Local communities and municipalities Shared Trenching Local communities and municipalities Shared Trenching

What are the benefits? Minimize excavations Provide for more organized easements Reduce construction time Share costs of construction Thinking about Shared Trenching, what are some of the benefits? Minimize excavations – you can disturb less ground Provide for more organized easements – this will always be helpful in the future Reduce construction time – hopefully you can make one trip and be done until more construction is needed. Share costs of construction – it can save you dollars in the long run So, there are benefits to Shared Trenching

With whom can you share? City Utilities Electric Natural Gas Water Sewer Electric Other Broadband Providers With Whom Can You Share? First of all you can share with your local City Utilities Natural Gas Water Sewer You can share with your local Electric Utility or Cooperative And of course, you can share with other Broadband Providers

Joint Trench Detail Here is an example of a Joint Trench Detail I found while looking on the Internet. This is a diagram in a document produced by a Municipality in Minnesota, and shows how they perceive what a Shared Trench might look like. You can see it is a 48” deep x 30” wide trench, and in it are the various utilities and services, separated both vertically and horizontally. It looks nice and neat, doesn’t it?

What does it take? Consistent coordination between all entities Meetings to share and agree to construction plans Schedules that allow for multiple entities to work together Staff and Crews who can be at the site as required What Does It Take to Share a Trench? It takes consistent coordination between all of the entities involved in the project. It takes having meetings in order to share and agree upon construction plans. It takes Schedules that allow for multiple entities to work together in a coordinated manner. It takes Staff and Crew who can be at the project site as requested, when requested.

The real world Unless you have a Green Field project, your facilities are most likely already in separate trenches Project goals between entities are not coordinated Developers and City Planners fail to suggest or consider the benefits of Shared Trenching Now Here is The Real World (from my viewpoint) Unless you have a Green Field project, your facilities and plant are most likely already in separate trenches, thus the opportunities for Shared Trenching are very small. Project goals between entities are not coordinated. Developers and City Planners fail to suggest or consider the benefits and value presented by Shared Trenching. From my perspective, Shared Trenching is still a new or unknown method of construction that gets left out of planning meetings.

Non-Joint Trench Detail Here is a Non-Joint Trench Detail drawing from the same document I found on the Internet. You can see that it shows pretty much what we see every day out in the OK Panhandle. All entities in their own ditch, separated horizontally and vertically as needed. This is normal everyday for us.

Non-Joint Trench Project Here is a Non-Joint Trench housing addition project that we did 2 years ago. After living in Guymon for the past 23 years, this was the first new housing addition we had worked on in that time. You can see the streets and the sidewalks, and between them are strips of green grass, which represent the utility easements provided to us by the Developer of the project.

Non-Joint Trench Detail And here is the Non-Joint Trench Detail drawing that was provided to us by the Developer (and agreed to by the City). Each green strip of easement is 8 feet wide and is between the sidewalks and the street. You can see there is Water, Gas, Phone & Cable, each in their own trench, on the left side of the street, and Sewer and Electric, each in their own trench, on the right side of the street. So, for these six utilities and services, we used 16 feet of easement.

Joint Trench Detail That was a far cry from this ultimate goal of minimizing excavations through proper coordination and planning for Shared Trenching.

Partial Joint Trench Project Area Here is a new Project that should start construction in a few months. This is what I call a Partial Joint Trench project in one of our CLEC communities. This is a new housing addition with a new street and new alleys.

Actual city effort Scheduled a project meeting and invited all entities involved City, Electric, and one Broadband provider (us) showed up Contractor required to dig all trenches (there will be 3 trenches) Contractor provided CAD drawings to all entities Construction Schedule being developed There is actually an effort by the City in this location to work into the construction process a small amount of Shared Trenching. The City scheduled a project meeting and invited all of the entities that will be involved in the new housing addition. The City and Electric company showed up, along with only one Broadband provider (us), even though others were invited. The Contractor will be required to dig all of the Trenches for the project. The project Contractor provided CAD drawings to all entities so we can have an idea of what they are planning. The City and Contractor are now developing the Project Schedule.

Joint Trench Detail - Project Standard 60” depth Possible 18” – 36” width Power in bottom of trench Communications above Power Both separated by 24” fill And so, after the official meeting we met directly with the Electric company to discuss sharing a Trench. This is what we came up with. Standard 60 inch depth Possible width of 18” – 36” Power/Electric will go in the bottom of the trench Communication will go above Power Both will be separated by 24” of fill dirt I heard last week that they are going to limit the number of Trenches in this project to Three. They confirmed that our facility will be in the same trench with Electric.

conclusion Invite your City/Municipality leaders/developers to your Project Planning meetings; suggest they do the same with You Start working with your local Electric utility company Pick an area you want to work in, suggest working together Share ideas ie: bury facilities in an area that are currently aerial Work other entities into your Project Plans for upcoming years Really think about how Shared Trenching can benefit you and others So, in Conclusion Invite your City/Municipality leaders/developers/planners to your Project Planning meetings; suggest they invite you to their planning meetings If you aren’t already, start working with your local Electric utility or Cooperative. Start the process of developing Trust. Pick an area you want/need to work on, and suggest working on it together. Share ideas with them; something like burying facilities in an area that is currently all aerial for maintenance reasons. Work other entities into your Project Plans for the Upcoming Years Really think about how Shared Trenching can benefit not only your company, but others, too.