Like many of you, I have been on a journey to learn more about how we can overcome today’s infrastructure challenges through better integration, more innovative technology and more creative approaches. For me, that means breaking out of my silo of transportation designers and planners and talking more with my colleagues in the water, energy and program management realms.

Jayson Brennen is CDM Smith’s asset management practice leader and one of the most experienced GIS program managers you’ll find. He has helped more than 100 municipalities, utilities and other agencies implement geographic-based technology solutions. As Jayson explained to me in a recent conversation, there are incredible opportunities to learn more about our infrastructure and plan for the future once we start opening up the roadways.

You have compelling ideas about how “dig once” isn’t just a requirement or an expectation, it’s actually an opportunity. What do you mean by that?

Of course, when a roadway repair or pipe replacement project is anticipated, it’s important to coordinate with all the utility owners and stakeholders to plan ahead and avoid digging up the same street multiple times. But municipalities should also plan to document the utilities accurately while the street is open, using technologies such as GPS, ground penetrating radar, and subsurface utility investigation. It’s a chance to capture data on the depth, size, material, and location of the utilities, as well as how they crisscross each other.

Once you have that information, you can use the data to create a GIS and asset management environment that can help with future planning, engineering, design, construction, maintenance, and communication. From there, you can take advantage of the opportunity to leverage emerging technologies such as augmented reality and mixed reality, which can enable us to visualize the underground assets in real time.

By doing these things, cities can take advantage of the opportunity to capture valuable data on below-ground assets, which can improve the efficiency, safety, quality and resilience of their infrastructure systems.

How can a GIS and asset management environment help different entities coordinate their infrastructure planning efforts?

Let me give you an example based in Manchester, New Hampshire, where I work. In Manchester, stormwater and wastewater are managed by the city, drinking water is managed by Manchester Water Works, gas is managed by Liberty Gas and electric is managed by Eversource. So you have at least four different players with infrastructure in the same roadway right-of-way. And we currently have a large CSO program that is going to be opening up many of the streets in a quest to improve water quality in the Merrimack River.

So this presents an opportunity to coordinate the timing and location of different utility projects. The gas company might not be due to replace a pipe for 10 years, but if that street is going to be opened up in two years, they can take that opportunity to move faster and more efficiently. But if we build a robust municipal GIS environment, that can help bring all the different players together to blend their information and come up with an integrated infrastructure plan. Rather than five organizations developing five separate plans, we can achieve data unity.

This all sounds very intriguing … do you see it actually coming to pass?

Absolutely. We’re already doing this work for some of our larger federal clients: integrating infrastructure plans for large federal installations and assets. The federal government absolutely sees the benefit and they are already heading in this direction. I think there’s a huge opportunity for municipal utilities to do the same and forward-thinking cities will be all over this once they see the benefits!