Project Booklet

Civil Drafting
with AutoCAD
 Contents
INSTRUCTIONS 1

GENERAL SETUP 2

THE BORDER AND TITLE BLOCK 3

DRAFTING THE EXISTING SITE PLAN (PLATE 1) 8

DRAWING THE PROPOSED DRIVEWAY AND

BUILDING SITE (PLATE 2) 18

DRAWING THE DRIVEWAY PROFILE AND

SECTION A PROFILE (PLATE 3) 21

DRAWING SECTION B PROFILE (PLATE 4) 22

iii
Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

INSTRUCTIONS
For this project, you’ll prepare a set of four civil drawing
plans. The plans are for a parcel of land on which a driveway
and a residence will be built. Your assignment includes inter-
polating contours from survey elevations, drafting the drive-
way, showing the driveway’s cut and fill, and showing the
building site’s cut and fill. You’ll also draft a profile of the
driveway and the building site. Use AutoCAD to make the
four drawings according to the instructions listed in this
booklet.
Throughout this project, you’ll find questions that will direct
you to think about how you’re creating the drawing. Use the
drafting and AutoCAD skills you’ve learned so far to answer
these questions. However, you shouldn’t submit the answers
to these questions.
In addition, you won’t need to print or plot out your
drawings for the project to be graded. When you finish the
project, you’ll submit only the cover sheet at the end of this
booklet and a disk containing your electronic files to the
school for grading. Please enclose this cover sheet in the
mailer along with your disk containing the drawing files.

1
 GENERAL SETUP
Use the AutoCAD settings listed here when specifying your
units and style.
Unit type. Specify decimal units. Set the precision to the
hundredths’ place (two digits to the right of the decimal
point).
Type of angle measurement. Specify surveyor’s units for
your angle format. Set the precision to the ten-thousandths’
place (four digits to the right of the decimal point).
Direction of angle measurement. Specify east as your
angle 0 direction.
Style. Specify ROMANS as your text style name and select
ROMANS as the font. Use 0.00 as text height and 1.00 as
text width. Default through the remaining style settings.
Use the information listed here when setting up your layers.
1. One of the best habits you can develop when using
AutoCAD is that of carefully defining your layers. The
layer names should be descriptive. Assign the color and
linetype of all your entities as by layer. Therefore, if
you have a layer named Concrete, and that layer’s color
is yellow, then any entity drawn on that layer will be
yellow. If you want to make all Concrete entities red,
you can simply change the color in the Layer Control
dialogue box to red. On the other hand, if you’ve drawn
a circle on the red Concrete layer but have assigned
that circle the color green, to change the circle to a
different color, you must actually change the color
property of the circle. Developing the habit of assigning
color and linetype by layer and using only descriptive
layer names will help you keep the various elements of
your drawings uniform. In addition, if you decide to
exchange drawing files with drafters in other firms,
they’ll be able to easily change the colors for plotting
with their own plotters. Exchanging drawing files is a
common practice. Some government bureaus, for
instance, may require copies of your electronic files
when issuing building, sewer, or electrical permits.

2 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

 2. You should use the layers as defined in this project
book or your first drawing. For the remainder of the
drawings, you’ll create your own layers using the
recommendations just described to guide you. Assign
colors to the layers you create using the guidelines
listed here in Table 1.

Table 1

LAYERS
Use this Layer Color Linetype

Red Thin

Yellow Medium Thin

Green Medium Thick

Cyan Thick

Notes:
1. Use thin lines for any small details, hidden lines, and very small text
2. Use medium thin lines for the normal outlines of objects and for normal text.
3. Use medium thick lines for any outlines to be emphasized and for large text.
4. Use thick lines for outlining the title block and for drawing the plate's outer border.

