If you’re planning to undertake a large project—either a single excavation that exceeds the expiration date of a normal notice request or a project that involves a series of repetitive, related-scope excavations—you’ll benefit from following JULIE’s Large Project process. It provides a forum for improved communication between excavators, owners, locators, and operators, resulting in more efficient marking of underground utility lines. A Large Project may include road construction; infrastructure for residential, commercial or industrial developments; wind or solar array farms; municipal projects; utility work; and more. Click here to see if your excavation project meets the criteria.
Once you’ve determined your excavation qualifies as a Large Project, you’ll need to follow a series of steps before you dig, starting with a Joint Meet Notification, which is now required by law. A Joint Meet is the process where you can communicate with all stakeholders the information, plans, scope, schedule, and number of crews related to a proposed project in advance of the start of the excavation. This is succeeded by a Planning/Design Notification.
A Joint Meet is a meeting to openly discuss a large or complicated project and to exchange information such as maps, plans or schedules. It is not a locating session and shall be held at or near the dig site. JULIE shall not recognize a Joint Meet request as satisfactorily fulfilling the statutory requirements of the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act and shall require excavators that request a Joint Meet to additionally call or submit online, after the Joint Meet, a valid locate request(s) in order to receive field locates.
Watch this video to learn how to hold a Joint Meet and related documentation needed.
A Joint Meet Request is valid for one city or township per county and extensive projects may require multiple Joint Meet Requests. Joint Meets are valid for up to 60 days. To request a Joint Meet, the following information must be given to the call center agent or provided using the self-service option:
Prior to beginning a large project, a Planning/Design Notification may also need to be submitted by the project designer/planner. This is beneficial for architects, engineers and others who are in the planning or design stage of a project and excavation will occur in the future. The Planning/Design Notification allows the designer to learn early in the planning stage what utility companies may be impacted by the project. Once they receive a list of affected member engineering contacts via fax or e-mail, it’s the responsibility of the individual making the request to contact each facility owner.
Member underground utility facility owners shall respond to a valid Planning/Design Notification within 10 days upon notification by the designer in one of three ways:
Designers shall make reasonable efforts to prepare construction drawings which minimize interference with existing and proposed utility facilities in the construction area and follow the guidelines set forth in CI-ASCE 38-02 and depict on all appropriate documents the position and type of all known underground utility facilities obtained in the Planning/Design Notification process.
For more information on the Large Project process, including Joint Meet and Planning/Design Notifications, contact a JULIE Damage Prevention Manager.
Interested in learning how to enter Joint Meet or Planning/Design Notifications through our online program known as Remote Ticket Entry? Contact Remote Services/Member Services Manager Paula Browning at pbrowning@julie1call.com to learn more.