Before you break ground anywhere in Arkansas, state law requires you to call before you dig. In Arkansas, that means notifying Arkansas 811 at least two working days in advance so every utility with buried lines near your project can come out and mark them. The service is free, the call takes a few minutes, and skipping it exposes you to civil penalties, repair costs, and the real possibility of hitting a gas line or power cable. The rule is set out in the Arkansas Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Act at Ark. Code Ann. ยง 14-271-101 et seq.
Who Has to Call
Almost everyone with a shovel or an auger. Arkansas defines excavation broadly to include any operation that digs, compresses, or removes earth using mechanized equipment, hand tools, or blasting.1Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-102 – Definitions Trenching, grading, boring, pile driving, and setting a fence post with an auger all count. Homeowners planting trees, building decks, installing retaining walls, or running sprinkler lines are excavators under the statute.
The exemptions are narrower than most people expect. You don’t need to call for normal agricultural work on private property (cultivation, posthole digging, farm ponds, land clearing) as long as you’re not on a utility right-of-way or easement. You’re also exempt when using pressurized water, air-vacuum systems, or hand tools outside a right-of-way, when opening a grave in a cemetery that isn’t on an operator’s right-of-way, and when state or county crews perform routine road maintenance that doesn’t involve actual demolition or excavation.2Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-109 – Notice to One Call Center The agricultural exemption does not cover digging near a pipeline easement that happens to cross your farm.
How to File a Locate Request
Dial 811 or submit the request through the Arkansas 811 web portal. The statute requires written or telephone notice to the One Call Center, and the person actually doing the digging must file the ticket. You cannot delegate that duty by contract, and if several contractors are working the same site, each one files its own.3Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-112 – Notice of Intent to Excavate or Demolish
You’ll be asked for your name and contact information, the responsible party for the excavation, the start date and expected duration, the type of work, the specific location, and whether you plan to use explosives. The intake agent or web form will also want the county, nearest city, nearest cross streets, and a description of where on the property you’ll be digging.
Before you file, outline the dig area with white paint or white flags. White is the national color code for proposed excavation, and pre-marking helps the locators find the right spot the first time.4American Public Works Association. Uniform Color Code
Then wait. The statute requires at least two full working days between notice and the first scoop of dirt, and you cannot file more than ten working days ahead of your start date.3Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-112 – Notice of Intent to Excavate or Demolish Working days exclude weekends and state holidays. A ticket filed Thursday afternoon won’t finish its two-day clock until Monday, which pushes your earliest dig date to Tuesday.5Arkansas 811. FAQ During that window, the center forwards your ticket to every member utility with facilities near the site, and those companies send out locators.
How Long Your Ticket Lasts
An Arkansas locate ticket is valid for 20 working days from the filing date. You must start work within the first 10 working days, and the utility markings must stay visible for the ticket to remain active.5Arkansas 811. FAQ If your project runs past 20 working days, or the paint and flags get washed out or torn up, refile and wait again.7Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-112 – Notice of Intent to Excavate or Demolish
Reading the Color-Coded Marks
Locators follow the APWA Uniform Color Code, the national standard for marking buried infrastructure:6American Public Works Association. Uniform Color Code
- Red: electric power lines and lighting cables
- Yellow: gas, oil, steam, and other hazardous materials
- Orange: communication and signal lines, including fiber optic and cable TV
- Blue: potable water
- Green: sewer and drain lines
- Purple: reclaimed water, irrigation, and slurry lines
- White: proposed excavation area (your pre-marks)
The marks show horizontal location only. They don’t tell you how deep a line sits, and depth shifts over the years with erosion, grading, and prior construction. Don’t assume anything about depth from the color on the ground.
Digging Near the Marked Lines
Arkansas law protects a safety buffer around every marked facility, called the approximate location. That strip is at least three feet wide, or the width of the facility plus 18 inches on each side, whichever is greater.1Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-102 – Definitions
Once your excavation enters that zone, you have to uncover the facility by a method the utility operator approves. You cannot use mechanized equipment inside the zone without the operator’s express permission.8FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 14 Local Government 14-271-110 In practice, that means hand digging or vacuum excavation until you can see the line. This is the step people most often skip, and it’s where most strikes happen. A backhoe bucket will shear a gas main or a fiber bundle in a fraction of a second.
If You Hit a Line
Stop work in the immediate area, call the One Call Center right away with the location and nature of the damage along with your current work status, and give the operator reasonable time to repair the facility before you continue.9Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-113 – Notice of Damage Required
If the damage releases any flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas or liquid, the rules get stricter. You must notify the operator and call police and fire departments immediately, and take reasonable steps to protect people and property until responders arrive.9Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-113 – Notice of Damage Required Evacuate if you smell gas. Stay away from downed power lines. Don’t try to fix the damage yourself.
Penalties
Arkansas penalties escalate with repeat violations in a 12-month window. A first violation that damages an underground facility doesn’t carry an automatic fine; the violator is ordered to complete mandatory damage-prevention training. Fail to finish that training within 120 days and the civil penalty can reach $2,500 per violation.10Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-104 – Penalties – Civil Remedies
From there, penalties climb:
- Second violation in 12 months: up to $5,000 per violation
- Third or later violation in 12 months: up to $10,000 per violation
Total civil penalties within a 12-month period are capped at $50,000.10Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-104 – Penalties – Civil Remedies
Damage to natural gas or hazardous liquid pipelines runs on a separate federal track with much heavier exposure: up to $257,664 per violation per day, with a maximum of $2,257,664 for a related series of violations.10Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-104 – Penalties – Civil Remedies On top of civil penalties, you’re liable to the utility owner for the actual cost of repairs, which often dwarfs the fine.
Emergency Excavation
The two-day wait does not apply when there’s imminent danger to life, health, property, or public safety. The statute defines imminent danger as a situation with a substantial likelihood of loss before the normal notification can be completed.2Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-109 – Notice to One Call Center You can start digging immediately, but you still have to call the One Call Center as soon as practicable with oral notice of what you’re doing and ask for emergency locate assistance. A ruptured water main flooding a basement or a gas leak requiring excavation to shut a valve qualifies. A tight construction schedule does not.
Private Lines on Your Property
Here’s the gap that catches people out: Arkansas 811 only notifies its member utilities, and those utilities only mark the lines they own. Anything on your side of the meter, such as a gas line from the meter to the house, a water line out to a barn, or buried wiring between structures, is yours. The 811 process will not find or mark it. The statute itself confirms the center has no obligation to transmit a request to any operator that isn’t a member.3Justia. Arkansas Code 14-271-112 – Notice of Intent to Excavate or Demolish
If you know or suspect private lines run through your dig area, hire a private utility locating service. They use ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic equipment to find lines that don’t appear in any utility company’s records. You’ll pay a service call fee plus an hourly rate, and the cost beats cutting your own gas line.