THE BORDER AND TITLE BLOCK

One of the many benefits of using AutoCAD is that you aren’t
restricted to the size of a drawing surface. Therefore, you
don’t really need to plan your drawing for space available
before you begin drafting. One technique is to draw the
model full scale (1:1) in model space, switch to paper space,
add view ports, and then put all annotations in paper space.
Another method is to use two drawings: one that has the full
size model, and another that contains an XREF to the model
and the annotations. This technique allows multiple users to
reference the same model and work on different parts of
documentation.

• Initially, you can create all your drawings using actual

measurements. For most of these drawings, you’ll leave
them in their actual measurements. You’ll then place a
border, with a title block, around each drawing at the
proper scaling factor for plotting. As an alternative, you

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 3

 could insert a model as an XREF and scale it down so that
it fits within the paper border, and then plot the drawing
at a scale of 1 = 1.

• Not all of the drawings in this project will have the same
plotting scale, even though you’ll draw them using full-
size measurements. You’ll use the same border for all the
drawings, and then simply scale it to the proper size for
each one. Draw the border at a scale of 1 = 1 using the
instructions listed here.
1. Draw the outside trim line using a polyline. Draw it
on Layer Hidden, assigning this layer a red color
and a hidden linetype. Make the dimensions for
the trim line 11″ high and 17″ wide.

2. Draw a solid polyline boarder 1/2″ inside the trim

line. Draw it on Layer Border, assigning the layer a
cyan color and a continuous linetype. As an alter-
native, you could OFFSET the trim line 1/2″ and use
CHPROP to change the new polyline to Layer Border.

3. Box out the title block by drawing a line 1″ from

the border’s right side. Draw it on Layer Border2,
assigning this layer a green color and a continuous
linetype. As an alternative, you could OFFSET the
border line 1″. Use CHPROP to change the new poly-
line to Layer Border2; EXPLODE the polyline; ERASE
the top, bottom, and left lines; and EXTEND the line
to the cyan border.

4. Figure 1 shows how to divide the title block into

different sections. The line you’ve just drawn is the
top horizontal line in the figure, the line above the
XXX. This is where each plate’s title belongs. Draw
a line 1/4″ away from the last line you drew. Draw it
on Layer Border2. (In Figure 1, this is the line run-
ning under the XXX that holds the place for the
title.) As an alternative to actually drawing this
new line, you could simply OFFSET the last line
drawn by 1/4″.

4 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

FIGURE 1—When oriented so the text in the block is running from left to right, your title block will
look similar to this. Fill in the information that will stay the same on each plate, and use XXX to
hold the place for any information that will change from plate to plate.

5. Create a Layer Text-Med, assigning it a yellow color

and a continuous linetype. Find the exact center of
the area formed between the last two lines drawn.
(The dimensions of this area are 10″ × 1/4″.) Make
text in this area using the DTEXT command, and
justify the text with the Middle option. Make the
text 5/32″ high with a north rotation angle. Type the
letters XXX for your text. You’ll be using this same
border for the different drawings. Therefore, you’ll
need to change this text later to each plate’s actual
title.

6. In the right corner of your title block, inside the

cyan lines, make a square that’s 3/4″ on each side.
The new line you need to draw to complete this
square should be on Layer Border2. Type the text
PLATE in the left corner of this square. Use the
standard setting and make the text left justified.
The text should be 5/64″ high with a north rotation
angle. Put this text on Layer Text-Med.

7. Create a layer named Text-Large with a green color

and a continuous linetype. In the middle of the
square, prepare to type in some middle-justified
text 3/16″ high with a north rotation angle. Type
XXX in the middle of the square. You’ll change this
text later to each plate number.

8. In your title block, section off the boxes containing

the student number and scale. You could OFFSET a
side of the plate-number box 2 1/16″ farther into the
title block. You’ll then have created an area that’s
3/ ″ × 2 1/ ″. Draw a line to divide this area in half
4 16
to create two areas, each 3/8″ × 2 1/16″.

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 5

 9. With ORTHO on, copy the text PLATE into the area
for your student number. Using DDEDIT, change the
text to STUDENT NO. You can also quickly copy
PLATE to the new location by using the ENDPOINT
snap.

