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Read utility paint as a temporary map, not a guarantee. Before excavation, match every field mark—color, letters, flags, stakes and offsets—to the current 811 ticket and each utility operator’s response. Then check the site plan, arrange locating for private lines, follow your jurisdiction’s tolerance-zone rule and expose utilities with the method local law requires.
What the paint colors mean
The American Public Works Association (APWA) uniform temporary marking code gives crews a common visual language. The colors identify the type of facility or the purpose of a mark; they do not prove the exact owner, material, operating condition, depth or precise centerline. Read the color together with nearby letters, operator identifiers, line-width indications and the written locate response.
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| Color | APWA use | How to read it in the field |
|---|---|---|
| White | Proposed route of a subsurface line or the location or boundary of proposed excavation | Shows the work area the excavator submitted or intends to dig; it is not an existing utility. |
| Pink | Temporary construction survey marks or survey monuments | Identifies survey control or temporary construction layout, not a utility category. |
| Red | Electric power lines, cables, conduit systems and lighting cables | Confirm the operator and alignment from the ticket; color alone does not establish voltage, depth or condition. |
| Yellow | Gas, oil, steam, petroleum, gaseous or dangerous-material facilities | Treat the mark as a potentially hazardous utility and follow the applicable exposure and excavation rules. |
| Orange | Communications, cable television, alarm or signal lines, cables or conduit systems | Check whether multiple communications facilities share a trench and which operator placed each mark. |
| Blue | Water; the APWA graphic identifies potable water, while its guidance list also includes irrigation and slurry | Do not assume the mark is a municipal main or potable service without the operator’s response. |
| Purple | Reclaimed water; APWA text also associates irrigation and slurry lines with purple | Use the response and site records to distinguish reclaimed, irrigation or slurry facilities. |
| Green | Sewer and drain lines | Verify whether the mark represents a public sewer, drain or another operator’s facility. |
These assignments are set out in the APWA Uniform Temporary Marking of Underground Facilities guide. Federal Highway Administration guidance and Tennessee 811 display the familiar assignments as well, but local marking practices and legal requirements still control.
Read the writing, not just the color
Utility owners often add a name, initials, logo or other letter code. Virginia 811 explains that each utility company uses a specific code that can help identify who placed a mark. A mark may also show facility width when the facility is wider than 2 inches. When several lines occupy one trench, the marks can be placed in tandem. Record these identifiers in photographs and in the field log before traffic or weather removes them.
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Understand offset and vertical marks
If the surface above a facility will be removed, APWA describes supplementary offset markings that state how far the actual facility lies from the visible line. A stake, flag or other vertical marker can supplement paint where traffic, vegetation or weather makes a horizontal mark hard to see. An offset is a direction and distance to the facility—not permission to excavate on the painted line without exposing the utility.
Why a color mark is not a complete locate
Paint and flags are temporary surface cues. A line can fade, be covered by grading, or shift in relation to an old drawing. Tennessee 811 notes that a locate position can vary from the surface marks, that utilities are not required to provide depth, and that depth can change over time. Therefore, neither a colored line nor a drawing should be presented as a guarantee of exact horizontal position or depth.
The APWA guide states: “The One-Call damage prevention system shall be contacted prior to excavation.” Contact the one-call center required for the project and wait for the legally applicable start time. The APWA document is revision 4/99; its tolerance-zone recommendation is guidance where a law or code does not specify a different rule.
How to make a locate request
Define the proposed excavation
Before calling or submitting an online request, establish the limits of the work area and the route, boundary or points where ground will be disturbed. White marks identify a proposed excavation or subsurface route under the APWA code. Keep the proposed area narrow and legible enough that operators can determine which facilities are affected. If the work expands, stop and obtain the additional locate coverage required by the local one-call center.
Use the local one-call center’s process
Tell the one-call center what you plan to excavate and where, using the current address or location description and the work limits it requests. Ask which operators will be notified, how the ticket is tracked, when the legal waiting period ends and how long the ticket remains effective. Those details differ by jurisdiction; do not substitute another state’s timeline or ticket rules.
Keep the ticket and responses together
Save the ticket number, request date, stated start date, operator responses, sketches and any instructions. Print or store them where the foreperson and equipment operator can consult them at the excavation. A ticket is an administrative record of notifications and responses; it is not a survey that replaces field marks or safe exposure.
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What happens after you call 811
Wait for every affected operator
Do not start because one utility has marked and another has not. Check the ticket for each affected operator and compare its response code with the marks in the field. “No conflict,” “clear” or similar language must be understood according to the local center’s definitions. If a response is missing, incomplete or inconsistent with visible marks, contact the one-call center or the operator before excavation.
