Washington Gas Company Avoids Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Paving Restoration Costs

Utility realizes $250,000 in cost avoidance in first four months of using solution

Paving restoration could consume as much as 40 percent of capital expenses for Washington Gas Company. The utility wished to improve coordination with municipalities and entities in the public right of way when managing road construction and street impacts. Often, the company struggled with coordination due to conflicting project schedules and a lack of information. With ever tightening budgets when dealing with street cuts and road repairs, Washington Gas needed to make its dollars go further.

When staff would meet regularly with fellow utility and municipal project managers to coordinate their respective activities, information was shared in the form of spreadsheets, or in some cases data was provided electronically. Yet, information remained static and was difficult to consolidate into a common format. Conflicts were either not visible or not identified soon enough in the project schedule to avoid paving restoration costs. To help with coordination between entities whose services overlap theirs in the public right of way, Washington Gas Company decided to move forward with the implementation of Accela Right of Way Management.

HOW ACCELA EMPOWERS WASHINGTON GAS

Accela Right of Way Management’s map-based coordination presents information via an interactive online map in geographical and temporal context, allowing Washington Gas to coordinate in real time with municipalities and other entities involved in the public right of way. With Accela, they are better able to mitigate wasteful construction or street impact due to conflicting project schedules or lack of information.

In addition, the company has saved significantly by avoiding street cuts in areas with moratoriums. In the past, it was not uncommon for the utility to complete the design and permitting for a project only to later learn that a moratorium existed at the proposed project site. With the solution, Washington Gas has insight into moratoriums across all the jurisdictions in which it operates.

THE BOTTOM LINE

With the solution’s map-based coordination and capabilities to help Washington Gas Company avoid street cuts in important areas with moratoriums, Accela Right of Way Management has helped avoid potential costs of $10,000-$15,000 per project.

“The value of Accela Right of Way Management is proportionate to the contribution of everyone in the ecosystem,” says Darryl Jackson, Director, Operations Work Planning, Measurement and Technology. “There are numerous opportunities for participants to improve communications and relationships and to collaboratively add greater value as a group.”