10. With ORTHO on, copy the text STUDENT NO. to the
area in the box that you’ll use to show the draw-
ing’s scale. Using DDEDIT, change the text to
SCALE.

11. Type XXX into the scale box you’ve just created.
Use the standard setting and make the text left
justified. The text should be 3/32″ high with a north
rotation angle. Put this text on Layer Text-Med.
You can later change this text to the scale for each
plate.

12. With ORTHO on, copy the text XXX to the box for
your student number. Use DDEDIT to change the
new text to your actual student number.

13. OFFSET one side of the 3/4″ square 4 11/32″ toward

the middle of the title block. Doing so creates the
box for the program, title, and date. Create a layer
named Text-Small with a red color and a continu-
ous linetype. Using this layer, draw a line that’s
9/ ″ away from the cyan border. Make the length of
64
this line fit appropriately within the area. OFFSET
this line 3/16″ away, and OFFSET the new line anoth-
er 3/16″ away. These three lines are for the date,
project title, and program name. You should have
15/ ″ between the line for the program name and
64
the green Border2 line running under the drawing
title.

14. Copy the text STUDENT NO. to the last red line
you created. Edit the text to PROGRAM. Using the
Multiple option, copy PROGRAM to the other two
red lines. Edit the text on the middle line to TITLE
and the text on the other line to DATE as shown in
Figure 1.

6 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

 15. Copy your student number to the program line.
(This text, on layer Text-Med, should be 3/32″ high
with a north rotation angle. Use the LIST command
to ensure the text has these features.) Change the
text to read AutoCAD DRAFTING.

16. Using the Multiple option, copy AutoCAD DRAFT-

ING to the other two red lines. Change the text on
the middle red line to PROJECT 6, and change the
text on the other line to XXX. You can change this
text to the actual date when you complete your
drawings.

17. With ORTHO on, copy the nine entities you’ve just
created—PROGRAM, TITLE, DATE, AutoCAD
DRAFTING, PROJECT 6, XXX, and the three red
lines—to the area left in the title block. This area
measures 3/4″ × 4 29/32″. Edit the copied text as
indicated in Table 2.

Table 2

COMPLETING THE TITLE BLOCK

Copied Text Change to

PROGRAM DRAWN BY

TITLE ADDRESS

DATE CITY

AutoCAD DRAFTING Your name

PROJECT 5 Your address

XXX Your city

18. With ORTHO on and using the Multiple copy option,

copy the text CITY twice up along the line. Change
the first copy of CITY to STATE, and change the
other copy to ZIP.

19. With ORTHO on and using the Multiple copy option,

copy the name of your city twice up along the red
line. Change the middle copy to the name of your
state, and change the other copy to your zip code.

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 7

 20. Use the WBLOCK command to block the title block
and the plate’s border, naming it Titleblk. Now you
can use the title block for each of your drawings.

DRAFTING THE EXISTING SITE

PLAN (PLATE 1)
Ms. Capitano is a property owner who wants to build a
residence on her land. The land is an odd-shaped piece of
property in a relatively hilly area on the outskirts of town.
Before she decides on the actual location for her house, she
hires The Spinone Firm, a civil engineering company, to
survey the existing roadways, buildings, trees, and contours
of the land. The company will conduct this survey at 10-foot
contour intervals.

• The area is located in a state that bases all surveys on

the intersection of a meridian and a baseline for that
state. Therefore, the origin (or point 0,0) for all surveys is
at that intersection, and any X and Y coordinates tell the
distance in feet from the intersection. If, for example, a
benchmark is at point 11675,39532, the benchmark is
2.21 miles east of the intersection and 7.49 miles north
of the intersection.

• A benchmark (BM 312) exists at the northwest corner of

the survey area. BM 312 has an elevation of 88.9 feet,
and its coordinates are 521662,44895.

