(a) Every person who engages in non-emergency excavation or demolition shall:
(1) Take reasonable steps to learn the location of any underground facilities in and near the area where the excavation or demolition will be conducted.
(2) Plan the excavation or demolition in a manner designed to avoid or minimize interference with underground facilities by utilizing precautions including, but not limited to, hand or vacuum excavation methods, and visual inspection of the excavation while in progress until clear of the existing marked facility.
(3) If needed, physically outline the dig site.
(4) Contact 811 Chicago to request a dig ticket not less than 48 hours, but no more than 14 calendar days, in advance of the start of the excavation or demolition. At a minimum, this request shall provide:
(A) the name, address, and phone number of the person engaging in excavation or demolition, and, if available, that person's e-mail address;
(B) the start date and time of the planned excavation or demolition;
(C) a description of the dig site, including the address and any other descriptive features of the site at which the excavation or demolition will take place; and
(D) the type and extent of the work involved.
After making the request, the person undertaking the excavation or demolition will receive from 811 Chicago a valid dig ticket and dig number to be associated with any required permits. Each separate entity involved in an excavation or demolition shall acquire its own dig numbers; a dig number acquired by a primary contractor shall not cover work performed by a subcontractor. It shall be a violation of this subsection (a) for the person undertaking the excavation or demolition to request markings at the same location without having begun excavation or demolition within the 14-day period after initial marking as indicated in the original notice through 811 Chicago.
(5) Limit the excavation or demolition to the specific locations, dates, and times contained in the valid dig ticket received from 811 Chicago, and not begin until after
(A) a dig request has been submitted;
(B) the submitter has received from 811 Chicago a dig number, a valid dig ticket, and the date(s) and times when the excavation may take place; and
(C) the approximate location of underground facilities has been marked or within 48 hours of receipt of the items listed in subsection (a)(5)(B), or by the requested date and time indicated on the notice, whichever is later.
(6) If, after proper notification through 811 Chicago and arrival at the site of the proposed excavation or demolition, the person engaged in the excavation or demolition observes clear evidence of the presence of an unmarked, mismarked, or incompletely marked underground facility in the area of the proposed excavation or demolition, the person engaged in the excavation or demolition shall cease the excavation or demolition until either the underground facility has been marked or two hours after an additional call is made to 811 Chicago, whichever is sooner. A person who calls 811 Chicago under this subsection shall specify which underground facilities are marked, mismarked, or unmarked.
(7) Exercise due care at all times to avoid damaging underground facilities.
(8) During and following the excavation or demolition, provide such support for existing underground facilities in and near the excavation or demolition area as necessary for the protection of such facilities, unless otherwise approved by the persons who own or operate the underground facilities.
(9) Backfill all excavations in such manner and with such materials as specified by the CDOT rules for the protection of existing underground facilities in and near the excavation or demolition area.
(10) Between 20 and 26 days after a request for either a dig ticket or a dig ticket extension, request an extension when the excavation or demolition project will continue beyond the time limited by the dig ticket or its most recent extension, or, where applicable, upon expiration of the applicable public way permit, whichever is sooner. Extensions may only be requested at locations where excavation or demolition work has begun and activity is ongoing.
(11) Provide an additional notice through 811 Chicago requesting re-marking of the areas where excavation or demolition is to continue when confounding factors, including, but not limited to, weather, construction activity, and vandalism at the excavation or demolition site, cause underground facility markings to become faded or indistinguishable.
(b) Notice and response for emergency excavation or emergency demolition.
(1) Every person who engages in emergency excavation or emergency demolition shall take all reasonable precautions to avoid or minimize interference between the work and existing underground facilities in and near the excavation or demolition area, and shall notify through 811 Chicago, as far in advance as possible, the persons who own or operate such underground facilities. The emergency locate request required under this section shall include the information set out in subsection 10-21-050(a)(4). After providing this notice, the person undertaking the excavation or demolition will receive from 811 Chicago an emergency dig number.
(2) Any person who owns or operates an underground facility in or near an emergency excavation or emergency demolition area shall either:
(A) advise the person performing the excavation or demolition that the underground facility is not affected; or
(B) mark the approximate location of the underground facility within two hours or the time specified by 811 Chicago, whichever is longer.
(3) The advisement required under subsection 10-21-050(b)(2)(A) may be provided in person, by phone, phone message, or email. The person who owns or operates the underground facility shall be deemed to have discharged this notice obligation if the person attempts to provide notice by telephone, but is unable to do so because the person engaged in the emergency excavation or emergency demolition does not answer, and does not have an answering machine or answering service to receive the telephone call. If the person who owns or operates the underground facility attempts to provide notice by telephone but receives a busy signal, that attempt shall not discharge this notice obligation.
(4) Emergency excavation or emergency demolition shall not begin until after the approximate location of underground facilities has been marked or more than two hours have gone by since notifying 811 Chicago of the emergency. If the conditions at the site dictate an earlier start than the required wait time, the person engaging in the excavation or demolition will have the burden of establishing that site conditions warranted the earlier start time.
(5) For purposes of this section, the following shall constitute an emergency:
(A) the reinstallation of traffic control devices; and
(B) an open cut underground facility locate, meaning that excavation needs to occur to find the facility.
(6) In no event may an emergency excavation or emergency demolition project continue for more than five days. If the person undertaking the project is aware from the outset that the project will take more than five days, then the person shall proceed under subsection 10-21-050(a). If, for unforeseen reasons, a project proceeding under this subsection 10-21-050(b) is not completed within five days, the person engaged in the excavation or demolition must cease work and acquire a non-emergency dig number through the process provided in subsection 10-21-050(a), as well as all necessary permits. To avoid the requirement to cease work, the person engaged in the excavation or demolition may acquire a non-emergency dig number at any time before the expiration of the five-day emergency project period.
(7) It shall be a violation of this section to make an emergency locate request in the absence of an emergency.
(c) Nothing in this section prohibits the use of any method of excavation if conducted in a manner that would avoid interference with underground facilities.
(Added Coun. J. 11-16-16, p. 37901, Art. VI, § 3; Amend Coun. J. 9-14-21, p. 35804, § 1)