.” There have also been some successes in managing utility risks. Given the wide range of practices for managing utility risks on projects, ASCE, NSPE, and ACEC in 2016 updated their EJCDC Design-Build master contract document set to include guidance on contractual language for utility investigations. This contractual language includes as a basic engineering service the projects’ use of ASCE 38, Standard Guideline for the Collection and Depiction of Existing Subsurface Utility Data. When coupled with an understanding of successful utility coordination processes and project sequencing, these two documents form a good framework for conducting utility investigations on design-build projects. This paper will illustrate how the use and sequencing of utility investigations as delineated in EJCDC contracts and ASCE 38 assists in reducing utility risks on design-build projects through examination of several large projects: Seattle’s Alaska Way Viaduct project, the North Tarrant Express and LBJ Managed Lanes Projects, and Houston’s Grand Parkway Project.