Draw this benchmark on Layer Benchmark, with a green

color and a continuous linetype. For the benchmark
symbol, use a 10-foot diameter circle bisected by a
horizontal line and a vertical line. Use the HATCH
command to fill in the northwest and southeast quarters
of the benchmark symbol. Use hatch pattern ANSI31,
scale 2, angle 45. Select Pick Points to define the hatch
area, and use your mouse or puck to pick two points in
the symbol. (Simply pick a point within the northwest
quarter and a point within the southeast quarter of the
symbol.) Create Layer Details, with a red color and a
continuous linetype. Change the layer for the hatching in
your benchmark symbol to Layer Details using the
CHPROP command.

8 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

 • Before you can draw the contours of the land, you’ll need
to locate all the surveyed spot elevations on your draw-
ing. The surveyors gathered 216 spot elevations. The spot
elevations, taken at equal distances apart, run across the
length of the surveyed area in 12 evenly spaced rows.
1. Create Layer Spot (color yellow, linetype continu-
ous) on which to draw the elevation values.

2. Create an X using two intersecting lines, each 10

feet long, on Layer Spot. The lines should intersect
at their midpoints.

3. MOVE the lines from the intersection of the lines

(using the Osnap) to the center of the benchmark
(again using the Osnap).

4. Now, use the ARRAY command. When the command

prompt asks you to select objects, enter P for
previous. (AutoCAD will automatically select the
two lines you had just moved.) Use a rectangular
array with 12 rows and 18 columns. When
AutoCAD prompts you for the unit distance
between rows, enter –50. (You enter a negative
number since you’re arraying the rows from the
northwest corner to the lower portion of the screen,
which is a negative direction in AutoCAD.) When
AutoCAD prompts you for the unit distance
between rows, enter 50. (This time, you’ll enter a
positive number since you’re arraying columns
from the northwest corner to the right, which in
AutoCAD is a positive direction.) Finally, ERASE the
spot elevation mark that you had positioned with
the benchmark.

5. Create a text style named SPOT-TEXT. Select

ROMANS as the font, and use a height of 6″ and a
width factor of 0.8. While still in Layer Spot, use
the DTEXT command and type XXX alongside the
spot elevation mark in the lower-left corner of the
screen. Now, use the ARRAY command again to copy
the XXX to alongside all the rest of the spot
elevations.

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 9

 6. The spot elevations given in Table 3 are listed in
Questions rows beginning with the northernmost row at BM
What are the 312 and reading from left to right. Use the DDEDIT
coordinates of this command to change the XXX for each spot to the
spot elevation in the appropriate elevation listed in the table.
lower-left corner of
the array? Table 3
SPOT ELEVATIONS
Does either unit
ROW 1 ROW 2 ROW 3 ROW 4 ROW 5 ROW 6
distance for this
8 8 .9 7 6 .9 6 0 .0 4 3 .5 3 2 .3 2 .1
array have a nega- 9 3 .8 9 2 .3 9 0 .0 7 1 .5 5 4 .5 3 9 .6
tive number? If so, 9 2 .2 9 0 .8 8 8 .8 8 7 .2 8 4 .0 6 5 .1
which one? If not, 1 1 3 .3 1 0 0 .0 9 8 .0 8 5 .8 8 4 .0 8 2 .3
why not? 1 4 4 .9 1 3 2 .2 1 1 6 .9 1 0 4 .4 9 0 .0 8 0 .8
1 7 7 .1 1 6 2 .7 1 4 8 .0 1 3 5 .3 1 2 0 .9 1 0 6 .3
1 8 8 .0 1 8 6 .4 1 7 8 .9 1 6 6 .0 1 5 1 .4 1 3 8 .7
1 9 0 .5 1 8 8 .8 1 8 8 .3 1 8 7 .5 1 8 4 .1 1 6 6 .5
1 9 2 .6 1 9 0 .8 1 8 9 .6 1 8 8 .4 1 8 6 .7 1 6 5 .9
1 9 2 .0 1 9 1 .6 1 8 9 .5 1 8 8 .3 1 8 4 .2 1 5 2 .2
1 9 1 .8 1 9 0 .4 1 8 8 .8 1 8 6 .4 1 6 0 .0 1 4 0 .0
1 9 2 .1 1 9 1 .1 1 8 8 .1 1 8 1 .2 1 5 0 .0 1 2 9 .9
1 9 2 .1 1 9 0 .3 1 8 6 .3 1 7 2 .8 1 4 7 .0 1 4 1 .0
1 9 1 .7 1 9 0 .2 1 8 6 .1 1 6 5 .2 1 4 6 .3 1 6 0 .0
1 9 1 .4 1 9 0 .0 1 8 6 .4 1 6 0 .8 1 4 9 .1 1 7 8 .6
1 9 1 .6 1 8 9 .6 1 8 6 .0 1 5 6 .1 1 6 8 .3 1 8 6 .5
1 9 0 .9 1 8 9 .7 1 8 5 .9 1 6 9 .8 1 8 7 .5 1 9 1 .2
1 8 9 .8 1 8 9 .2 1 8 7 .7 1 8 7 .2 1 9 4 .4 2 0 4 .1

