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Call Before You Dig

Photo of a shovel and cell phone screen with the numbers 811.Dial 811 to Dig Safely

Any project that requires digging and excavation carries a risk of hitting underground utility lines. It’s important to take the proper precautions before breaking ground for any project, large or small.

Oregon law requires that anyone digging on private property or any public right-of-way call Oregon’s utility notification center at 811 at least 48 hours before digging. This 811 Call Center is open 24 hours a day, and this service is free of charge.

These are the steps that you can take to ensure your digging and excavation projects are carried out safely:

  • Wait.  Wait 48 hours for a response to your request. Affected agencies will send a locator to mark any underground utilities with color-coded paint.
  • Confirm.  Check that all affected utilities have responded by comparing the markers to the list of utilities provided by the 811 Call Center.
  • Respect.  Leave a safety margin (2 feet on all sides) around the utility markers. They are your guide for the project.
  • Dig Carefully.  If you can’t avoid digging near the markers, consider moving your project.   Any digging within 24 inches of location marks must be done by hand.

The 811 Call Center provides critical information that can prevent injury, damage, and service disruptions caused by digging too close to underground facilities. A call to the 811 Call Center protects the homeowner/excavator from possibly being charged thousands of dollars to repair damaged facilities in the event of a dig-in accident.

Planting Trees

Before planting any trees in the public right-of-way contact the appropriate agency.