Know that timelines are state-specific
| Jurisdiction and source | Published timing or zone statement | What it means for planning |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado 811, “Before You Dig” | Requests three business days; describes an 18-inch tolerance zone around marks; public locates are free; provides a renotification process for incomplete or missing marks and response discrepancies. | Use the Colorado process and its current instructions for Colorado work; do not treat three business days as a national rule. |
| Tennessee 811, “Before You Dig” | Describes at least three working days’ notice and states a tolerance zone consisting of facility width plus 2 feet (24 inches) on each side. | Use Tennessee’s ticket-duration and excavation instructions for Tennessee work; “working days” and the zone wording are jurisdiction-specific. |
| APWA guide, revision 4/99 | Where law or code does not specify a width, recommends the facility width plus 18 inches measured horizontally from each side; its graphic shows a 24-inch example. | This is APWA guidance, not a replacement for current state or local law. |
Confirm the current legal start time, notice period, ticket duration and tolerance-zone definition with the one-call center serving the job. The examples above demonstrate why a single nationwide distance or deadline is unsafe to assume.
Renotify when marks are missing or conditions change
If marks are incomplete, disappear, conflict with the ticket or become unusable after grading, request the local center’s re-notification or remark process. Colorado 811 specifically describes renotification for incomplete or missing marks and response discrepancies. A changed excavation footprint also requires a new or amended request under local rules; do not extend old marks by guesswork.
Compare the ticket, field marks and site plan
Use three sources side by side: the current locate ticket and responses, what is visibly marked on the ground, and the site plan or utility record. Each answers a different question. The ticket identifies who was notified and what each operator reported. Field marks show where an operator communicated its facility at that visit. The plan provides orientation and a durable record for the project team.
Start with date and document status
Write the date of every plan, as-built drawing, survey and locate response on the comparison sheet. Distinguish a field-surveyed record from an older as-built or design reference. An older drawing can help orient the crew while still being unreliable for a current alignment, a relocated service or a changed grade.
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List every operator named on the ticket and mark whether it has responded. Then walk the entire proposed excavation and check that the operator’s response agrees with the color, letter code and alignment on the ground. A plan that shows a utility but has no corresponding response needs clarification; so does a response that has no visible mark where one should be.
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Record what the plan actually establishes
Note whether the plan documents position, facility width and depth, and whether each value comes from a survey, an as-built record or an estimate. FHWA guidance recommends marking and surveying detected utilities and preparing a site plan, while recognizing that undocumented utilities can be absent from site diagrams. Recorded depth may not reflect current conditions because grade, construction and erosion can change the cover over time.
Escalate unexplained discrepancies
Do not average two conflicting lines or choose the one that is more convenient. Photograph the marks, annotate the plan, retain the ticket response and ask the one-call center or utility operator to explain unfamiliar codes or discrepancies. Virginia 811 advises using the utility-specific letter codes to identify who placed marks; that information helps direct the question to the right operator.
Public 811 marks versus private facilities
Public one-call locating generally addresses facilities owned or operated by the participating utilities, often up to a service point. It may not cover lines installed or maintained by a property owner or another private party. Tennessee 811 gives service lines from a main to a home, irrigation, propane lines and some electric or gas lines beyond a meter as examples that may not be marked through the public operator locate. Colorado 811 likewise directs excavators to a private locating company when private facilities exist.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallBefore excavation, ask the owner, facility manager or local one-call center where public responsibility ends. Arrange private locating when the project could encounter private water, sewer, electrical, gas, irrigation, propane, communications or process lines. Keep the private locator’s report and marks with the public ticket; neither service substitutes for the other.
Apply the tolerance zone for the actual jurisdiction
A tolerance zone protects a band around a marked facility where powered excavation can damage a line that is slightly off the paint. APWA recommends, where no law or code specifies otherwise, the facility width plus 18 inches measured horizontally from each side. It says excavation in that zone should use non-powered hand tools or a non-invasive method until the marked facility is exposed.
That recommendation is not universal law. Colorado 811 describes an 18-inch zone around marks and says digging in the zone should be by hand, if at all. Tennessee 811 states a zone equal to the facility width plus 2 feet (24 inches) on each side and calls for reasonable care. Use the rule, width measurement, exposure method and equipment restrictions published for the job’s jurisdiction.
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Mark the zone on the work surface
Once the facility line and width are confirmed, outline the tolerance zone so the operator can see where powered equipment must stop. Keep the outline visible and renew it if weather, traffic or grading removes it. If the line cannot be exposed safely with the permitted method, pause and obtain direction from the utility owner or the authority having jurisdiction.
