Pennsylvania: 3 business days before you dig.
Pennsylvania One Call System (PA811) · Act 287 of 1974 (73 P.S. §§ 176–182), as amended
Read off the statute on . If it has moved since, tell us and we will re-read it.
A waiting period is not always permission. Some states also require that every operator has answered before you break ground, and some require you to mark your own dig path first. Where we have read that requirement, it is in the notes on this page. Where this page is silent, we have not checked it yet — silence here is not the same as absence. We are working through the rest and dating each one as it lands.
Notice before you break ground
3 business days
Not less than three nor more than ten business days ahead. Complex projects need ten. The clock starts when PA One Call receives it, not when you dial.
Tolerance zone
18" each side
18 inches from the outside wall or edge of the line, not from the mark.
Worth knowing in Pennsylvania
There is no day count on a PA ticket — it stays good while your equipment is on site and the marks are visible. But leave the site for more than two business days and you have to re-notify. A crew that demobs Friday and comes back Wednesday is digging on a dead ticket. Pennsylvania also gives law enforcement actual stop-work authority in the field, which most states do not.
Common questions about digging in Pennsylvania
- How much notice do you have to give before digging in Pennsylvania?
- 3 business days before you break ground, through Pennsylvania One Call System (PA811). Not less than three nor more than ten business days ahead. Complex projects need ten. The clock starts when PA One Call receives it, not when you dial.
- What is the tolerance zone in Pennsylvania?
- 18" each side. 18 inches from the outside wall or edge of the line, not from the mark.
Check it yourself
Every figure here was read off Act 287 of 1974 (73 P.S. §§ 176–182), as amended, not off a summary — summaries of these get the unit wrong, and the unit is usually a weekend. Read the source.
Running a crew in Pennsylvania?
Cable Crews is a job board for this trade where a listing cannot publish with the rate or the per diem left blank. Posting is free, no account. Post work · See the board