ROW 7 ROW 8 ROW 9 ROW 10 ROW 11 ROW 12

3 2 .3 3 2 .1 3 2 .1 3 2 .3 3 2 .0 2 9 .9
3 2 .2 3 2 .1 3 2 .1 3 2 .2 3 2 .3 3 2 .1
5 0 .8 3 7 .7 3 2 .2 3 2 .5 3 2 .5 3 2 .6
8 0 .0 6 6 .3 5 0 .6 3 4 .7 3 3 .6 3 2 .8
7 9 .3 7 7 .7 7 5 .8 6 6 .0 4 4 .4 3 2 .7
9 2 .0 7 8 .0 7 4 .3 7 2 .9 7 1 .4 5 4 .0
1 1 9 .3 1 0 5 .2 8 8 .8 7 2 .1 6 9 .4 6 8 .3
1 4 8 .6 1 2 6 .4 1 0 7 .6 8 8 .8 7 4 .9 6 6 .8
1 4 4 .4 1 2 6 .7 1 0 4 .9 8 5 .2 7 3 .6 6 7 .8
1 3 2 .0 1 1 7 .0 9 8 .2 9 0 .0 9 3 .6 8 4 .4
1 2 2 .8 1 2 0 .1 1 1 8 .1 1 0 2 .0 1 1 2 .2 1 1 0 .0
1 2 9 .5 1 3 7 .8 1 3 0 .0 1 1 0 .8 1 1 8 .2 1 2 7 .4
1 5 1 .4 1 5 5 .5 1 4 2 .0 1 2 0 .9 1 2 0 .8 1 3 8 .5
1 8 1 .7 1 6 8 .8 1 4 9 .8 1 2 4 .4 1 2 5 .1 1 4 4 .5
1 8 6 .5 1 7 4 .0 1 4 7 .6 1 2 9 .8 1 3 2 .3 1 5 1 .0
1 8 6 .2 1 7 2 .6 1 6 6 .2 1 5 0 .9 1 4 8 .8 1 6 0 .0
1 9 3 .4 1 8 1 .7 1 8 1 .8 1 7 8 .0 1 7 1 .4 1 8 2 .3
2 0 3 .3 1 9 7 .0 1 9 1 .1 1 8 5 .2 1 8 2 .7 1 8 4 .1

