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Daylighting the gas line before a Cambridge driveway or addition: what Enbridge's rules require

Yes, a Cambridge driveway or addition needs a gas locate before anyone digs. Enbridge Gas lists driveways, decks, pools and basement waterproofing among the projects that require one, and within one metre of the marks the service has to be exposed with hand tools or hydrovac before any machine touches the ground.

Last updated October 24, 2026 · Reviewed by the Cambridge Hydrovac team

Does a driveway or addition need a gas locate in Cambridge?

It does, like any digging on the property. Enbridge Gas says to contact Ontario One Call, now operating as Ontario Dig Authority, no less than five business days before starting digging projects of any size, and its list of projects that need a locate includes landscaping, fences, gardens, driveways, trees, decks, pools and basement waterproofing. The locate is free. The gas service to a Cambridge house runs from the main under the street, across the boulevard and the front yard to the meter, which puts it directly under the strip a driveway widening removes and often within a metre of where an addition's footings go. In Galt and Preston the service may also be older than the records that describe it.

What the marks mean, and what they do not

Enbridge is direct about the limits of a locate. The paint and flags show direction and approximate position but not depth, and a natural gas line could lie just a few inches below the surface. Enbridge's tolerance zone is within one metre on either side of the paint or locate flags, and inside it you must first dig using hand tools to expose any hidden pipes before using machinery. An Enbridge locate is valid for 60 days from the date it was completed, and if the flags or paint have been moved or removed the locate is invalid and a new one is required. If the locate shows a vital natural gas pipeline within 30 metres of the work area, a clearance is needed before starting.

Where hydrovac daylighting fits

Hand tools in a one-metre-wide zone to the depth of a gas service is a morning's work for two labourers in good ground and a day in frozen or rooted ground, and the shovel is the tool most likely to nick a plastic service. Daylighting does the same job without contact: a hydrovac hole around 300 mm (12 in) across is cut with water straight down to the pipe while the vacuum lifts the soil, the operator records the depth, offset and material, and the excavator or auger that follows knows exactly where it may and may not go. For a driveway, that means test holes where the new edge of the driveway crosses the service and at the meter end. For an addition, it means a hole at each footing location that falls within the tolerance zone of the service, and usually one at the meter so the whole route is known. The hydro service often enters beside the gas; the Electrical Safety Authority's excavation guideline requires hand digging or vacuum excavation within 0.3 m (1 ft) of a marked electrical line, so the same holes serve both.

Private gas lines the locate will not mark

Ontario Dig Authority covers public buried infrastructure only. A gas line from the meter out to a pool heater, a barbecue, a garage heater or an outdoor kitchen is private, and both Enbridge and the authority say it needs a paid private locate arranged by the owner. On an older Hespeler or Galt lot the line to a long-removed pool heater is sometimes still live and still in the ground. If there is any chance of one in the dig area, the hydrovac finds it intact where an excavator would not.

The driveway permit and the boulevard

Widening a driveway in Cambridge involves the City twice. The City's Driveway Widening Access Permit sets a maximum driveway width of 7 m and requires at least 45 percent of the front yard to remain landscaped. Separately, the City requires a Highway Occupancy Permit for all work in, over, under, across or along a City right-of-way, and the list of covered work names excavating and cutting or trenching specifically. The boulevard between the sidewalk and the curb is right-of-way, so cutting the curb, removing the boulevard sod or daylighting the gas service there falls under it. Allow three business days for work that closes no lane, five for a lane closure and ten for a full closure, with a certificate of insurance naming the City as additional insured and traffic control to Ontario Traffic Manual Book 7. Hespeler Road, King Street in Preston and other Regional roads are permitted through the Region of Waterloo instead.

Additions, footings and the river lots

An addition needs a building permit from the City of Cambridge, and the permit drawings show footing locations and depths; footings have to extend below frost, and the depth that applies to your lot is confirmed with the City's building division rather than taken from a website. Two local checks come with it. First, a large share of Galt, Preston and Hespeler lots along the Grand and Speed rivers sit inside a Grand River Conservation Authority regulated area under O. Reg. 41/24, where constructing a building or structure, site grading and removing material from a site can all need a GRCA permit; the GRCA's Map Your Property tool shows whether an address is affected and the GRCA says a permit usually takes four to six weeks. Second, river-deposited soil changes within a lot, so a footing hole that cuts easily at one corner can be wet silt at the other, which is one of the reasons the footing excavation is quoted with a soil assumption stated.

If you smell gas

Enbridge's instructions if a line is hit are short. Stop work immediately and shut off all equipment to avoid ignition. Do not try to control the gas release yourself. Move a safe distance away, such as to a neighbour's house. Call 911, then call Enbridge Gas at 1-866-763-5427. The signs are a rotten-egg smell, an unusual hissing sound, or dust or leaves blowing in a localized area with no wind. A visible gouge in the pipe's coating counts as damage even if nothing is leaking, and Enbridge wants to know about it.

What this means for your quote

For a driveway or addition the daylighting is usually a minimum-charge job: two to four test holes, one disposal load, backfilled with clean granular material and compacted or left protected for the excavator. The quote should say who requested the locate, how many holes it covers and where, whether any hole is in the boulevard and who holds the Highway Occupancy Permit, and what the disposal load is expected to be. The Cambridge hydrovac cost page explains the rest. Send the locate and a sketch of the driveway or footing layout and the operator will call back.

Sources

• Before you dig - Enbridge Gas Ontario
• Locates overview - Ontario Dig Authority (formerly Ontario One Call)
• Transportation Corridor Management (Highway Occupancy Permits) - City of Cambridge
• Permits - Grand River Conservation Authority
• Guideline for Excavating in Proximity of Underground Distribution Lines - Electrical Safety Authority