Roadway CAD Manual October 5, 2018

2.0 - Plan Sheet Layout

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2.0 - Plan Sheet Layout

Index

Number Subject

Page

Number

2.1 Introduction 2-3

2.2 Plan Sheet Styles 2-3

Fig. 2-1 Plan and Profile Style Plan Sheet 2-4

Fig. 2-2 Full Plan Style Plan Sheet 2-4

Fig. 2-3 Full Profile Style Sheet 2-5

Fig. 2-4 Plan and Profile Style Plan Sheet With Construction Notes 2-5

Fig. 2-5 Full Plan View Style Plan Sheet With Construction Notes 2-6

2.3 Plan Sheet Layout 2-6

Fig. 2-6 Single Alignment, 3 Sheet Layout 2-7

Fig. 2-7 Multiple Alignment Layout With Match Line 2-8

Fig. 2-8 Multiple Alignment Layout With Match Line 2-9

Fig. 2-9 Large Alignment Layout 2-10

2.4 Preservation Plans 2-11

Fig. 2-10 Straight Line Plan Sheet 2-11

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2.1 Introduction

The project plan sheet layout is an art form but with guiding rules. There will be

many ways to lay out a specific project that will yield different results for each

CAD person as the project becomes more complex. There is not a single method

to the process for each and every project. As the CAD person gathers experience,

each project will become easier to layout.

The mainline of the project is the alignment that will be paramount for the project.

Generally there is only one state highway on a project but with intersections and

interchanges multiple state highways may appear in the project plans. The project

title will help determine the project mainline, as the section name will have a begin

point and end point along the mainline.

The sheet numbers for the mainline are in the “C” series. The plans progress from

lower number stations to higher numbered along the length of the mainline. The

plan sheets are to read increasing in station from left to right.

Some projects will use mile points as the project stationing. When mile points are

used for stationing, the project plan sheet layout still follows the directions above.

The lowest mile point is located at the beginning of the plan sheet layout. The

mile points will increase from left to right on each individual plan sheet.

2.2 Plan Sheet Styles

There are two styles of roadway plan sheets for use on projects. The first is a plan

and profile sheet. The plan sheet area is reduced in half to provide a profile grid

directly below the plan view area. The use of the plan and profile style sheet is

limited by the vertical difference that can be shown on the profile half of the sheet

and by the horizontal curvature of the alignment for the plan view portion of the

sheet. See Figure 2-1.

The second style of plan sheet is the full plan view sheet. The profile gridlines are

removed from this style of plan sheet and placed onto a separate profile sheet.

See Figures 2-2 & 2-3.

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2.2 Plan Sheet Styles (Cont.)

Figure 2-1 Plan and profile style plan sheet

Figure 2-2 Full plan style plan sheet

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2.2 Plan Sheet Styles (Cont.)

Figure 2-3 Full profile style sheet

Figure 2-4 Plan and profile style plan sheet with construction notes

Note Area

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2.2 Plan Sheet Styles (Cont.)

Figure 2-5 Full plan style plan sheet with construction notes

Both the plan and profile sheet and the full plan view sheet can contain a limited

number of construction notes. When construction notes are included on the plan

sheet, the length of the alignment shown is reduced, with the notes placed to the

right side only. If the construction notes do not fit in a single column in the area

on the right side of the sheet, the notes must be moved to a separate note sheet.

See Figures 2-4 and 2-5.

When deciding the plan sheet layout, the style of each sheet along the alignment

must be taken into consideration in the process. Each of these plan sheet styles

can be used on a single mainline alignment on a project.

2.3 Plan Sheet Layout

The process for laying out a project is to first determine if profiles will be used on

the project. If there are profiles what is the elevational difference along the align-

ment at plan sheet intervals. There are nine (9) horizontal grid lines on a plan and

profile sheet. The profile grid lines generally show 5 foot increments for plan view

1 inch = 50 feet scale or 10 foot increments for plan view scale 1 inch = 100 feet

Note Area

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2.3 Plan Sheet Layout (Cont.)

scale, this gives the maximum vertical difference that can be shown on a plan and

profile sheet.

Determine a rough number of notes needed for each sheet. Guardrail and drain-

age can be longer construction notes that will require more space. Discussion

with the roadway designer about the number of notes per sheet is an important

part of the sheet layout process. Seven (7) to ten (10) notes per sheet is a rule of

thumb to assist making the determination if a full note sheet will be needed and

thus the plan view can be lengthened.

Mark the beginning and the end of the project limit and begin placing sheet out-

lines or clip shapes along the alignment in the base file. These shapes are found

on the MicroStation task tab General >Sheet Borders. Use the Clip Shape Full

Sheet when no construction notes will be placed on the plan sheet or Clip Shape w

Notes for a shape that allows the area for construction notes on the plan sheet.