10 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

Your next task is to connect adjacent spot elevations to
create a grid over the entire area on our drawing.
1. Use the LINE command on Layer Grid (color red, linetype
continuous) to draw the connecting lines. First, draw a
line connecting the elevation mark in the lower-left
corner of the drawing (elevation 29.9) to the mark that’s
50 feet to the right (elevation 32.1). Then, draw a line
connecting the last mark to the mark that’s 50 feet
toward the top of the screen (elevation 32.3). ARRAY
these two lines as you’ve done with the other arrayed
objects.
2. Connect the lower-left elevation mark (elevation 29.9)
to the mark that’s 50 feet toward the top of the
screen (elevation 32.0). ARRAY this line up. Note that in
this instance, you’ll use only the Row option, and not
the Column option, of the ARRAY command. (You’re
connecting only the marks that range from elevation
29.9 up to BM 312.)
3. Draw a line from the center of the benchmark to the
middle of the mark that’s 50 feet toward the right
(elevation 93.8). ARRAY this line across the top of the
drawing. Here, you’ll use only the Column option, not
the Row option.

• Now you need to figure out where the contour intervals

cross the grid lines between each spot elevation. You
can estimate where a contour line intersects a grid line
using interpolation. To interpolate means to estimate a
value between two known values. Therefore, you can
interpolate the position of the contours by estimating
between the known locations of the spot elevations. You
can do this interpolation in several different ways. Two
options are listed here.
1. Take as an example the first and second spot
elevations in Row 1 (elevations 88.9 and 93.8). The
90-foot contour line is somewhere between these
two spot elevations. The difference between the
values of these elevations (93.8 88.9) is 4.9 units.
Try visualizing the difference in elevation between
the two points as divided into intervals of 1/10 units.
There would thus be 49 of these 1/10 units between
the two points. The 90-foot contour line comes

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 11

 between the two points at one of these 1/10 units.
To be precise, the distance from the first spot ele-
vation to the 90-foot contour line is 1.1 units (90
88.9). Thus, the contour line is exactly 11 of the
10 units away from the first spot elevation. In
1/

other words, you divided the line between spot ele-

vations into 49 equal lengths, based on the change
in elevation. The contour line will come between
the spot elevations at 11 of these lengths counted
from the first spot elevation. In this way, you’ve
estimated, with a certain degree of precision, where
the 90-foot contour will intersect the line between
spot elevations.

We’ll apply this interpolation procedure to another

example. Locate the 80-foot contour line between
the first and second spot elevations in Column 1
(elevations 88.9 and 76.9). The difference in eleva-
tion between the points is 12.0 (88.9–76.9). Picture
the line between the two points divided into 120
intervals, each interval marking a drop in elevation
of 1/10 of a foot. Now, the difference in elevation
between the first point and the 80-foot contour is
8.9 (88.9–80). The contour is thus 89 of the 1/10
intervals below BM 312. Imagine the drop between
the two spot elevations divided into 120 equal
lengths. The 80-foot contour line is 89 of these
lengths away from the first spot elevation.

If you use this interpolation method, set the

PDMODE to 34 and the PDSIZE to 5. Then, when you
use the DIVIDE command to divide the line into
equal lengths, the divisions will be easy to see.
Once you’ve located the contour line intersections,
ERASE any points you don’t need.

2. As a second example of how to interpolate the loca-

tion of the contours, we’ll again use the first and
second spot elevations in Row 1. Divide 50 feet (the
distance between the spot elevations) by the num-
ber of 1/10 elevation units between the points. There
are 49 of these 1/10 units between the first two spot
elevations in Row 1. Thus, each 1/10 of a foot gain
in elevation from the first to the second point will

12 Structural Drafting with AutoCAD

 take place over a horizontal distance of 1.0204082
feet (50 ÷ 49). You can then multiply 1.0204082 by
11 to get 11.22, which would be the interpolated
distance from the first spot elevation to the 90-foot
contour line.

