KIN 41 Drainage Restoration-Utility Potholing (06-1E950)

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will conduct utility potholing on State Routes 33, 41, 43, 198, and 269 in Kings County. Potholing is required to verify that no underground utilities, such as telecommunications or natural gas lines, would be affected within the project limits (see Table 1 for the project potholing locations on page 3). The crew will use either an extraction vacuum or Hydrovac (high-pressure water and vacuum) to expose the underground utility. Each pothole will measure approximately 6 to 8 inches at the surface and may widen to about 2 feet after reaching a depth of 2 to 3 feet. Once the utility is exposed and measurements are taken, the crew will backfill the pothole with the excavated material and compact it to the original ground level. The crew will then proceed to the next location and repeat the process. The maximum potholing depth is typically 10 feet, although depths of 12 feet or more may be required depending on project needs. Certain potholing locations will use electronic detection to identify underground lines without excavation. In these cases, an electronic detection potholer will tap a wire from a nearby utility box and use an electronic device to approximate the utility's location and depth. All potholing locations are within the existing Area of Potential Effects and are cleared under this CE/CE, except for Locations 8 through 37, which are cultural monitoring sites requiring additional tribal consultation and cultural monitoring during construction. Locations 8 through 37 are cleared only for electronic detection. If any proposed potholing locations are outside the existing Area of Potential Effects, additional documentation and consultation will be required.