AutoCAD Civil 3D – Corridors – Explaining Knuckles and Cul-

de-sacs
Gari Lynn Hessong | Applications Expert

With in AutoCAD Civil 3D creating Corridors along streets can be a challenge but when you have
knuckles and cul-de-sacs it can be an even greater challenge. Understanding how to set parameters as
well as creating well-named Assemblies can be the key to creating an accurate Corridor model.

Create your Assemblies:

Assemblies are created from Subassemblies and are a pattern for the cross section of a corridor at a
particular station. Once created and customized, the user will be able to create cross sections and create
quantity take offs.

Below you will see how the proper placement of the assemblies can build an accurate Corridor.

Assemblies Used:
Below are the Assemblies that were created from subassemblies that will be used to create the corridor.

Assembly 1- Residential Full

Assembly 2-Residential Curb Knuckle LT

Assembly 3-Residential Curb Knuckle RT

Assembly 4- Residential Full

Assembly 5-Residential Curb LT

Establish your Baselines:

When you have knuckles and cul-de-sacs in your roadway design, you have to understand that you will
need multiple alignments to use as Baselines. For a straight road, the centerline would usually be the
baseline but in this case, the centerline will be used as the width target at the knuckles and cul-de-sacs.

Below are the locations of the Baselines:

A - Ascent PI

B - Ascent Rd Knuckle

C - Ascent Rd Knuckle-2

D - Ascent cul-de-sac

Once you have established your baselines you will need to create your Corridor.

In the Civil 3D Workspace navigate to the Home Tab, Create Design Panel,
Pick on the region and right mouse click and click Split Region. This will take you to your Baseline in
your model and you can identify the knuckle area where you will insert the new region.

You will need to remove the region where the new Knuckle region will be placed by picking on the RG-
After Intersection and right click and click Remove Region. You can also do this for the cul-de-sac.

Next, click Add Baseline

Pick the baseline you created for the outside of the knuckle in this case the Ascent Rd Knuckle. Pick on
the BL-ascent Rd Knuckle and right click to add region. Continue to add your baselines and regions for
each of the pieces of your knuckle and cul-de-sac.
Change your Frequency and Set your Targets:
Once you have established the Baseline for the knuckle you can change the frequency to a smaller
number to get a more accurate curve and then set the targets. This will be the Width or Offset Target,
which in this case will be the Ascent PI, Click OK

Create your Corridor:

Once you have set all of your parameters it’s time to build your corridor by clicking OK. You can always
go back and edit the parameters by clicking on the corridor in the model, right mouse click and
click Corridor Properties.
The purpose of this exercise is to understand how to design knuckles and Cul-de-sacs in your corridor.
Keep in mind that you will need a surface, Alignments, a Surface Profile and FG Profile before you begin.
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