Criteria-Based Alignment Design

Use the criteria-based design feature to apply agency-specific standards to an alignment.

The criteria-based design feature provides the ability to verify that your alignment design meets the minimum standards required by your local agency.

When you use the criteria-based design feature, you can select a design criteria file , from which you can specify criteria such as the attainment method and minimum radius and transition (spiral) length tables. When you lay out the alignment, the appropriate minimum values specified in the design criteria file are displayed on the command line. You can either accept the default minimum value for a given sub-entity, or specify a new value.

Minimum transition length values are automatically generated using the specified curve radius. If there is no curve associated with the spiral, then the minimum value is the smallest acceptable spiral radius.

Specific design criteria files are available for road and rail applications. The Rail alignment type cannot use the road design criteria file, and the Centerline, Offset, and Curb Return alignment types cannot use the rail design criteria file.

The road design criteria file can also include criteria to support automatically adding widening around curves to dynamic offset alignments. For more information on this feature, see Adding Automatic Widening.

If the design parameters for a sub-entity violate the minimum values established in the design criteria file, a warning symbol appears both on the sub-entity in the drawing window and next to the violated value in the Alignment Entities Vista and Alignment Sub-Entity Editor Window. When you hover the cursor over a warning symbol, a tooltip displays which standard has been violated and how to correct the violation. The display of the warning symbol is controlled by the alignment style.

Some alignment design criteria are not available in table form in the design criteria file. For these criteria, you can define design checks to validate design standards. To apply a design check to an alignment, you must add it to a design check set .

You can generate a report that documents validations or violations in the alignment design. The design criteria report identifies whether each sub-entity within a given station range violates or meets the appropriate design criteria and design checks.

After an alignment has been created, you can check that the entities are tangent to one another.

Tutorial: Designing an Alignment Using Local Standards