A Case for the 3D Linear Method in OpenRoads Corridor Modeling

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Introduction

The 3D Linear Method will help all engineers and designers model corridors. I argue that it is much simpler and isn’t as deep as using master templates. On-boarding others will be easier, making changes to the corridor will be a breeze, and no one will suffer any headaches in needing to document how each master template works. I’d like to run a case by you, if you could spare me a moment, in order to share with you what I’m up against.

Spooky Scary Templates Send Shivers Down My Spine

OpenRoad Designer users were raised by their tutors, the DOTs and Bentley, to model corridors like the old days of PowerGeopak. A master template is built to have all the lanes, shoulders, curbs, grass, sidewalks, end conditions, and retaining walls. Behind the curtains hide many display rules all with their own secret conditions to appear and disappear. The template itself starts to look like a creepy spider, seeking its next prey. Think I’m over exaggerating? Here’s a template I found on the FHWA’s template library with all the parametric constraints that come with it. I think it was Piglet that said, “Oh d-d-dear!“

Eighty Points?

Walk with me here and let’s discuss what it would look like to train someone to use this. We should also ask ourselves who should be doing the corridor modeling. This template looks like it would require a specialist of sorts who knows the ins and outs of using all 7 corridor objects and is able to modify any of the… let me count… I think there are at least eighty points on the template? Yes, they must be able to edit or add to the eighty points on the template. I recon that any time there is a need for a new master template down the road’s alignment, the specialist will need to know how to edit or add to its points as well. This is starting to look like a really niche technical role for a team.

A quick job search on Indeed shows no openings for an ORD Corridor Modeling Specialist. Either nobody’s hiring or there isn’t a job for it. It looks like this corridor modeling falls on all the engineers and designers for the project. This is strikingly odd for an industry which selects individuals to serve as the storm water experts since this corridor modeling is looking to become just as complex as storm water modeling.

We’re All Subject Matter Experts Now

After looking at the current way we are expected to model corridors, it is clear that OpenRoads Designer makes roadway design much more difficult. When I say difficult, I mean much more technical. In PowerGeopak, after a general set of criteria drew your cross sections, you could easily manhandle the sections to your liking. It wasn’t very efficient with anyone’s time but it allowed even interns to contribute towards finalizing cross sections.

Now that manhandling is made impossible, anyone desiring to model a corridor or “cut some sections” has to be a subject matter expert in template editing and corridor objects. Your poor intern asked how he can help and you threw a 5 page manual at him that describes all the parts of your template and an essay of an email of what not to touch. What I mean is, this whole operation makes catching someone up to speed hard, editing the corridor hard, and remembering what on earth all these points are for hard. This is too hard. As Sir Topham Hatt would say, “This is causing confusion and delay!“

The Close

I’ve written before about the 3D Linear Method for corridor modeling here, discussed the need to think through these things here, and tried to think though its application in driveway applications here. This is a different way to think through the whole idea of handling corridor modeling for all of us normal folk who aren’t specialists. I won’t argue against all the finished projects that used the common way of modeling corridors. I would, however, like to argue that we might be able to model the corridors of future projects much better.

There are many opportunities in this new digital epoch of roadway design to gain much ground in saving labor costs, improving our designs, and delivering high value digital models. The way we go about modeling our corridors would be a strategic victory.

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