West Virginia: 48 hours before you dig.
West Virginia 811 · W. Va. Code §24C-1-5
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
48 hours
The statute counts in hours, not days: 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and no more than ten work days ahead.
Worth knowing in West Virginia
Digging without notifying is a misdemeanour carrying a fine up to $5,000. No West Virginia statute sets a tolerance width at all — the 24 inches crews quote is WV811 guidance, not law — so no figure is shown rather than a guessed one.
Common questions about digging in West Virginia
- How much notice do you have to give before digging in West Virginia?
- 48 hours before you break ground, through West Virginia 811. The statute counts in hours, not days: 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and no more than ten work days ahead.
Check it yourself
Every figure here was read off W. Va. Code §24C-1-5, 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 West Virginia?
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