Intermediate Civil 3D: Land Development

What Will You Learn?

The Intermediate Civil 3D Land Development course provides students with advanced skills in site design, grading, surface modeling, parcels, and utility layouts. This course focuses on land development workflows used for residential, commercial, and industrial projects, ensuring students gain hands-on experience with real-world land development scenarios using Autodesk Civil 3D.

By completing this course, you will:

• Develop expertise in parcel creation, lot grading, and site development workflows.
• Learn advanced grading and surface modeling techniques.
• Gain skills in stormwater and sanitary sewer network design.
• Understand site balancing, cut/fill analysis, and project documentation.
• Implement best practices for land development workflows in Civil 3D.

Course Lessons and Projects

Lesson 1: Site Planning and Parcel Creation

This lesson introduces students to parcel layout and land subdivision workflows.

Skills Learned:

• Creating parcel boundaries for residential and commercial sites.
• Managing parcel styles, labels, and numbering.
• Adjusting lot line configurations based on zoning regulations.
• Generating parcel reports and legal descriptions.
• Preparing site plans for land use approvals.

Project: Design a subdivision layout, ensuring proper lot sizing, boundary adjustments, and zoning compliance.

Lesson 2: Grading and Surface Modeling

Students will explore grading techniques for site design, ensuring proper elevation adjustments.

Skills Learned:

• Creating grading objects and feature lines for site development.
• Performing cut/fill analysis for site balancing.
• Adjusting slopes, retaining walls, and pad elevations.
• Managing surface styles and visualization settings.
• Coordinating grading plans with drainage networks.

Project: Develop a grading plan for a residential site, ensuring proper drainage and elevation balancing.

Lesson 3: Roadway Design for Land Development

This lesson covers roadway layout, alignments, and corridor modeling for site access.

Skills Learned:

• Creating alignments for access roads and driveways.
• Designing roadway corridors with appropriate cross-sections.
• Configuring intersections and turn lanes for accessibility.
• Adjusting road profiles for grading coordination.
• Integrating roadways with land development parcels and grading.

Project: Design a roadway system for a subdivision, ensuring connectivity, grading compliance, and smooth transitions.

Lesson 4: Utility Networks and Stormwater Management

Students will learn how to design stormwater and sanitary sewer networks for land development projects.

Skills Learned:

• Configuring storm drainage and sewer pipe networks.
• Placing and connecting catch basins, manholes, and pipe runs.
• Adjusting pipe slopes, invert elevations, and hydraulic properties.
• Managing utility clash detection and coordination with site grading.
• Generating utility plan sheets and pipe network profiles.

Project: Develop a stormwater and sanitary sewer system layout, integrating drainage basins and sewer mains.

Lesson 5: Earthwork and Volume Calculations

This lesson introduces earthwork estimation and volume calculations for construction planning.

Skills Learned:

• Performing cut/fill volume calculations for site grading.
• Generating earthwork reports for construction planning.
• Adjusting grading elements to optimize site balancing.
• Managing excavation and fill zones for cost efficiency.
• Exporting earthwork analysis data for engineering review.

Project: Conduct a cut/fill analysis for a commercial development site, ensuring grading efficiency and material balancing.

Lesson 6: Final Site Development Documentation

Students will focus on finalizing site development documentation, annotation, and sheet creation.

Skills Learned:

• Labeling grading elements, roadways, and parcels.
• Creating plan sheets with title blocks, viewports, and legends.
• Configuring dynamic tables for lot areas, grading volumes, and utilities.
• Exporting Civil 3D models to external formats for collaboration.
• Ensuring compliance with municipal and regulatory requirements.

Project: Develop a fully annotated site plan, ensuring proper documentation for approvals and construction use.

Key Skills You Will Walk Away With

• Advanced proficiency in Civil 3D land development workflows.
• Expertise in grading, site balancing, and earthwork calculations.
• Ability to design and document stormwater and sewer systems.
• Skills in parcel layout, roadway planning, and utility coordination.
• Hands-on experience in producing site development plan sets.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is ideal for professionals and students looking to enhance their expertise in Civil 3D land development. It is suited for:

• Civil Engineers & Land Planners – Learn advanced site development and grading workflows.
• BIM Coordinators & CAD Technicians – Gain skills in land modeling and utility design.
• Construction Project Managers – Improve workflows for earthwork and infrastructure planning.
• Surveyors & GIS Analysts – Strengthen knowledge of parcel mapping and land development analysis.
• Students & Recent Graduates – Build expertise in Civil 3D land development applications for professional use.

Career Applications & Industry Relevance

The skills developed in this course are essential for professionals involved in land development, urban planning, and site engineering. Career paths that benefit from this course include:

• Land Development Engineer – Develop expertise in site grading, drainage, and parcel design.
• BIM Manager – Oversee land development coordination and documentation.
• Site Designer – Ensure smooth integration of roads, grading, and utilities.
• Urban Planner – Utilize Civil 3D for zoning analysis and land development feasibility studies.
• Construction Coordinator – Manage earthwork volume calculations and site preparation.

With the increasing reliance on BIM for land development projects, proficiency in Intermediate Civil 3D Land Development provides professionals with a competitive edge in site engineering, urban planning, and infrastructure development.