Uh-huh, thought so. When the gas piping is layed (now using high pressure abs plastic) a tracer wire is attached to the pipe. When this system was first used, wire was wrapped around the pipe with a machine (about one complete wrap every 5-6ft) but that proved to be too time consuming so now most wires are just tie-wrapped to the pipe (or are sloppily wrapped) and some ties simply don't make it to the pipe.
Gas piping isn't layed in or covered with sand like the service cables are and this results in the gas being clipped even after a gas stakeout.
Why? When the gas lines are layed in the dug trench and covered back over with the pre-disturbed earth, (especially when the earth is in the form of mud) the pipe gets relocated by the shifting backfill and if the wire isn't attached properly, it will separate from the pipe and then when the next stakeout is done, trouble arises.
The gas surveyor walks along following his tracer wire via a hand-held meter and THAT is where he marks the location of the gasline (with yellow spray paint). Later, unbeknown to him or the contractor digging another trench (a minimum of 3ft away from any gas pipe) is the fact the backhoe could very well cut the gasline because the tracer wire is separated from the actual location of the gasline.
Under-ground hydro,bell and tv cables are each separated by layers of sand to protect and identify the locations of the cable BEFORE they get hit.
Some applications require the cable be put in abs plastic pipe, THEN covered with sand before back-filling the trench with earth.
Hydo right-of-ways are pipe encased AND held in place with pipe separators and then the pipes are then encased in concrete and lastly backfilled with earth.
On main throughfares, subdivision and mall/business entrances all service cable road-crossings are encased in pipe and concrete before being topped with asphalt.
Lots of people who have moved into new subdivisions have a hard time making sense of why a perfectly smooth road is all of a sudden a series of mini road bumps three feet wide, but also ALL the way across the road!
Speaking of road-crossings, a number of years ago, an incident on a new jobsite had a Mississauga police officer shaking his head as he done his paperwork and called a tow truck.
During the previous day, a few road-crossings had been prepared for concrete to be poured the following day.
Upon arriving on the job in the morning the foreman was greeted with huge rubber skid marks all over the road entrance. After checking he realised what had happened. Someone had tied a rope or chain to the backhoe bucket and had dragged the machine around enough to gain entry to the site.
Thinking someone had gotten in to steal something, he drove around the backhoe and inspected the trailers and equipment. Nothing appeared missing.
He then drove around the site checking the road-crossings and lo' and behold!, behind a mound of earth that had been stockpiled, was a Dodge 4x4 pickup with the front wheels sitting down in the open road-crossing and the rear pointing at the sky.
The officer figured whoever was driving the 4x4 came in after dark, found two backhoes totally blocking the entrance, decided to move one out of the way, then attempted to have a go at the huge mound of stored earth as a hill climb. He must of figured on having a good time up the pile but he didn't count on the huge hole at the bottom!
