Creating Cross Sections

After the Corridor is designed, Cross Sections can be generated. However if you want the sections to show more than just the proposed corridor and existing ground, other procedures will need to be followed. For a feature to show up in the cross sections it must be a 3D element.

Note that references to "12345" in file names refer to the project's five digit Project Number.

1. Creating a Terrain for Annotating Existing Cross Section Details
2. To create Design line and Subgrade surfaces, see Creating Terrains for Construction.
3. To annotate Existing Elevations, an Existing Ground Profile Feature has to be created.
4. To display Right-of-Way, Environmental, and Proposed ROW labels on the sections go to Creating Right-of-Way & Environmental Features.
5. To display Detail Features like trees and poles go to Cross Section Point Features for the Proposed Alignment.

Create the Cross Section Drawing

• Create or Open 12345-cross-sections.dgn if it exists. Open the Default model.
• Attach the Combined.dgn's Default model as a reference file with Live Nesting set to 1.
• Open the Default-3D model. Do not use a multi model view.

Cross Sections are generated from what is displayed in the DGN's Default-3D model. Open the model and use Level Display to turn on the 3D display of all your corridors, geometry, terrain, subsurface utilities (SUE), miscellaneous features and any cross section detail features that are to be included in the cross sections. Confirm that there are no reference attachments to 2D drawings and models. Rotate the 3D view to ensure there are no elements way above or way below. These will cause the sections not to be cut.

Note: It is important to Save Settings and Save the DGN file so that any changes you just made will be reflected on the cross sections!

Open the Default model. The tools for creating cross sections are in the fourth section of the Corridor Modeling Task menu labeled Corridor Cross-Sections.

Create Cross Sections

Use the second tool on the Corridor Cross-Sections toolbar, Create Cross Sections, Select the Alignment, this will open the panel shown below. Next click the Preferences button. Select NHDOTsectsV, click Load, then click Close.

Change the Model Name: Roadname-MC1M in the General section of the Create Cross Section page, then hit Apply. The section model should be created and the section sheets plotted. Be patient, this could take some time. There should be a progress bar in the bottom right. Close the box once the process is finished.

Custom Cross Sections

Custom Cross sections allow for cutting sections in a variety of ways. Station Ranges can have different intervals or offsets. Individual sections can also be cut at stations both Perpendicular and Skewed as well as along Line Strings for driveways, drainage structures and along pipes. Select the Custom folder.

Create Cross Section Dialog

Use the Type drop down to select the type of section. The buttons beside each value allow for selection from the Default view to obtain the value. When the settings for the each entry are complete hit the Add button to add it to the list in the center.

If an entry needs to be changed, select it in the list and it will populate the entries to the right, which can be modified. Hit the Update button to update the modified entry in the list.

A section can be cut over a line string. The line string cannot contain arcs and must be selected prior to selecting the Type - line string. Use the Graphics button to add the selected line string to the section list.

Select an entry and use the keyboard's Delete key to delete an entry. When all entries have been added, they can be saved as an .xsc file which can be imported in the future to recut the sections. Hit Apply to cut the sections. See the OpenRoads help files from the Task list for more information.

Whether using standard cross section or custom cross sections, hitting apply should cut and draw all the sections on a border. If you receive an error that the drawing is too large for plotting, look at a rotated view of the Default-3D model to locate any feature that is far above or below the sections and causing the error. FIX IT, delete the section model and then recreate the cross sections.

Section Preferences

There are currently two cross section preferences, NHDOTsectsV and NHDOTsectsH. V for Vertical sheets 100' left and right and H for Horizontal sheets 150' left and right, both are for 10 scale sections. Preferences are saved in the .xin file. The nhdot-ali-preferens.xin file can be copied to the projects MX\imperial_styles folder so that new preferences can be saved.

For an overview of annotating cross-section drawings, see Cross Section Annotation Overview.