Underground utility damage costs U.S. economy $83.2 billion a year

Common Ground Alliance released a new report Wednesday estimating underground utility damage costs the U.S. $83.2 billion annually, nearly triple the long-cited $30 billion figure. The analysis says direct repairs are only a small share of the total, with most losses tied to business disruption, community damage and public safety impacts.

Why it matters: - Underground utility strikes are no longer just repair bills. The new estimate shows the damage ripples into outages, delayed projects, emergency response, injuries and community disruption. - The scale matters for infrastructure buildouts, from broadband and housing to grid, water and data center projects. - The report says five years of damage at current levels could total about $416 billion, nearly one-third of the $1.4 trillion electric grid modernization investment expected from 2026-2030.

What happened: - Common Ground Alliance released Between the Lines: The True Cost of Damages to America's Buried Utilities on Aug. 13, 2026. - The report estimates underground utility damage costs the U.S. economy $83.2 billion a year, or more than $227 million a day. - The new figure is nearly three times the widely cited $30 billion benchmark set in 2019. - The analysis models 668,999 damage incidents in 2025. - The report measures impacts across direct repair, operational response, business and economic impact, human impact, and community and environmental impact. - The full report is available here.

The details: - Direct repair of buried utilities accounts for $4.9 billion, or 5.9% of the total economic impact. - Business and economic disruption totals $31.6 billion, or 38.0%, including outages, lost revenue, delayed projects and reduced productivity. - Community and environmental costs total $32.6 billion, or 39.2%, including property and road restoration, disruption to public facilities, relocation support and environmental remediation. - Operational response adds $7.8 billion, or 9.4%, including emergency services, traffic control, investigations, insurance and regulatory compliance. - Human impacts add $6.2 billion, or 7.5%, including injuries, fatalities, medical costs, lost wages and long-term disability. - Community, environmental and business consequences together total $64.2 billion, or more than three-quarters of the overall impact. - Moderate incidents make up about one-fifth of modeled damages but generate $64.5 billion, more than three-quarters of the total economic impact. - Urban-area damage accounts for $77.9 billion. - The report says the $83.2 billion annual impact is comparable to paying the average electric bill for 48 million households for a year, paying the average natural gas bill for 97 million households for a year, 17 months of full federal highway funding for all 50 states, or the combined annual state budgets of Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Montana, Maine and Rhode Island.

Between the lines: - The report reframes underground utility damage as a broad economic and public safety problem, not a narrow industry cost. - The biggest losses come after the strike, when restoration, downtime and disruption spread through businesses, communities and government services. - The timing also points to a growing risk as excavation accelerates nationwide around major infrastructure spending. - Sarah K. Magruder Lyle, CGA's president and CEO, called the analysis a wake-up call for everyone who builds, operates, protects or depends on critical infrastructure.

What's next: - CGA says facility owners, excavators, locators, 811 centers, developers, homeowners, policymakers and regulators all have a stake in reversing the trend. - The report's methodology uses 2025 data from CGA's Damage Information Reporting Tool, modeled national damage volumes, confidential interviews, public incident reports and government data. - The estimate is based on a higher-reporting scenario derived from the 94th percentile of consistent DIRT reporters, which CGA says models national economic exposure. - CGA is positioning the report as a call for stronger damage prevention as the country expands critical infrastructure.

The bottom line: - Underground utility damage is costing far more than direct repairs, and most of the burden lands on businesses, communities and taxpayers.