Lessons Learned from the BAMI-I/UESI Utility Investigation School (UIS)

It has been reported that at least 70% of projects experience delays and/or budget overruns due to utility conflicts. Inaccurate utility information means increased risk of utility hits. It is important that the underground infrastructure industry realize that the continued increase in the number of subsurface utility hits is unacceptable. In 1996, Purdue University was selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to study the effectiveness of subsurface utility engineering (SUE) as a means of reducing costs and delays on highway projects. Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas were selected to be part of this study. These four states had a total of 71 projects studied in detail. This study (publication no. FHWA-IF-00-014) states: “A savings of $4.62 for every $1.00 spent on SUE was quantified from a total of 71 projects. These projects had a combined construction value in excess of $1 billion. The costs of obtaining Quality Level ‘B’ (QL B) and Quality Level ‘A’ (QL A) data on these 71 projects were less than 0.5 percent of the total construction costs, and it resulted in a construction savings of 1.9 percent over traditional Quality Level C (QL C) and/or Quality Level D (QL D) data.” On October 1, 2015, the ASCE Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute (UESI) was officially established. In August 2016, the first utility investigation school (UIS) which was developed by ASCE’s UESI was held at Louisiana Tech University. The five-day training schools were taught by the foremost experts in the geophysics and subsurface utility engineering field. So far, the Buried Asset Management Institute–International (BAMI-I) and the UESI have conducted 15 UIS in different locations such as Louisiana Tech University, Purdue University, Colorado School of Mines, Lawrence Technological University, University of Texas at Arlington. BAMI-I teamed up with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and conducted the 13th and 14th UIS on September 19−23, and November 14−18, 2022, in San Diego and Sacramento, California, respectively. This paper will describe what BAMI-I is doing to develop industry professional development courses and university level courses.