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DifficultybeginnerAdded2027.0Statusdraft

Corridors (CD) (Civil 3D essentials)

Introduction​

A corridor is a 3D model of a linear structure such as a road, channel, etc. To create a corridor three objects are necessary: horizontal alignment, vertical alignment and an assembly. An assembly is a typical section applied along the horizontal and vertical alignments at defined increment values.

If daylight links (cut and fill) are required, a target surface must be available in the drawing (NGL).

Create Corridor​

  1. In the Home tab of the ribbon select the Corridor command:

  2. Specify the Name, Alignment, Profile, Assembly and Target Surface (the surface used for cut and fill):

Created corridor:

  1. A corridor can be modified in the Corridor Properties, Parameters tab. Select the corridor, right-click and use the Corridor Properties command from the menu:

  2. To rename the corridor go to the Information tab in the Corridor Properties:

Create Top Surface from Corridor​

  1. In the Corridor Properties, go to the Surfaces tab and click on the first icon from the left-hand side:

  2. Add Top to the surface name (to distinguish between the top and datum surfaces later):

  3. As a Data Type select Links, select Top code and click on the "Plus" sign to add links to the surface definition:

  4. Set the Overhang Correction to Top Links for the top surface. The overhang correction ensures that the surface uses top links in the areas where different subassemblies may overlap. The image below shows the top surface if the overhang correction was used (red) and when it was not used (purple). Black lines represent overlapping subassemblies:

  5. Go to the Boundaries tab to set the corridor surface boundary. Right-click on the surface name and select Corridor extents as outer boundary:

Note: Sometimes the Corridor extents as outer boundary might not work, other options can be used (Add Automatically, Add Interactively and From Polygon) to create a surface boundary.

Corridor top surface displayed as triangles:

A corridor surface has similar properties as a TIN surface thus the style can be changed as needed. The image below displays the top surface contours:

Add Slope Patterns to Corridor​

  1. Go to the Corridor Properties, Slope Patterns tab and click on the Add Slope Pattern button:

  2. Select the corridor feature lines to create a slope pattern between them. If multiple feature lines are overlapping, Civil 3D allows the selection of the correct feature line, see image below:

Corridor slope patterns

Create Left and Right Road Edge Profiles for Profile View Bands​

As mentioned in the profile views chapter, the left and right edge profiles need to be created from the corridor.

Dynamic Profiles​

Standard Civil 3D cannot create dynamic profiles therefore only users with Devotech iDAS can follow the steps below.

  1. Go to the iDAS tab in the ribbon and use the Corridors – Profile Feature Line command:

  2. Select the Corridor List option from the command line (use the Code option in the older Devotech iDAS versions, see the second image below):

  3. Select a corridor (if only one corridor exists in the drawing, the Profiles from Codes for Corridor window will open automatically):

  4. Select the code you want to link to a profile, specify an alignment (corridor baseline, one corridor can have multiple baselines) and click on the Add command.

  5. Click on <None> in the Profile column and use the <Create> command:

  6. Specify the Profile Name, Style and Label Set:

  7. For the Side select Left:

  8. Add the ETW code again:

  9. Create a new profile with the following settings:

  10. For the Side select Right:

  11. When you click OK, these two profiles will appear in the profile view:

  12. Go to the Profile View Properties and set the ETWL and ETWR profiles for Profile 2 in the Bands tab:

  13. ETW profiles do not need to display in the profile view. To switch the ETW profiles off, use the No Display style or switch the profiles off in the profile view. Go to the Profile View Properties, Profiles tab and tick off ETWL and ETWR. If the profiles are still visible in the profile view, regenerate the drawing with the Regen command.

The image below displays the correct left and right edge levels in the profile view:

Important: If you want to link e.g. an ETW code to a profile then the code can only be used once on each assembly side. If there are two points using the ETW code on one side then Devotech iDAS will not know which ETW code to link to the profile.

The image below shows the ETW code at the left edge of travelled way:

If multiple layerworks subassemblies are connected next to each other, two ETW codes can occur on one side. The image below shows an assembly with two GenericPavementStructure subassemblies connected next to each other. Each lane has an ETW code therefore Devotech iDAS will not know which code to use.

To solve this problem, a unique code needs to be defined for the lane edge. Codes can be changed/added directly for some subassemblies, e.g. GenericPavementStructure. Multiple codes can be used for one point, use a comma as a deliminater**, do not** add a "space" after comma:

Some subassemblies do not have this option. Use the MarkPoint subassembly from the Generic tab:

Specify the Point Code (Point Name is not important in this case):

Add it to the assembly at the road edge:

For more details about dynamic profiles, see the Profile Feature Line chapter.

Static Profiles​

  1. In the Home tab of the ribbon select the Profile – Create Profile from Corridor command and select the road edge of the corridor. The road edge is represented by a green feature line. Keep in mind that profiles created from a corridor are not dynamic so if any changes are applied to the corridor the left and right road edge profiles must be recreated!

  2. Select the corridor feature line:

  3. For the Name use ETWL and for the Profile Style use ETW | Left:

  4. Do the same for the right edge, for the name use ETWR and as the profile style use ETW | Right:

  5. Go to the Profile View Properties and set the ETWL and ETWR profiles for Profile 2 in the Bands tab:

Left and right edge profiles are displayed in the longsection:

  1. To switch edge profiles off, use the No Display style or switch the profiles off in the profile view. Go to the Profile View Properties, Profiles tab and tick off ETWL and ETWR. If the profiles are still visible in the profile view, regenerate the drawing with the Regen command.

Final profile view: