Clearing the Utilities on Time and Under Budget

Abstract

Serious schedule and budget busters are lurking just below the surface in the path of your project. How does a project manager avoid disastrous collisions with underground utilities or a deadlock with the utility owner when the project momentum is threatened by an impassable underground structure? Overcoming this challenge requires the project owner and management staff to establish an early relationship with each utility owner, to develop and execute Utilities Agreements with those owners, and to organize and implement a detailed Utility Coordination Work Plan. The Utilities Agreement requires the project owner and the utilities owner to sign off on costs, schedule, responsibilities, rights, and remedies associated with clearing the interfering utilities. The Utilities Coordination Work Plan is a step-by-step process to organize and track the clearance of interfering utilities, and includes the Utilities Coordination Report, which is a key complement to the Utilities Relocation Design Plan.