Public Works Regulation of Utility Street Cuts - April 2011
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Department of Public Works Regulation of Utility Street Cuts
Released: April 2011 Download the Full Report here Download highlights here We undertook this audit because public and private utility companies frequently cut into public streets and sidewalks to install, maintain, and repair utility-related infrastructure. Excavation on city streets reduces the useful life of pavement and failed cuts create hazards. The Department of Public Works is responsible for enforcing city code requirements regulating use of the public right-of-way. |
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We found:
- The Department of Public Works lacks effective enforcement to ensure that the streets are adequately restored when construction is completed
- The department’s written procedures for permitting and inspecting utility street cuts are incomplete, and employees do not keep hardcopy or electronic records to show that inspectors are conducting all required inspections before warranties for the work expire
- The department is not ensuring that franchised utilities comply with bond and insurance requirements
- Employees were unable to identify owners of utility street cuts or provide copies of permits for any of the 26 utility street cuts we randomly sampled
- Public works has not ensured that the Department of Watershed Management’s utility street cut work is permitted or inspected according to the city’s right-of-way ordinance