Create/Edit Road

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Introduction

An integral part of the software is the process of creating Road Strings (aka Roads).  A Road String is a special type of String object: as well as managing vertical and cross section geometry it also recognises other Road Strings where they intersect, with side road centrelines adjusting to match the cross section of main roads.

This command enables the creation of Road Strings which can then be designed vertically and managed with cross sections and interacts with other Road Strings where they intersect.  If it is not desired for Road Strings to match levels where they intersect, a String (Profile) object should be created instead.

This command provides two distinct functions:

1. Enables the creation of NEW Road Strings
2. Opens the Vertical Grading Editor for existing CSD Objects (including Roads, kerb returns, cul-de-sacs, knuckles, roundabouts or other independent String/Profile) to be edited - selection can be made graphically or from a list.

Special Notes

It is vital that the following conditions are met for successful creation of a Road with this command:

• An existing surface must exist in the drawing AND extend for the full extent of all Road alignments and a sampling width for the proposed cross section, so that the software can assign 'existing' surface levels
• The alignment must be continuous (not consist of disconnected segments, which is supported in Civil 3D)
• The alignment must not have any commas in it, and some characters (such as @!#$%^&*) are not recommended

For Road Strings to identify intersections with other Road Strings, the following geometry considerations must be made:

• Alignments start/end at another continuous Road string alignment for a tee intersection. The intersection point must not meet the start/end of the 'main' road string alignment that it connects to, if automated intersections and kerb returns are expected. 
• Alignments fully crossing another Road string alignment will be considered as crossing roads, requiring 4 kerb returns.
• Three or four alignments that start/stop at the same location will NOT be considered an intersection by the software
• Looping (self intersecting) alignments will not be considered as an intersection.

To optimise the Auto Road Creation command, the following is recommended:

• For Civil 3D customers, put r- in the description of the alignment.  Alignments with r- in the description are set to be created as Road strings by default.
• For non-Civil 3D customers, alignments must be created with the Type set to 'Road'

For more information on the requirements please review the Design information.

Dynamic Display Window

The form featres a dynamic display window on the right hand side of the form.  This updates the graphics as the user hovers over inputs, to indicate what aspect of the string creation/display is being managed by the input.  Example of the dynamic view shown below:

 

Details

Upon starting the command the software will:

• Scan the software for other Road Strings already created.
• Check for intersections.  As part of the process for creating the string, the user will be prompted the user to select the side road where 'road' alignments cross - click here for more information regarding intersections at crossing alignments
• Allow the designer to select an alignment in the drawing (either by screen selection or from a form)

Upon selection of the alignment from the drawing or from a form, the software checks if it is an existing Road String:

• If a Road has not been created for the alignment, then the software will proceed through the Road String form, below. 
• If a String (whether it be a Road, Kerb Return, Cul-de-sac, Knuckle, Roundabout or other String) has been created from the alignment, then the software will open the  Vertical Grading Editor for the designer to edit the vertical grading and/or the cross sections as required.

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Selecting an Alignment for an Existing Road

When the command is started the command prompt will request the user to 'Select alignment, or press Enter to select from a list'.

Designers can either pick an alignment from the drawing or press [enter] to obtain a list of available alignments:

To select an alignment, pick one from the list and click OK.
List of Alignments	Displays all alignments in the drawing that may be used as Road, Cul-de-sac, Kerb or Knuckle Strings, as well as any other CSD Strings (roundabouts, general Strings, etc). Use the left mouse button to select an alignment to either create as a Road or to open into the  Vertical Grading Editor.
Selection	This area allows the designer to filter the list for particular road objects
Selection Options:	All: show all alignments Cul-de-sacs: only show cul-de-sac alignments Kerbs: only show kerb alignments Roads: only show road alignments Knuckles: only show knuckles
Select from Drawing	Click on this button to enable graphical selection of an alignment in the drawing.
OK	Proceed with either creating a new road or viewing the Vertical Grading Editor for the selected object.
Cancel	Exit the form without selecting an alignment

 

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Creating a NEW Road

If an alignment is selected that is NOT currently a Road in Civil Site Design then the designer will be guided through the process of creating a Road from the selected alignment.

Roads interact with each other, with Side Road profiles adjusting to match the cross section of the Main Roads at the intersections and the side road cross sections trimming to form up a total road network model.