Adjust the placement of the outlines so that there is a pleasing and balanced look

to the plans. The overlap amount between sheets is generally 1 inch, regardless

of the scale. If the end of the project is just a few stations onto the last sheet,

consider adjusting the outlines so that a more reasonable length of alignment in

plan view is on the last sheet and a smaller length of alignment in plan view is on

the first sheet. This is more of an art than a hard rule but the overall aesthetics of

the layout of the project should be considered while at this beginning point. See

Figure 2-6 for an example layout of a simple, single alignment, 3 sheet project.

Figure 2-6 Single alignment, 3 sheet project layout

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2.3 Plan Sheet Layout (Cont.)

For some projects there will be additional alignments shown on the plans that will

cross the main alignment. These secondary alignments might continue off of the

main line sheet. When the alignment leaves the area of the mainline sheet, match

lines will need to be added to the plan set.

Match lines do not contain overlapping alignment. The match line is a clean break

in the alignment from one sheet to the next. If the secondary alignment continues

on more than one sheet, overlapping is used for the extra sheets, the same as for

the mainline alignment. See Figure 2-7 for an example.

Figure 2-7 Multiple alignment layout with match line.

Figure 2-7 shows a mainline alignment that spans 3 sheets with a secondary

alignment that is 2 sheets in length. The mainline sheets are the primary focus of

the project and shown in the “C” series of sheets in a consecutive manner. The

secondary alignment usually begins at the match line and moves along its align-

ment away from the mainline consecutively. When the stationing begins away

from the mainline and increases toward the mainline, the stationing still follows

the rule of increasing stations left to right on the sheet. In Figure 2-7, the “D” se-

ries of sheets have increasing stationing away from the mainline so the sheet

numbering will increase away from the mainline.

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2.3 Plan Sheet Layout (Cont.)

In Figure 2-8, the “D” series of sheets have increasing stationing toward the

mainline so the sheet numbering will increase toward the mainline.

Figure 2-8 Multiple alignment layout with match line.

Adjustments might be required to make a more balanced layout. Some project

limits will just not allow for a balanced layout but this should always be the goal.

It is much easier to make adjustments early in the layout process than to try and

correct sheet layout midway in the final design process. Communication with the

designer is very important to achieving a logical project sheet layout.

Interchange projects are the most complex type of project to layout. For this pro-

ject the starting point for the layout is centered on the interchange area. This

centering sheet attempts to include a majority of the interchange on the sheet.

The centering sheet might need to rotate such that it is more perpendicular to the

mainline. This is acceptable practice for interchange style projects. Some inter-

changes may require a couple of sheets to be rotated to best include all of the

ramp alignments.

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2.3 Plan Sheet Layout (Cont.)

Figure 2-9 Large interchange layout

Figure 2-9 shows the main interchange covered by four sheets. Note that the “C”

series sheets include the mainline alignment and the “D” series sheets include the

interchange ramps and the secondary highway. Match lines are included between

sheet C06 and sheets D01and D05, and between sheet D01 and D03. Sheet D01

and D02 are overlapped.

The sheets that include an alignment or alignments outside of the mainline sheets

are placed into the “D” series. As shown in Figure 2-9, the sheets are laid out and

numbered on one side of the alignment and then they are laid out and numbered

on the other side. If there were additional match lines beyond sheet C06 those

areas would be placed in the “D” series sheets following sheet D05, first one side

and then the other side as required.

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2.4 Preservation plans

Preservation projects are less complex and do not need to show a graphical curvi-

linear alignment or profiles. When there are items such as barrier systems or ac-

cess approaches that need to be shown on a preservation project, a straight line

can be used. Often these will use milepoint stationing and will show very limited

amounts of topography.

The straight line can use either both the full plan sheet and a full note sheet or can

be shown on a single plan and note sheet. Figure 2-10 shows the straight line on

a full plan sheet. Notice that two alignment lengths can be shown on one plan

sheet by stacking the alignments. Place the lower number alignment on the top so

that the sheet is read top to bottom ahead on stationing.

Figure 2-10 Straight line plan sheet

When the project work can be shown with just typical sections and 1 or 2 tables

for other items, like guardrail adjustment, the plan sheets can be reduced to 8 ½”

X 11” portrait format. The plans are just a few pages long and included in the

special provisions.

Both the straight line format and the 8 ½” X11” format are not used often but can

be a method to accelerate a project to bid. These are limited to rural paving pro-

jects that do not have many other construction items shown. The Regional Road-

way Manager can assist in determining if a project is eligible for either of these

formats.