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The Framework for Civil 3D naming conventions for Assemblies and Assembly Sets help Civil 3D users make sense of their common civil engineering design Assembly solutions in their daily production work.

We’ve supplied AASHTO compliant roadway assemblies for many releases of AutoCAD Civil 3D all the way back to the 2008 release. These days we supply assemblies for most of the common typical roadways for rural, suburban, and urban environments. We wrap these up in a common content Civil 3D Tool Palette library you can attach to your default Civil 3D workspace.
Our customers already use these tools and our naming conventions in inventive ways.
They employ Release 7 to create better Adaptive Civil 3D CAD Standards.

Innovate One More Time

Can we make the good even better? You betcha!
The better managed Civil 3D makes a daily difference. Our Subassembly Code Tool, Description Key Set Tool, and deep, built-in Code Set Styles help Framework for Civil 3D customers get more production work out of Civil 3D with less effort.

Our upcoming Assembly Manager AddOn will introduce new naming conventions for Assemblies, Assembly drawings, and for Civil 3D Intersection Assembly Sets.
Let’s change the game again.

60 Collector-AUC-TS-2-GSD

Can you tell me what that roadway Assembly does?
Pretty simply actually.
There's a ton of useful information embedded in this name.
Here's the handy-dandy Super Decoder Ring:

Assembly Name Convention Contents

Assembly Name Conventions

Assembly Name Rule

Rule applies to individual Assembly Names

<SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <RegionType> <Lanes> <SubassemblyCodes>

Assembly Drawing Name Rule

Rule applies to individual Assembly drawings

<SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <RegionType> <Lanes>
<SubassemblyCodes>_<ColorTable>_<Units>.dwg

Assembly Collection Drawing Rule

Rule applies to drawings that collect Assemblies

AC <SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <SubassemblyCodes>_<ColorTable>_<Units>.dwg

  • <SpdRow> - Nominal maximum Speed or Right of Way Width– typically tied to road type class
    followed by a space character - all remaining codes followed by a hyphen "–" character.
  • <RoadClass> - Nominal road classification (see below)
  • <SuperType> - Code used to differentiate Civil 3D Assembly type and subassembly Superelevation type (see below)
  • <RegionType> - Intersection Region Type (see below)
  • <Lanes> - Code used in Assemblies
    The Lane Count is specific to the Assembly not the full section (see below)
  • <SubassemblyCodes> - Codes for Medians and beyond ETW (aka the Key Offset Alignments) (see below)
  • <ColorTable> - STB (typical) or CTB
    Used only in Assembly Drawing names
  • <Units> - Imperial (US =US foot - typical) or Metric
    Used only in Assembly Drawing names


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Intersection Assembly Set Display Names

A prefix added in Assembly Set XML files for primary and secondary alignment differentiation in Intersection Assembly Sets.
These values are added by default to the calculated column values from the code based Assembly Names in the Assembly Set Spreadsheet Tool.

  • PA = Primary Alignment
  • SA = Secondary Alignment

By default <SpdRow>, <RoadClass> codes are removed from Assembly Set Display Names employed in the Intersection Create Regions dialog box to reduce user confusion.

For example the Assembly:
30 Local-AUC-TS-E
will have a default Assembly Set Display Name of either:

  • PA-AUC-TS-2-E – primary alignment
  • SA-AUC-TS-2-E – secondary alignment


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Speed Rating or Right of Way Width

<SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <RegionType> <Lanes> <SubassemblyCodes>

Employed to differentiate and group Assemblies by AASHTO speed rating or total Right of Way width.
Always a multiple digit number followed by a space character.
"00" is employed by default where neither are applicable (e.g. Curb Fillet Assemblies etc.)

AASHTO and FHA Roadway Class Conventions

Typical AASHTO and FHA speed conventions and street classification name conventions are employed
State and local interpretations of FHA classification names differ widely.
The Name Rules employed in product resources are for differentiation and consistency.

<SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <RegionType> <Lanes> <SubassemblyCodes>

  • Drive – low speed limited access optional curbs and/or sidewalks
  • Local – low speed streets that include curbs and/or sidewalks
  • Collector – typical suburban street that include curbs and/or sidewalks
  • Urban – typical urban street with minimum 11’ lanes and optional curbs and sidewalks
    Used to differentiate use of minimum width lanes in Collectors and Arterials – may be divided
  • Arterial – medium speed multi-lane roadways – may be divided
    and may include curb and sidewalks and intersections
  • Highway – limited access high speed multi-lane divided roadways with shoulders
    May include intersections and/or interchanges
  • Freeway –limited access high-speed multilane divided roadways with shoulders
    Includes only interchanges
  • Rural – low to high speed single or multi-lane roadways with shoulders –may be divided
    may include intersections
  • Dirt – low speed unpaved roads with or without shoulders
  • Gravel – low speed graveled roads with or without shoulders
  • Fillet – Return Fillets for Curb Return Type Alignments
  • Chamfer – Return Chamfers for Curb Return Type Alignments
  • Null – Empty Assembly

Some Subassembly properties in existing Assemblies were updated to AASHTO 2011+ minimum width requirements - e.g. Drives (9’min), Locals, Urban, Collectors, and Arterials (11’ min).


