Item - 2023.GG8.25

The General Government Committee:

1. Requested the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services to report back in the first quarter of 2025 with update on the actions taken to address the identification and management of underground utilities.

The purpose of the report is to respond to GG3.22 - Review and Recommendations on Underground Locates. The report summarizes the current processes and challenges related to underground locates and outlines a series of improvements to be implemented both immediately and over the long-term.

What you find under the streets of Toronto is as complex and old as the city itself. Unknown underground infrastructure presents a significant challenge in construction, particularly in older cities like Toronto where some of the infrastructure dates back more than 150 years. While the current City and its pre-amalgamation entities installed a considerable amount of underground infrastructure, so did City agencies such as the Toronto Transit Commission, as well as private and third-party utility companies like Bell, Rogers, Enbridge and Toronto Hydro. This was all done over a long period of time, with different record-keeping systems and practices.

When construction teams inadvertently encounter unknown underground infrastructure, it can lead to dangerous situations posing a threat to worker and public safety, impact the environment, disrupt essential services to the community and it almost always causes delays, leading to extended timelines, increased costs, prolonged traffic disruptions and public frustration.     

Significant resources and substantial efforts have been invested by the City of Toronto in identifying and mapping underground utilities. While progress has been made, the issue of unintentionally encountering underground infrastructure remains a problem for large, older municipalities across North America. However, new processes and technologies are continuing to emerge, which may provide a viable option for the City of Toronto to explore, learn from, and implement for a better outcome.

This staff report outlines how underground locates and utility mapping are currently being undertaken, some of the most significant challenges, and proposes a plan to improve the process including:

- Obtaining and mapping as-built information. (Second Quarter 2024)

- A new risk evaluation matrix. (Second Quarter 2024)

- Staff training and development. (Fourth Quarter 2024, on-going)

- Implementing advanced Subsurface Utility Engineering processes. (Fourth Quarter 2025)

- Develop a tieback-specific database and policy. (Third Quarter 2024)

- Ongoing best practice research.

- Monitoring and coordination.

This report highlights specific measures to address the identification and management of underground infrastructure, however, neither the issue nor the solutions should be isolated from the broader project delivery process. For example, allocating sufficient time for planning and designing a project, aids in resolving this and other issues encountered during the capital delivery process.