Create/Edit Road

Icon:         
Menu:    Roads > Create/Edit Road
Ribbon: Roads Tab > Design Panel > Create/Edit Road

Introduction

An integral part of the software is the process of creating Road Strings (aka Roads).  A Road is a special type of String object: as well as managing vertical and cross section geometry it also recognises other Roads 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 Roads 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:

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

It is typically required at the first alignment is created as a Road String, even if intersection matching isn't required.

For more information on the requirements please review the Design information
 

Details

Upon starting the command the software will:

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

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

 

Creating a NEW Road

If an alignment is selected that has the prefix 'r-' in the description field of the alignment and it 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 correct Surface and Corridor models.

The form enables the Designer to:

The details of the Create Road form is as follows:

Alignment/Road Name This will not be editable as the software uses the alignments name here.
Design Parameters  
  Road Type LEAVE THIS SETTING AS 'Roads'.  The pick list includes other road types, but is inactive at this time.
  Select 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.
  Select Sampling 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  
  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.

These sampled sections are known as STANDARD sections by the software. 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.
Additional Section Sampling Options  
  Set Section Widths 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 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
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
  Add Extra 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.

          These sampled sections are known as EXTRA SPACINGS sections by the software.

 
  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:

Start Chainage Start chainage for range of points
End Chainage End chainage for range of points
Chainage 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.
Maximum Offset Sets a search distance for points, measured offset from the alignment centreline
Angle Sets an angle, measured relative to the centreline, to search for points to be part of a section
C.L. Offset Tolerance Used for locating points intended to represent the centreline of the alignment.  Offset tolerance
C.L. Distance Tolerance Used for locating points intended to represent the centreline of the alignment.  Distance tolerance
Point Group Name Pick list to select the Point Group to search for points to use
Use Point Groups for Sections Sections are sampled only at 'sections' found from grouped points
List to File Excluded Points Adds to file points that were not included in the section sampling
List to File Included Points Adds to file points that were included in the section sampling
Show Output File If toggled on, a file is created and opened in Notepad.  Example as shown:

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..
 
  Use Layers Opens a form to enable the establishment of additional section sampling based on the ENDPOINTS of 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
Special Note: These sampled sections are known as FROM DRAWING sections by the software.

 
  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 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).
  Use Other Road Opens a form to enable the adding of sampling from another Road/String. It is often desirable, when designing a string that is related to sections on another string/road, 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
Special Note: These sampled sections are known as EXTRA SAMPLING sections by the software.

 
Create/Update Click to create a Road from the alignment
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 will be displayed in the drawing to represent the sampling applied by Civil Site Design to each of the alignments. 

Notes: The width of the yellow section lines is controlled via the Set Section Widths form.
  The layer that these lines are created on is controlled in the Active Drawing Settings - Layer Names tab.  The Type is known as 'Cross Section Lines' - the layer name set here are used to create the layers in the drawing.

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.