Permit packs

A permit pack is the design package submitted to a permit-issuing authority for approval before construction. The “authority” varies by project: city or county engineering departments, state Department of Transportation, railway operators, tribal authorities, federal agencies, utility owners. Each has its own format requirements, drawing standards, and submission rules.

We prepare permit packs to whichever authority’s standard the project demands. Where DWG is required, output is in AutoCAD. Where PDF with embedded GIS is acceptable, that’s what we ship.

Why permit packs are their own work

It would be cleaner if “the design” was one document set good for both construction and permit submission. In practice, permit authorities have specific requirements that go beyond what a construction pack covers:

• Authority-specific drawing standards — title blocks, scales, symbol libraries, sheet layouts
• Supporting documentation — environmental assessments, ROW evidence, traffic management
• Cover letters and forms — each authority has its own submission paperwork
• Revision discipline — tracking which version was submitted, what came back, what was revised
• Cross-authority coordination — projects crossing jurisdictions need parallel submissions with consistent drawings

A permit pack is a deliverable in its own right, derived from but not identical to construction documentation.

Authorities we typically deal with

For US fibre and EV projects:

• State Departments of Transportation — Caltrans, TxDOT, FDOT, NYSDOT, and others, each with distinct submission standards
• City and county engineering departments — local ROW permits, encroachment permits, road occupation
• Railway operators — BNSF, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, CSX for crossings and adjacent works
• Federal agencies — BLM (federal land), USFS (forest), Army Corps (water crossings), Tribal Bureau of Indian Affairs
• Utility owners — pole attachment authorities, separate from joint-use coordination

For UK projects:

• Local highway authorities — under NRSWA, Section 50 / Section 58 permits for street works
• Network Rail — for crossings and adjacent works
• Environment Agency — water crossings, SSSI overlap
• Local planning authorities — where construction overlaps planning permission triggers
• Land registry searches — for ROW and ownership confirmation

What’s in a permit pack

A typical permit pack includes:

• Authority-formatted drawings at the required scale, with the authority’s title block and standards
• Site location plans — wider context maps showing the build in its setting
• Detail drawings — specific to the authority’s points of interest (e.g. road crossings, traffic management)
• Supporting documentation — ROW evidence, easement copies, environmental screens
• Authority-specific forms — the submission paperwork
• Cover letter — explaining the project and routing reviewer attention
• Revision log — tracking submissions and authority responses

For multi-authority projects (a fibre route crossing 3 cities + 1 DOT + 1 railway), the pack is organised per authority to avoid confusion in review.

Standards and format requirements

Most US DOTs have published drawing standards documents — these define title blocks, layer naming, scales, symbols, and submission file formats. We work to the published standard for the relevant authority.

Where the authority’s standard has options, we adopt the option that matches the project’s broader CAD or GIS posture — minimising format conversion overhead between construction and permit packs.

Inputs we need

Permit packs build on:

• Approved construction or LLD package — the underlying design
• Authority list — which authorities have jurisdiction over which sections
• Authority-specific drawing standards — usually downloadable from the authority’s website
• Supporting documentation the authority requires (ROW, environmental, planning)
• Submission timeline — when does each authority’s review window need to be initiated

Where some elements are still being assembled (e.g. ROW documentation pending), we structure the work to produce drawings while supporting docs catch up.

Common pitfalls in outsourced permit pack work

Generic format that triggers rejection. A pack produced in a generic format gets rejected when the authority spots its own standard isn’t followed. We build per-authority templates and use them.

Missing supporting documentation. A drawing-only pack without the supporting environmental, ROW, or planning evidence gets returned as incomplete. We assemble the full pack including supporting docs.

Revision drift across resubmissions. When an authority comes back with redlines, the revision needs to track exactly what changed. Patchy revision discipline produces packs the authority can’t review efficiently. We maintain explicit revision logs.

Cross-authority inconsistency. A project across 3 jurisdictions where each gets a slightly different drawing because of independent revisions creates regulatory risk. We maintain a single source of truth and produce per-authority packs from it.

Typical timelines

• Single-authority small project — 2-3 weeks from approved construction docs
• Multi-authority cross-jurisdictional — 4-8 weeks, scaled by number of authorities and route length
• Approval cycle on top of submission timeline — varies wildly per authority, anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months

We track submission and approval cycles through completion rather than handing over a one-off package.

How we deliver

Permit pack work runs onshore-led with offshore production support. Authority interpretation, revision response strategy, and cross-jurisdiction coordination sit onshore with senior engineers. Drawing production runs through our offshore team with onshore QA before authority submission.

Talk to us about a permit pack project

Tell us the project, the authorities involved, and what construction docs are already in place. We’ll come back with scope, price, and timeline. Multi-authority work nearly always warrants a scoping call.