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Expose utilities before machine excavation
Use a non-invasive method in the zone
Hand tools or another non-invasive method required by local law let the crew determine the facility’s actual horizontal position and depth before a bucket, auger or trencher approaches. “Depth” is not a value to infer from the paint, a flag height or an old drawing. Expose enough of the facility to identify it without striking, bending or undermining it.
Protect the exposed facility
Once exposed, support and protect the line according to the operator’s instructions and the project’s excavation controls. Do not leave an exposed utility vulnerable to equipment traffic, falling spoil or weather. If the physical facility differs from the ticket or plan, stop work in that area, document the condition and obtain clarification before proceeding.
Use professional locating on complex sites
FHWA describes systematic utility surveys using electromagnetic methods, passive methods and ground-penetrating radar, followed by invasive exposure to identify unknown or undifferentiated utilities. Equipment and physical conditions limit what any locating method can detect. Professional locating, surveyed utility mapping or excavation-safety assistance is appropriate when records are poor, the site is congested, utilities are undocumented or the consequences of a strike are severe. Treat instrument output as information to verify, not as a guarantee that every line has been found.
Build a site plan that remains useful during excavation
Orient the drawing to the work
Show the property boundary, proposed excavation limits, access routes and known reference points. Transfer each verified field mark to the plan with its color, operator code, date and approximate width. Use a legend that distinguishes public 811 marks, private-locate marks, surveyed points and unverified record information.
Attach evidence to each utility line
For every facility, record the ticket response, the operator, the date marked, the locating method if supplied, the exposed position and any depth measured by the crew. If the line is shown only on an old drawing or appears on the ground without a matching record, label that status clearly rather than drawing it as a confirmed surveyed alignment.
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Update after exposure or redesign
Revise the plan when a utility is exposed, rerouted, abandoned, found outside the expected alignment or protected in place. Keep superseded plans with their dates so the crew can distinguish the current field condition from an earlier design. A maintained plan helps later crews, but it does not extend a ticket’s legal life or remove the need for a fresh locate when work changes.
Common field problems and the correct response
A mark is present but no operator response appears
Photograph the mark and note its color, letters and location. Check the ticket for a missed response, then contact the one-call center or the apparent operator. Do not assume the mark is old, private or abandoned until the responsible party confirms it.
The response says clear, but a line is visible
Keep the line out of the excavation plan until its status is explained. A “clear” response may apply only to the operator’s facilities or to the submitted work limits. Ask the center or operator to reconcile the response with the physical mark and check whether a private facility could be involved.
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The paint does not match the drawing
Do not move the paint to fit the drawing. Preserve both records, verify the operator code and request clarification. If the conflict remains, use the jurisdiction’s re-notification process and expose the facility by the permitted method before powered excavation.
The plan shows a utility that is not marked
Check the plan date and whether it is an as-built, design or field-surveyed record. Ask the operator whether the facility is abandoned, outside its responsibility or private. An undocumented or unmarked line is not permission to dig; it is a reason to investigate.
Marks have faded or been disturbed
Stop work where the alignment is uncertain. Request remarking or renotification, refresh the field plan and re-establish the tolerance zone before restarting. Vertical markers can improve visibility, but they do not replace a current locate.
Excavation-day checklist
- Confirm the proposed excavation limits are the same limits described on the current ticket.
- Verify the legal start time and that the ticket remains effective under local rules.
- Check a response from every affected public operator.
- Walk the site and compare colors, letters, flags, stakes, offsets and line widths with the responses.
- Identify private facilities and obtain private locating where public 811 coverage does not apply.
- Compare the current marks with the dated site plan; flag every mismatch.
- Mark the jurisdiction’s tolerance zone and use the required hand or non-invasive exposure method inside it.
- Expose and identify the facility before powered excavation approaches.
- Protect exposed utilities and keep the plan, ticket and operator instructions at the work area.
- Stop and seek clarification if a mark, response, plan or physical facility cannot be reconciled.
Sources and local authority
The color code and temporary-marking practices are described in the APWA guide. FHWA’s discussion of utility locating, undocumented facilities and site plans is available at FHWA Site Characterization and Utility Locating. For operational steps, timelines and state-specific tolerance-zone instructions, consult your local one-call center, including the guidance published by Colorado 811 and Tennessee 811. Virginia’s explanation of operator marking codes is at Virginia 811: What Markings Mean. Current law and the one-call center serving the excavation control when those sources differ.
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