Every week, utility crews hit the streets to repair gas lines, install fiber, or upgrade aging electrical infrastructure. These are necessary, high-impact projects—but too often, they come with an unintended side effect: frustrated residents, unexpected delays, and the all-too-familiar sight of freshly paved streets being ripped open again.
The Cost Is Higher Than You Think
For utilities, poor coordination isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a liability. Consider the real costs:
- Rework & Repaving: Digging into newly paved roads can cost thousands in penalties and reputational damage.
- Resident Complaints: Disruption erodes community trust—even when utilities aren’t at fault.
- Change Orders & Legal Risk: Missed communications and conflicting schedules can lead to lawsuits and regulatory fines.
- Emergency Response Delays: Poor visibility into street work can obstruct emergency services or school routes.
Utilities are often seen as the cause of these issues, even when they’re a symptom of a deeper problem: disconnected planning and outdated coordination systems.
The Root Problem: Siloed Information
Municipalities, utilities, and contractors typically operate with their own maps, plans, and project timelines. While there may be attempts to coordinate, they often rely on email threads, static spreadsheets, or delayed public notifications.
This fragmented communication leads to:
- Missed opportunities for shared trenching or bundled work
- Overlapping schedules and unnecessary disruption
- Zero visibility into emerging community events or other utility work
It’s not just a coordination problem—it’s a data problem.
Why Utilities Should Lead the Shift
Utilities are uniquely positioned to lead the change toward smarter coordination because:
- They manage critical infrastructure that intersects with nearly every project
- They have direct incentives to reduce delays, avoid fines, and improve stakeholder perception
- They are increasingly under regulatory scrutiny to demonstrate public value and transparency
Proactive leadership in coordination not only reduces costs—it builds goodwill with regulators, municipalities, and the public.
The Solution: AI-Powered Coordination with LocationIQ
LocationIQ offers utilities a way to move beyond fragmented communication and siloed systems. Through its StreetSmart™ platform and CORI™ (Coordinated Outdoor Resource Intelligence) assistant, utilities can:
- Visualize street-level assets and active projects in real time
- Share and receive updates securely with municipalities and other utilities
- Identify conflicts early—before they become costly delays
- Automatically generate notifications, action plans, and documentation
It’s more than mapping—it’s intelligent infrastructure coordination.
What Leadership Looks Like
Leading doesn’t mean doing more—it means enabling better outcomes. Here’s what utility leadership in coordination can look like:
- Hosting shared planning sessions with cities using unified visual data
- Offering proactive transparency into upcoming utility work
- Using AI-generated recommendations to align with community events, school calendars, and weather patterns
- Supporting grant applications that rely on well-coordinated infrastructure efforts
When utilities lead, everyone benefits—including the bottom line.
Let’s Build Smarter Together
The future of utility work isn’t just in digging trenches or upgrading poles—it’s in collaborating better. And with the right tools, utilities can not only avoid blame but become heroes of modern infrastructure.
Ready to become a coordination leader? Let’s talk.
