Designing Horizontal Geometry in SS3

I am posting this thread to get feedback on how everyone is laying out their horizontal geometry using the new tools in SS3. I've recently run into issues with the Civil Cells if i place one along my entire alignment and then break the lines at intersections, I can't manipulate the offset if I want to change it to three lanes through a certain section and then back to two lanes. It just wants to make the entire offset 3 lanes. 

Does anyone find it easier to lay out the EOP lines using the Partial offset tool? Or does anyone have any other tips on how to lay out horizontal geometry in SS3 it would be greatly appreciated.

  • Yes, it works out better to use the Partial Offset tool when generating civil geometry. It is better to limit "design intent" to the bare minimum. Also, keeping your alignment in a GPK file and importing it into your corridor file will save a lot of grief. These recommendations will most likely change once we move to SS4.
  • The FDOT_Template civil cells to draw the offset lines along an alignment were created to help layout 2D corridor lines from a typical section on a project.  The workflow you have described will work, using the MicroStation break element tool at intersection on lines.  When a civil geometry line(PavementAsphaltEOP) is broken it creates two new lines or "intervals" of the parent line.  However, the parent line still exists and the offset can be modified if you select any of the intervals.  The manipulators for the original line will always be at the beginning, end and middle of the parent line. See illustration below.

     

     

    Vern

  • Thanks Vern, my issue is mainly that if i break the parent line several times, the intervals themselves can't be changed to different offsets because it will change every interval to the same offset. For example if i wanted the offset to be 36' before a ramp interchange and then 24' after. I can't do that using the same parent line.
  • Also, the Civil Geometry can get pretty tangled up when doing initial layouts. Several designs of mine got to the point that just selecting an element would crash MicroStation. If an element needs to be broken, my practice these days is to delete it and recreate it using two partial offsets.