By Karen Weiss, Autodesk California’s Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is one of the largest and most complex transportation agencies in the country. With over 50,000 miles of highways and freeways under its care, Caltrans also oversees intercity rail services, more than 400 public airports, and special-use hospital heliports. When Caltrans makes a major technology decision, it sends ripples through the entire transportation engineering community across the U.S. Back in June 2011, Caltrans made a bold move by replacing its long-standing Autodesk CAiCE software with AutoCAD Civil 3D for road and highway design projects across the state. This shift was part of a broader global trend toward Building Information Modeling (BIM), as agencies seek more efficient, integrated, and collaborative design solutions. Now in its second year of full implementation, Caltrans has trained nearly 2,000 engineers and surveyors on AutoCAD Civil 3D. The success of this transition led to a key milestone earlier this year when the Chief of the Division of Design issued a memo stating that all new projects starting July 1, 2014, must be designed using Civil 3D. This marked the official end of CAiCE use within the department. Having overseen a similar statewide software rollout while working for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, I can truly appreciate how challenging and impressive this achievement is for Caltrans. They are part of an increasing number of state DOTs that are embracing change and realizing real benefits from modernizing their workflows, despite the hurdles involved in such large-scale transitions. To support this shift, Caltrans has developed detailed software standards and workflows tailored to their specific processes. These tools help both internal and external users meet Caltrans’ unique requirements, ensuring consistency and compliance across all projects. If you're interested in learning more about Caltrans' transition, you can read the official announcement here. For more information on how Autodesk supports road and highway design, visit this page. This article originally appeared on Autodesk’s BIM on the Rocks blog. undermount sink,handmade sink,workstation sink,double sink,single bowl kitchen sink Xinhe Stainless Steel Products Co., Ltd. , https://www.sinkhall.com3D visualization of Presidio Parkway, San Francisco. Image courtesy of Parsons Brinckerhoff.
AutoCAD Civil 3D design for El Dorado County DOT roadway project. Image courtesy of EDCDOT.