While it is recognized to be in the public interest to permit the installation of utility infrastructure in roadway rights-of-way, the practice has contributed to utility-related issues being one of the leading causes of delays for transportation projects. Subsurface utility engineering (SUE) is an approach state departments of transportation (DOTs) have implemented to locate utilities and assist their project-development teams with avoiding these issues.

The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Synthesis 583: Implementation of Subsurface Utility Engineering for Highway Design and Construction documents state DOT use and practices related to SUE and specifically examines how and when SUE is implemented during the project-design and delivery processes.