Why are those little flags beside the road?
Red, yellow, orange. The colors tell you about buried facilities. They tell you much less about the project that might follow.
Roadside flags and paint often mark buried utilities. Arkansas 811 publishes a color key: red means electric facilities, yellow gas or related materials, and orange communications or signal lines. The marks identify categories, not the purpose or schedule of a project.
First, read the colors
Once you notice them, you start seeing them everywhere: a few flags in the grass, a line of paint across a drive. Arkansas 811 says locators use the APWA uniform color code. Here is the key it publishes.
| Color | What it marks |
|---|---|
| Red | Electric power, lighting cables and conduit |
| Yellow | Gas, oil, petroleum and gaseous materials |
| Orange | Communications, alarm and signal lines |
| Blue | Drinking water |
| Green | Sewer and drainage |
| Purple | Reclaimed water, irrigation and slurry |
| Pink | Temporary survey marks |
| White | Proposed excavation |
A color key is not a project announcement
Several colors in one patch do not mean several new utilities are going in. They may identify facilities already there. The marks do not tell you who ordered the work, what will be built or when a crew will arrive.
To find the story behind new roadside marks, record the road and nearest intersection from a safe public place. Look for an identified project notice, utility announcement or planning record. Then ask the utility or local government to connect the work to that location. Until then, “utilities have been marked” says more accurately what you know than “a new neighborhood is coming.” That distinction is our reading guide, not a finding about the photographed roadside.
If you are digging, a flag is not clearance
Arkansas 811 is the notification center. Member utilities or their locators mark facilities. The organization explains that private lines behind a meter generally are not marked through that process, and depth information often is not available.
A mark does not account for every buried line or tell you a safe digging depth. Use Arkansas 811’s current request and response instructions before disturbing the ground. If a response or expected mark is missing, follow its guidance. Do not read an unmarked patch as permission to dig.
Sources: Arkansas 811: Frequently Asked Questions · Arkansas 811: Homeowner / DIY
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