We’ll apply this interpolation procedure to another

example. Locate where the 80-foot contour line
should be between the first and second spot eleva-
tions in Column 1. The difference between the ele-
vation values is 12.0, or 120 of the 1/10 units.
Divide 50 feet by this number of units in elevation
drop to determine the average length for each 1/10
of a foot drop in elevation. This average length for
each 1/10 unit is thus 0.4166666 (50 ÷ 120). The
80-foot contour line is at a point that’s 89 of the
10 units below the first spot elevation. You can
1/

multiply the 89 units by the average length of each

unit to get 37.08 (89 × 0.4166666). Therefore, you
can interpolate the distance from the first spot
elevation to the 80-foot contour line as 37.08 feet.

If you use this method, set the PDMODE to 34 and

the PDSIZE to 5. Then, when you use the MEASURE
command to find the exact location, the point on
the line will be easy to see. You can also use the
OFFSET command or the CIRCLE command to find an
exact point. If you use either of these commands,
mark the location of the intersection using the
POINT command.

• Choose one of the two methods for interpolating the

locations of the contour lines between the spot elevations
(or develop a method of your own). Create layer
Interpolate (color red, linetype continuous) on which to
place each point of intersection. Label each point with
the contour interval. For the interval labels, use style
INTERPOLATE-TEXT. For this style, use the ROMANS
font, a height of 5, and a width of 0.8.

• Once you’ve located all the contour intersections on the

grid lines, drawing the contours is essentially a matter of
connecting the dots. First, set a running OSNAP to NODE.
Use Layer Contours (color yellow, linetype hidden), and
draw a continuous polyline between any adjacent points
that have the same contour interval. Start at one of the
edges of the surveyed area and work your way across the
entire drawing.

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 13

 As you’re connecting the node points, note how the sides of
each grid square, formed by a spot elevation at each corner,
will contain two and only two intersections that belong to the
same contour interval. (This is true in all instances, except
where a contour intersection happens to be in the same
location as a spot elevation that serves as one of the grid
square’s corners.) If you find a square that has only a single
node for a contour interval, check to make sure you didn’t
miss marking down another intersection point.

• Use the PEDIT command to establish the properties of

each contour line.
1. Select each polyline, choose the Ltype option, and
then choose the On option. Doing so makes the
hidden linetype properties visible even if the line
segment isn’t very long.

2. For all contour lines except those marking the

70-foot, 80-foot, and 90-foot intervals, also choose
the Fit option for each polyline. Doing so will allow
the polyline to curve between node points.

• Once you’ve drawn the existing contour lines, you can

draw the existing roadways. The main roadway is Cedar
Park Drive.
1. It’s at the bottom of a hillside. The centerline
radius of Cedar Park Drive is 7115.37′, and the
center point is at located at 528257.05,47668.89.
The distance from the centerline to the curb on
each side is 25′, and the distance from the center-
line to the right-of-way on each side is 40′.

2. Create and use Layer Center (color red, linetype

center), Layer Curb (color green, linetype
continuous), and Layer Row (color yellow, line-
type continuous) when drawing Cedar Park Drive.

3. Label the roadway using style ROMANS-8,

with ROMANS font, a height of 8″, and a width
of 1.00. Put the text on Layer Text-Large (color
green, linetype continuous). Place the text some-
where in the roadway so it doesn’t interfere with
other information. Label the right-of-way using
style ROMANS-6, with ROMANS font, a height
of 6″, and a width of 0.8. Put the text on layer

14 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

 TEXT-MED (color yellow, linetype continuous).
Place the text, ROW, on each right-of-way line,
and break the line around the text.

• The new residence address will be 362 Ocean Avenue.

1. The centerline of Ocean Avenue is 40.58 feet south
of the northeast corner of the surveyed area. The
centerline has a bearing of S77°44′17″W and
extends a distance of 407.11 feet from the eastern
edge of the surveyed area. (At that point, Ocean
Avenue ends in a cul-de-sac.) The distance from
the centerline to the curb on each side is 15 feet,
and the distance from the centerline to the right-
of-way on each side is 25 feet.