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Other Assembly Class Type Name Convention

We may include Assemblies and/or Assembly Sets for Intersections and/or other typical corridors including site structures.
Typical four letter Standard Key Names are employed for consistency with Key-based Style and Layer naming conventions.

The following may be employed as <RoadClass> replacements for non-roadway Intersections and Corridors.

  • BERM
  • CHAN
  • DTCH
  • LEVE

These Assembly descriptions typically include Subassembly contents.

Section Type Codes for Regions are typically employed for Assembly Sets. (see below)


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Superelevation Type Lane Code

Employed to classify Assemblies by Assembly types - Undivided Crown, Undivided Planar, Divided Crown, Divided Planar, and subassembly Super type.

<SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <RegionType> <Lanes> <SubassemblyCodes>

  • SUC = Standard Super Undivided Crown
  • SUP = Standard Super Undivided Planar
  • SDC = Standard Super Divided Crown
  • SDP = Standard Super Divided Planar
  • AUC = AOR Super Undivided Crown
  • AUP = AOR Super Undivided Planar
  • ADC = AOR Super Divided Crown
  • ADP = AOR Super Divided Planar
  • BAS = Basic stock subs Undivided Crown
  • OTR = Other
  • PKT = Always Follows
    May be employed to differentiate Assemblies with PKT contents


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Region Type Names

Employed to differentiate Region Types of sections for use in Intersections and for Assembly Set replacement.
Coded to conform to Assembly Set XML tags for the Intersection Region Types

<SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <RegionType> <Lanes> <SubassemblyCodes>

  • TS = Typical Section Full
  • HL = Half Section Left
  • HR = Half Section Right
  • FL = Full Section Left
  • FR = Full Section Right
  • TR = Through Road Section
  • CR = Curb Return Section
  • NS = Null Section


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Lanes

<SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <RegionType> <Lanes> <SubassemblyCodes>

Employed to specify and differentiate the number of lane subassemblies in the Assembly.
The lane count is specific to the Assembly itself and NOT the entire cross section.
Note: Some Civil 3D stock subassembly components may potentially have multiple internal lanes configured in subassembly properties.

Subassembly Content Name Conventions

Subassembly content classification beyond the travel lanes can be complex and be simplified in this name code system.
Both detailed and shorthand codes are available.
Presently types of Daylight are not specified, but they could be with another and optional Daylight code.

Framework Upgrades

By default NO character employed as seperator in Subassembly Codes.
This replaces the “+” character used in the older Framework Assembly Name Convention.

Subassembly Content Codes

The purpose of the Subassembly Content Codes is to provide consistent information from the Assembly name.

<SpdRow> <RoadClass> <SuperType> <RegionType> <Lanes> <SubassemblyCodes>

  • M = Median – used first if Assembly includes median or any centered Subassembly Group
  • L = Median Lane – Used with Median when the median itself is a turn or passing lane(s)
  • LO = Lanes Only – also employed for other non-roadway Assemblies (e.g. RAIL)
  • D = Daylight – always used last
  • N = No Daylight – always used last when there is no Daylight
  • E = Everything – Curb and Gutter, Inside, Sidewalk, Outside, and Daylight
  • H = Shoulder
  • A = Dike – Asphalt curbs
  • X = Barrier
  • U = Guard Rail
  • C = Curb – no gutter
  • G = Curb and Gutter
  • R = Rolled Curb and Gutter
  • V = Valley Gutter
  • W = Wall, or Abutment
  • I = Inside Blvd
  • S = Sidewalk
  • O = Outside Blvd
  • B = Berm
  • F = Ditch (Flowline) – contains side ditch subassembly

e.g. "CISD" or "GSON"

Subassembly Codes Notes:

  • LO, N, and E serve as generic shorthand Subassembly content codes
  • Subassembly generic codes A, C, G, R, and V may be obviously replaced by specific jurisdiction type codes (e.g. "A2-6")
  • Complex Assemblies with Medians may have two or more <SubassemblyCodes>
    (e.g. "MCIC-GISOD" - This example employs a Median pattern and a beyond the ETW pattern).
  • A – character is employed as the seperator to extend the number of Subassembly Content Codes patterns.

Rehab Overlay Code

May replace and/or append <SubassemblyCodes> in Assemblies for reconstruction, repavements, or widenings.
May be combined with other <SubassemblyCodes> where appropriate.

  • P= Overlay Pavement
  • Y= Mill and Overlay


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