The form enables the Designer to:

• Assign a typical cross section for the Road (through the assignment of a Template)
• Assign the 'natural' surface levels for the Road
• Choose the sampling frequency along the Road

The details of the Create Road String form is as follows:

String Name	Non editable field confirming the alignment selected for String creation.
Design Parameters
String Type	Non editable field confirming the String type
Template	Use the pick list to select an appropriate Template to apply to the Roads.  For more information on creating custom templates see the Create/Edit Templates command.
Surface	Use the pick list to select the Surface to project any batters to as well as the comparison surface to see cut/fill depths for the design vertical grading.
Section Sampling Spacing/Frequency
Standard Radio button	Select this to enable standard sampling to be applied based on arc, spiral and tangent spacings.
Arc Segments	Distance between sample sections along arc segments of the alignment centreline.
Spiral Segments	Distance between sample sections along spiral segments of the alignment centreline.
Tangents/Straights	Distance between sample sections along tangent segments of the alignment centreline.
	Special Notes: All geometry points, including the start/end points of the alignment, will automatically be sampled. The default values for the Section Spacing/Frequency are read from the Active Drawing Settings for the project. The 'type' of sampled section is stored by the software to make it easier to turn them on/off as a group as sections to plot or not plot, amongst other output controls.
Section List	Select this to enable a Section List to be applied to manage the horizontal geometry and standard spacings as per the Section List.  With a Section list, users can set specific chainages to be excluded.
Section List picklist	Pick a Section List for the section spacings to apply.  Special Notes: This option allows horizontal geometry (such as the start/end of curves on the alignment or horizontal IPs) to be removed Only the standard spacings and horizontal geometry controls are used from the named Section List that is selected here.
Edit Section List `	Click this icon to open the Section Manager form to edit a section list
Additional Section Sampling Options
User Sampling	Opens a form to enable the establishment of user selected chainages and different chainage sampling frequencies:   Table     Start Chainage Type in the start chainage   End Chainage Type in the end chainage   Spacing Set the adjusted sampling frequency (spacing) in this chainage range.   Show in VGE If ticked will show vertical lines representing the extra sampling in the VGE OK Store the extra sampling and return to the previous form Cancel Exit the form without storing the extra sampling Insert Chainages Click to graphically locate Start and End Chainages. Note: Click on two separate locations to set a chainage range.  Click one location and press [enter] to add a single extra sample location. Notes: If the Start and End chainages are the same, only one sample section will be taken.
Use Layers	Opens a form to enable the establishment of additional section sampling based on the vertices of Polylines, Lines and Arcs on a user selected layer in the drawing:   Options Sets the method for locating objects to use for sampling   Select Layer Use the pick list to select the layer to search in the drawing to add extra Sampled Sections from.   Search Offset for Layer Type a value (+ve) for the width left and right of the centreline to search for lines/arcs on the selected layer with start/end points   Add Sampled Sections by Layer Tick ON to add the section sampling points found on the selected layer Include All Other Sampled Sections Tick this ON to also include the STANDARD section sampling defined in the main Create Roads form (as noted above: Arc Segments, Spiral Segments, Tangents/Straights) Apply and Exit Apply changes and close the form Cancel Close the form without applying changes
Add Other Strings	Opens a form to enable the adding of sampling from other String/s. It is often desirable, when designing a string that is related to sections on another string, to sample the exact same sections.   Table List of Roads to use for sampling   Roads to Add Use the pick list to add Roads/Strings that are to be used for extra sampling.  Roads/Strings selected will have their sampling added to the current object. Only Use these Chainages Only adds sections based on the section sampling of the referenced CSD objects in the Table. OK Apply and exit the form Cancel Exit without applying
Use Points	Opens a form to enable the establishment of cross sections directly from COGO points in the drawing.  Users establish filtering controls for searching for points to use.  