As the City of Chicago and State of Illinois have enacted measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), Division of Infrastructure Management (DIM) reminds its stakeholders—including utility providers, construction companies, locators, and project managers—that public way management is an essential function. As such, DIM intends to operate its core work groups—OUC, Permitting, 811 Chicago, and Public Way Enforcement—in accordance with measures proposed by public health officials. To ensure that work in the public right of way proceeds in an effective, efficient, and safe manner, DIM will continue to require companies planning to excavate in the public right of way to obtain a permit and a dig ticket from CDOT prior to starting work. However, to accommodate COVID-19 mitigation measures, DIM asks users to adhere to the following procedures.

Dig Tickets

• 811 Chicago will only accept emergency and no-show requests over the phone. All other ticket requests must be completed online through the 811 Chicago website. 811 Chicago reminds users that only life safety issues and service outages qualify as emergency work.
  • Please include an email address with dig ticket request so that you are alerted to any changes in the status of your request.
  • Once a user creates a dig ticket, and that ticket is accepted by 811, the user can request edits, cancelations, and remarks.
• Dig tickets must be requested at least two business days prior to excavation, but can be requested up to 14 days in advance. Requesting tickets more than two business days in advance allows locators adequate lead time to mark the dig site. In addition, if you are working across multiple blocks, you can stagger the dig dates so that they clear as the crews move down the street. For example, if you have a permit for three blocks of work, you can request tickets so that the first block will clear in three business days, the second block in five days, and the third block in seven days (or whatever schedule best accommodates the crew’s intended work pattern). By staggering work, it is more likely that the marks will be fresh by the time your crews get to the work site and you will limit unnecessary remarks (which further delay the start of work).
  • When submitting a dig ticket request, please set the dig date and time in accordance with the time crews will be on site to start the work.
  • It is essential that users submit dig ticket requests more than two business days in advance of planned excavation.
• Please request “no show” tickets for only those companies that did not mark the site by the dig date and time. Utility owners can respond to a locate request by indicating “positive” (meaning all clear) in the “notice history” (available on all dg tickets), notifying the ticket “contact” via phone call that the site is clear, or marking the site. If the utility owner has responded in one of these three ways, they should not be considered a “no show” unless visual evidence at the dig site confirms the presence of an unmarked facility. Reporting a “no show” for a utility that responded adequately is a violation of MCC 10-21 and could result in a citation. In addition, unnecessary “no shows” further strain the limited resources of locators during the COVID-19 workforce reductions.

By adhering to the guidelines above, companies working in the public way should be able to continue their work without overly taxing the resources of other public way stakeholders. CDOT will notify stakeholders if its services are further affected by COVID-19.