In a recent announcement, Caltrans has set the date for July 1, 2014 for all new projects to be designed using Civil 3D. You can read the Autodesk Caltrans Memo Here. The announcement memo also notes that any project that is not yet at the 30% stage should be converted to Civil 3D for completion. To help with the transition, Caltrans has also made a number of their custom Civil 3D resources available through a downloadable ZIP file.
Included in the ZIP file are Caltrans specific templates for Survey, Photogrammetry, and Design; Borders, Sheet Sets, Fonts, Report Style Sheets, Color Book settings, Blocks, additional resources for Survey Databases, and importing TSS file data. Once downloaded, these can be used with Civil 3D to help generate project files that meet Caltrans’s Civil 3D requirement. Although no version is mentioned in the announcement, Caltrans is currently using AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 for their training and installations.
Here are a few additional things to note:
- Civil 3D is only relplacing CAiCE as Caltrans’s primary road design software.
- Microstation is still currently the official drafting software for Caltrans.
- AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 is a different file type from the three latest (2013-2015) releases.
Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Matt is a licensed Civil Engineer in the state of Hawaii. Matt obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and has 7 years of private sector design experience which he applies in his role as an application specialist with Ideate, Inc. His project experience includes residential and commercial site development, private and public sewer, water and drainage systems, harbors improvements, and roadway improvements. While in Hawaii, Matt was involved in multidisciplinary projects for City and County agencies, State Departments, the Army COE and private developers. @MattM_PE
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