The positioning of different infrastructure components is an important factor to take into account when planning and building urban areas. For both functionality and safety, curbstones must be placed at the appropriate distances from vital services like water pipes, electrical supports, and other networks.
Maintaining these gaps has practical importance in addition to being an aesthetic concern. Sufficient distance between objects discourages possible harm and makes upkeep and repairs simpler. For example, adequate space around lighting supports guarantees that they can be accessed for maintenance and replacement of bulbs without causing any disruption to the curb or surrounding elements.
Similar to this, ensuring curbstones are safely spaced apart from water pipes and other networks can help prevent conflicts during installation and future maintenance. Additionally, this planning guarantees that emergency repairs can be completed effectively and lowers the possibility of damage from heavy traffic.
Creating spaces that are functional and well-organized can be aided by knowing the standards for these distances. This post will walk you through the fundamental rules to adhere to in order to arrange these important components in your concrete projects in the best possible way.
| Element | Recommended Distance |
| Lighting Supports | 0.5 meters |
| Water Pipes | 1 meter |
| Electric Cables | 0.3 meters |
| Gas Lines | 1 meter |
- What does the concept mean?
- Why is it important to know the standards?
- Documents
- For what types of curbs do they apply?
- Boundaries with various networks
- To lighting supports and power lines
- Water supply
- Sewerage
- To other utility lines
- Consequences of violations
- Video on the topic
- HOW NOT TO DO PLUMBING IN AN APARTMENT? #225
- Project for removing pressure sewer networks. Part 1.
- How stretch ceilings burn
- Ideal water and sewerage outlet. How to do.
- Look through the transparent pipes as the water leaves! Super slopes / Counter slopes / Normal slopes!
- Distances from neighboring buildings and fences on a summer cottage
- Installation of external water supply and sewerage networks
- 180 days of invasion in 30 seconds
What does the concept mean?
The minimum distance from any network, whether underground or on the surface, that supplies heat, water, gas, lighting, and other essential housing and communal services to a residential or industrial facility, district, quarter, or city, is the distance from a curb, curbstone, or curb to protected above-ground and underground utilities.
Near every such operating facility, a unique security zone is established so that, without having to open the road surface and remove the curbstone, the operating organization can carry out required repair, maintenance, and preventive maintenance work on the equipment falling under its purview.
The minimum gaps from the curb to people’s protective zones are determined during the design of residential areas, neighborhoods, and cities because the operability of utility networks is crucial to people’s safety.
The area designated around subterranean and above-ground urban utility networks includes their protection zone. Regulatory building acts define the boundaries of this territory according to the protected object’s category.
It is forbidden to perform any kind of work in the aforementioned protection zone without the owner’s permission as well as that of the governing state authorities.
Lands immediately next to objects for which protection zones are installed are designated as protected zones; the object itself, or the source, is not included in the restricted zone.
Protection zones and curbs must be separated by minimum distances, which are determined by:
- repairability of the protected engineering equipment;
- in accordance with current sanitary and epidemiological standards for permissible levels of:
- noise;
- infrasound;
- electromagnetic radiation;
- other harmful factors that can be created on the outer boundary of such a zone.
Why is it important to know the standards?
The purpose of these state-instituted standards is to safeguard populated areas’ life support systems.
Roads with curbs and sidewalks can become a major barrier to the execution of emergency rescue operations, increasing the time and cost of work on dismantling and restoring road infrastructure with curbs. Utility networks are not insured against the possibility of emergency situations and technical failures; when it will be necessary to carry out excavation work to eliminate them.
In addition to causing delays for emergency repairs by housing and communal service providers, illegally placed curbs and sidewalks also endanger nearby people and property. Particularly hazardous areas in this kind of neighborhood are playgrounds and curb-fenced parking lots.
If curbs are installed outside of utility networks’ security zones without authorization, the responsible party will be responsible for all emergency removal and installation costs as well as additional expenses resulting from higher repair costs.
The person who committed a flagrant violation of the security zone will be held criminally liable in the event of extremely serious outcomes that result in significant material costs or human casualties.
Documents
The Code of Rules No. 42-13330, which is an updated version of the Soviet SNiP 2.07.01/89, is the fundamental document that establishes the maximum distances from curbstones to utility networks. Published in 2011, this SP governs planning and urban development matters for both urban and rural settlements.
In addition, the ministries in charge of utility networks have issued departmental regulations on the protection of security zones in the form of Technical Operation Rules (PTE) and Safety Rules (PB):
- Electric networks, RD 34-20-501/95, PTE of electric stations and networks, as well as PTE of electrical installations of consumers, approved by order of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation No. 6 dated 13.01.03.
- Heat networks, PTE of thermal power plants, approved by order of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation No. 115 dated 24.03.03.
- Gas networks, PTE and labor safety requirements in the gas industry of the Russian Federation, PB of gas distribution and gas consumption systems approved by the Resolution of the State Mining Supervision of the Russian Federation No. 9 dated 18.03.03.
- Water supply and sewerage facilities, PTE of public water supply and sewerage systems and structures, approved by order of the Gosstroy of the Russian Federation No. 168 dated 30.12.99.
When it comes to people’s safety in hazardous protection zones, there are numerous subordinate acts. Since curbs are a component of the urban infrastructure and may be where people and equipment are located, this also holds true for them. For instance, the SanPiN standards are applicable to high-voltage supports of powerful power transmission lines in order to shield individuals from the effects of electromagnetic fields.
