Exchange of Project Specific Information: Preliminary Design Meeting - Process Activity III

  • Participants
  1. Responsible Party
    • TxDOT Project Design Engineer
  2. Necessary Parties
    • Utility Representatives
    • Utility Design Representative
    • TxDOT Design Consultant
    • TxDOT Utility Liaison
    • TxDOT Right of Way Representative
  3. Interested Parties
    • TxDOT Advance Planning Engineer
    • TxDOT Design Team
    • TxDOT Environmental Representative
    • Other TxDOT Parties as Applicable
    • LPA
      Parties as Applicable
  • Objectives
  1. Discuss TxDOT preliminary design and schedule.
  2. Introduce TxDOT and Utility Representatives.
  3. Discussion of TxDOT Utility concerns:
    • Utility Accommodation Rules (UAR)
    • Reimbursement eligibility criteria
    • Expected magnitude of impact
  4. Action plan for accurate utility locations:
    • Subsurface information provider
    • Response time and schedule of provider
  5. Establish the level of utility involvement for each utility.
  6. Set date or identify milestone for Design conference (
    Process Activity V
    ).
  • Activity Narrative
  1. The Preliminary Design Meeting is held within approximately two weeks of the Initial Project Notification (
    Process Activity II
    ). This meeting is different from the Design Conference. At this meeting, TxDOT and Utility Design Representatives will be introduced, including any consultants that they may use in the design process. TxDOT will describe the proposed improvements, the anticipated schedule and potential impact on utilities. The discussion of TxDOT design will include those items of particular interest to utilities, such as drainage facilities, typical sections, structures, and other roadside features. TxDOT’s UAR and reimbursement eligibility criteria will be explained at this time. It is important to identify conditions that would prevent compliance with the UAR and propose potential solutions.
  2. An action plan for locating affected utility facilities can be developed after a determination has been made whether the field verification is to be accomplished jointly or independently. Concerns to be addressed in the action plan are as follows:
    • The immediate need for horizontal and vertical alignment information
    • Physical constraints affecting the methods and equipment to be used in the locating process
    • Anticipated schedule and response time of the information provider(s)
  3. During the Preliminary Design Meeting, a determination will be made regarding the level of utility involvement for each utility. Those identified as being Level 3 require no further involvement. Those identified as being Level 2 or Level 1 will continue as active participants in “The Process.”
  4. Because of the above discussion, a milestone will be identified or a date set for the Design Conference (
    Process Activity V
    ). An appropriate milestone is a project related activity that triggers the need to start detailed design coordination (i.e., completion of drainage design or availability of field verification information).