How to Plan 811 Tickets and Drop Days When BEAD Floods the Locate Queue
The short answer: BEAD's buried fiber is projected to drive about 1.4 million 811 tickets and 8.1 million locates, about two thirds of them for drops. The bottleneck is the locate process, not the fiber. Plan tickets backward from dig dates, track each ticket's expiration, and group drops by area so marks are ready when crews arrive.
What the ACLP Numbers Say
In a study the ACLP released on October 8, 2026, Alex Karras and Michael Santorelli estimate that BEAD projects will bury 271,782 miles of fiber, 57.5% of all BEAD fiber miles.
In its base case, the study projects about 1.4 million 811 tickets and roughly 8.1 million facility locates. Its range runs from about 1.0 million to 2.2 million tickets, depending on the planning assumptions. Service drops to homes and businesses, not the fiber route itself, account for about two thirds of the facility locates.
The study puts it plainly: "With about 58% of the fiber to be deployed via BEAD needing to be buried, it will be critical for those excavating the ground to install fiber lines to be able to move swiftly and safely through the locates process."
Why drops multiply tickets: every premise is its own short dig, at its own address, with its own set of utilities to notify.
This Page vs. Your Job File
Our pages on documenting a single dig and pre-bore documentation cover how to defend one job after a strike or a claim. This page covers capacity: how many tickets you can keep alive at once, and how to keep crews from sitting idle while they wait on marks.
Plan Tickets Backward From the Dig Date
Start from the crew calendar, not the ticket queue. Your state's legal notice window sets the earliest and latest day you can call. In Texas, for example, Tex. Util. Code 251.151(a) reads:
"(a) Except as provided by Sections 251.155 and 251.156, a person who intends to excavate shall notify a notification center not earlier than the 14th day before the date the excavation is to begin or later than the 48th hour before the time the excavation is to begin, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays."
Source: Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 251. Section 251.151(b) adds a separate start time for Saturday notifications.
Don't call too early. A ticket called long before the crew arrives can run out before the first shovel goes in.
Treat Ticket Life Like a Perishable
Each ticket has a life and a refresh rule. In Texas, the Railroad Commission's damage prevention rules set a line locate ticket life of 14 working days, unless the excavator and the operator agree in writing, signed and dated by both, to a longer one. If the job is not done when the ticket expires, the excavator refreshes it, and the refresh covers only the area still to be dug. Those rules cover digging near pipelines that carry gas, hazardous liquids or carbon dioxide. See 16 Tex. Admin. Code 18.1(a), (g) and (h) and 16 Tex. Admin. Code 18.3(e) to (g).
Keep a simple ticket log by area: called date, legal start, expiration, refresh by date. Refresh only the area still to dig. On long mainline jobs, ask about written extensions where your state allows them.
Stage Drop Days by Area, Not by Order Date
Group drops into tight areas so one batch of marks covers a full crew day. Keep a backup area with live marks, so one late locate doesn't stop a crew. Keep mainline and drop tickets on separate lists, because they run on different clocks. For the field side of that work, see our page on drop buries.
Check Marks Before You Dig
Confirm that each operator responded before the crew digs. Escalate no shows through your state's 811 center process. Record what you saw at the site; our page on documenting a single dig covers what to keep.
Rules vary by state. Notice windows, ticket life, refresh rules and holiday handling differ from state to state. Texas is shown here as one example. Check your state's 811 center and statute before you plan. This is general information, not legal advice.
Weekly Locate Check for Owners and PMs
- Tickets expiring this week.
- Refreshes due, by area.
- Areas with confirmed marks for next week's crew days.
- A backup area with live marks.
- Open tickets with no operator response.
For where BEAD work stands in your state, see BEAD by state. For the paperwork side of a BEAD subcontract, see the BEAD subcontractor guide.
Questions Contractors Ask
How many 811 tickets will BEAD fiber create?
In its base case, a study the ACLP released on October 8, 2026 projects about 1.4 million 811 tickets and roughly 8.1 million facility locates from 271,782 miles of buried BEAD fiber. Service drops are expected to make up about two thirds of those locates.
How long is an 811 ticket good for?
It depends on the state. In Texas, for example: For digging near gas, hazardous liquid, or CO2 pipelines, the Railroad Commission's damage prevention rules set a locate ticket life of 14 working days, unless the excavator and the operator agree to a longer one in writing, signed and dated by both. An unfinished job must refresh its ticket for the area still to be dug. Check your own state's 811 rules.
Rule text: 16 Tex. Admin. Code 18.1(a), (g) and (h) and 16 Tex. Admin. Code 18.3(e) to (g).
When should a fiber crew call 811 before digging?
Inside your state's legal notice window. In Texas, the notice must come no earlier than 14 days and no later than 48 hours before digging starts, not counting weekends and legal holidays. Plan the call backward from the crew's dig date.
Why do service drops create so many locates?
Each drop is its own short dig at a separate premise, so drops add tickets much faster than mainline routes. The ACLP study expects drops to make up about two thirds of BEAD's projected 8.1 million locates.
How do I keep crews from waiting on locates?
Group drops by area, call tickets on a calendar that works back from dig dates, track every expiration, and keep a backup area with live marks ready. Rules vary by state, so build the plan around your state's notice window and ticket life.
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