For what types of curbs do they apply?
The list of curbs that are prohibited is explicitly stated in the foundational document SP No. 42-13330; these curbs include street and road curbs, or more specifically, these are specific kinds of road and highway curbs.
The largest components are curbs on highways. They can be constructed out of reinforced concrete, natural granite, and concrete using the vibration pressing and vibration casting techniques.
Sectional measurements of those specific stones:
- 300×180 mm;
- 450×150 mm;
- 450×180 mm.
Elements longer than 3 meters require reinforcement; lengths ranging from 1 to 6 meters. The products must meet class B 30 strength requirements and have a minimum frost resistance of F 200.
Road curbs are composed of the same material, but their maximum length is limited to one meter, and their maximum cross-sectional area is 300 by 150 mm. The majority of the time, depending on the operating conditions, installing concrete curbstones obtained by vibration pressing will be sufficient to lower the cost of road works; they are rarely installed from reinforced concrete and granite.
Boundaries with various networks
Protection zones—also referred to as "red lines" in land documentation—are the boundaries that surround utility networks and are off-limits to construction without the operating organization’s consent.
This is done to guarantee that supervising organizations have unhindered access to subordinate equipment in an emergency, around-the-clock.
Curbstone requirements for lighting supports, overhead and cable power lines, water and sewer networks, heating and gas networks, and other applications are outlined in SP No. 42-13330, the basic document.
To lighting supports and power lines
The basic document sets a maximum distance of 1.5 meters between curbs and the supports of underground lines and overhead cables of all voltages. Furthermore, depending on the power, the Russian Federation’s government has set requirements for protection zones around power transmission lines. A vertical plane spaced a certain distance from the power line’s final wires is designated as a protective zone for overhead wires. For networks under 1 kW, the distance to the road is 1 m; for networks between 1 and 20 kW, it is 5 m.
Water supply
The basic document specifies that there can be no more than two meters between the curb and the above-ground and underground water supply networks.
The purpose of establishing the water supply security zone is to:
- allow the owner to carry out routine or repair work on departmental equipment;
- to meet the requirements of SanPiN, in order to prevent contamination of water supply sources.
They meet all protective standards and were created based on years of scientific research on the hygienic and sanitation conditions of populated areas.
Sewerage
The minimum distance of 2 meters is also established in the basic document between the curb and the sewerage system. Furthermore, the legislator establishes lower minimum gaps of up to 1.5 meters for gravity domestic and storm sewerage, 1.5 meters for drainage lines, and 0.4 meters for associated drainage, which is a significant reduction.
In sewerage networks, a buffer zone is also positioned in relation to curbs to shield the public from the negative impacts of sewage.
In actuality, there have been instances where sizable sewage drains have washed away soil because of emergency pipeline destruction, resulting in the destruction of sidewalks and roads with curbs where people and cars were parked. As a result, the primary function of a protective zone for sewerage networks is to shield people from their harmful behavior.
Article 7.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which imposes liability for damage to water supply and sewerage networks that may occur during the construction of roads and sidewalks with the installation of curbs, is a special norm in administrative legislation.
To other utility lines
The foundational document placed limitations on curbstone installation in relation to other utility lines that sustain the population. As per SP No. 42-13330, the minimum distance between the curb and utility lines is as follows:
- heat supply, regulated only in relation to the outer wall of the heating tray or tunnel — 1.5 m;
- ductless laying of heating lines -1.5 m;
- telecommunication networks -1.5 m;
- external pneumatic garbage chutes -1.5 m.
Consequences of violations
Russian law forbids the installation of curbstones in the security zone surrounding utility lines, and pipeline transport companies must give their approval before curbs can be installed. Regarding main pipelines, this standard is codified in Art. 11.20.1 of the Russian Federation’s Code of Administrative Offenses.
The definition of a main pipeline has different interpretations for different departments, for example, for heat supply systems – these are pipelines from a heat source (boiler room, CHP) to the first central heating point, without reference to the diameters of the pipelines and the pressure of the heating medium. For gas, these are pipelines from the extraction site to the consumption site with diameters up to 1400 mm and a pressure of the medium from 1.2 to 10 atm.
The liability provided for violating the protection zones of main pipelines, according to the current Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, involves the imposition of a fine for an individual in the amount of 50,000 to 100,000 rubles, and for officials and entrepreneurs – from 500,000 to 800,000 rubles, and for legal entities from 500,000 to 2,500,000 rubles.
It is feasible to impose additional administrative liability on business owners and legal entities, such as suspending operations for ninety days.
It is imperative to adhere to standards regarding the spacing between curbstones and other networks, water pipes, and lighting supports. When services are spaced appropriately, it becomes easier and safer to perform maintenance and repairs without interfering with critical operations.
Following these recommendations reduces the chance of accidents and helps to prevent potential damage to underground utilities. Additionally, it guarantees that your project complies with all applicable local laws and standards in terms of both form and function.
By keeping these distances in mind, you can help make the infrastructure safer and more effective while lowering the need for future, expensive repairs and modifications. Respecting these guidelines is about more than just complying; it’s also about establishing a stable and orderly environment.
It’s critical to follow guidelines when installing curbstones to ensure that they are properly spaced from utility networks, water pipes, and lighting supports. By following these rules, possible conflicts and damage are avoided and safety, accessibility, and durability are guaranteed. In addition to making maintenance and future upgrades easier, proper spacing helps prevent interference with utility services and guarantees that infrastructure will continue to be dependable and functional over time.