Point locations can be used for setting sampling chainages. Cross Sections of the existing surface are built directly from the POINTS used - points are assumed to run along section lines at a 'common' chainage location for sampling of section elevations. Upon selecting the command the following form is displayed: Apply Tick on to apply these section controls Point Group Name Pick list to select the Point Group to search for points to use Civil 3D Points Link Click to open the Civil 3D Link command (Civil 3D only) Start Chainage Start chainage for range of points End Chainage End chainage for range of points Minimum distance between sections Controls how far apart sections need to be from each other, measured along the alignment centreline Section Rounding After finding a best fit location for a section from points grouped near a chainage along an alignment, sets the chainage location to the nearest 'rounded' value specified. Find points within buffer distance Specify a search distance (measured along the alignment centreline) to locate points that should be used in the calculaton of surface elevation points Apply angle to buffer width Sets an angle, measured relative to the centreline, to search for points to be part of a section Maximum Offset Sets a search distance for points, measured offset from the alignment centreline Compute standard sections If ticked on, the sections created from the analysis of the points is added to all other calculated sections.  If unticked, only sections derived from analysing the points will be used for the string sections. OK Apply and exit Cancel Exit without applying settings Example output shown below, where 'Use Point Groups for Sections' was toggled on and the point group located all points with raw description xxx:   Special Note: These sampled sections are known as USE POINTS sections by the software..
Section Widths	This enables control of the sampling widths - the surface data is stored for this width for the purpose of matching batters and volume calculation.  It also sets the default display width on the design cross section windows.
Left Width	Type a value (+ve) for the width of sections left of the centreline alignment
Right Width	Type a value (+ve) for the width of sections right of the centreline alignment
Advanced Settings	This enables the designer to adjust the default cross section widths (initially populated from the Active Drawing Settings form) as well as control the extents of sampling along the alignment.  The cross section widths determine the minimum display width of information in cross section windows. Selecting this option displays the following form: Widths Sets the width of display on cross sections   Left Width (Repeated from main form).  Type a value (+ve) for the width of sections left of the centreline alignment   Right Width Repeated from main form).  Type a value (+ve) for the width of sections right of the centreline alignment Range     Start Chainage Sample from Start Chainage.  Leave as default for start of alignment   End Chainage Sample to End Chainage.  Leave as default for end of alignment   Create Strings when recomputing the road Toggle this on to calculate cross section codes when adjusting vertical geometry in the Vertical Grading Editor.  Toggle this off for more speed. Note: Toggling this off will prevent dynamic updating of side roads when main roads are edited, and affect intersections   Extract Sections for Cross Section Plotting Toggle this on to extract full cross sections for the Road.  Toggle this off for more speed. Note: Toggling this off will prevent extraction of volumes, updating of Cross Section windows or cross section plotting.   Prompt for Chainages before Plotting Toggle this on to be prompted for the start and end chainage range for plotting, before the plot preview is displayed.  If this is toggled on, then at the time of plotting and before the initial plot preview is displayed the following form will be displayed:   Start Specify start chainage for plotting End Specify the end chainage for plotting OK Apply the specified chainage range for plotting Cancel Exit and display the full extents of the design for plotting OK Save and exit the form Cancel Exit without saving changes
Intersection Transition	When a Road String intersections with another Road String to form a side road (eg: Tee intersection) the user is able to assign a default (and locked) IP to take the crossfall from the edge of the main road into the vertical grading of the side road, including a vertical curve.  This traditionally is used to gently transition motorists from the road design grade of the side road to matching the crossfall of the main road.
Set Auto VC Ease	Opens a form to control how side road elevations match up and extend from the edge of a main road.  These controls can also be adjusted after creating a Road.   Form details are identical to the Automatic Ease Properties command (except it does not include a pick box at the top to enable selection of a Road).
Create/Update	Click to create a Road String from the alignment if not already created.  Otherwise this will update (resample) the string.
Cancel	Click to cancel the command without creating a Road.

Special Note: Users are not required to add extra sampling for the start/end, tangent/arc, arc/spiral, spiral/spiral or spiral/tangent geometry points along the alignment.  The software automatically includes a sampled section at these points.

After the Road is created, yellow section lines can be displayed in the drawing to represent the sampling applied by Civil Site Design to each of the alignments.  The dispaly of these lines is controlled from the Toggle Display command. 

The   Vertical Grading Editor will immediately open, with a default profile design provided and with the typical cross section applied.

Special Note: If any 'mistakes' were made at the time of creating the Road object, or if it is required to edit the sampled sections to update against a revised surface or reference a different surface users can run the Resample Road Cross Sections command.