2. The exact center of the cul-de-sac is 10.00′ from

the western end of the avenue’s centerline. The
center is at a bearing of S12°15′43″E from the end
of the centerline. The right-of-way circles around
the center of the cul-de-sac with a radius of 35
feet, and the curb circles around with a radius of
25 feet from the center of the cul-de-sac. The
cul-de-sac right-of-way connects with the avenue’s
southern right-of-way to form a fillet with a radius
of 10 feet. The cul-de-sac curb connects with the
avenue’s southern curb to form a fillet with a
radius of 20 feet.

3. Use Layers Center, Curb, Row, Text-Large (for the

street label), and Text-Med (for the right-of-way
[ROW] label).

• Make a WBLOCK of a tree approximately 20 feet in

diameter on Layer 0 using your own design.
Make a Tree-Existing Layer (color red, linetype
continuous), and insert a tree at each location
listed here in Table 4.

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 15

 Table 4
LOCATIONS OF EXISTING TREES
TREE COORDINATES TREE COORDINATES
1 5 2 2 1 3 3 .5 9 ,4 4 8 6 8 .9 8 14 5 2 2 3 4 6 .8 9 ,4 4 7 2 3 .3 4
2 5 2 2 1 4 3 .2 3 ,4 4 8 2 1 .7 6 15 5 2 2 3 8 4 .9 1 ,4 4 7 1 8 .9 9
3 5 2 2 0 9 1 .1 7 ,4 4 8 1 5 .9 8 16 5 2 2 3 4 3 .6 3 ,4 4 6 7 3 .3 8
4 5 2 2 0 4 2 .0 0 ,4 4 8 0 1 .5 2 17 5 2 2 3 9 4 .6 9 ,4 4 7 7 2 .2 0
5 5 2 2 1 8 0 .8 3 ,4 4 5 6 9 .2 5 18 5 2 2 3 9 4 .6 9 ,4 4 7 4 7 .2 3
6 5 2 2 3 4 0 .8 7 ,4 4 5 1 7 .2 1 19 5 2 2 4 6 6 .3 8 ,4 4 7 5 8 .0 9
7 5 2 2 3 4 1 .8 3 ,4 4 4 6 2 .2 8 20 5 2 2 4 8 8 .1 1 ,4 4 8 0 1 .5 2
8 5 2 2 2 5 0 .2 1 ,4 4 7 2 1 .1 7 21 5 2 2 3 9 4 .6 9 ,4 4 6 6 6 .8 7
9 5 2 2 2 9 3 .6 6 ,4 4 7 1 2 .4 8 22 5 2 2 4 5 2 .2 6 ,4 4 6 7 3 .3 8
10 5 2 2 2 4 6 .3 9 ,4 4 6 2 6 .1 2 23 5 2 2 4 0 3 .5 4 ,4 4 6 2 6 1 2
11 5 2 2 2 4 6 .9 5 ,4 4 7 5 3 .7 4 24 5 2 2 4 9 7 .2 1 ,4 4 6 8 8 .9 9
12 5 2 2 2 9 8 .0 0 ,4 4 7 6 0 .2 6 25 5 2 2 4 9 2 .2 3 ,4 4 6 2 2 .2 6
13 5 2 2 3 4 5 .8 0 ,4 4 7 7 2 .2 0 26 5 2 2 4 9 6 .0 9 ,4 4 5 7 1 .1 8

• Now you can layout the Capitano property. Use Layer

Row for property lines. Also, use Layer Row (and style
ROMANS-6) for the text describing the length and
bearing of each property line segment. The point of
beginning (POB) for the property is 178.48 feet from
BM 312 at a bearing of S49°49′39″E.

Question 1. From at the POB, draw a 445.72′ line segment at a

bearing of N77°44′17″E.
What are the
coordinates of 2. From the end of the last property line segment,
the POB? draw a 53.71′ segment at a bearing of
S12°15′43″E.

3. From where you left off, draw a 139.66′ segment at

a bearing of S77°44′17″W.

4. From where you left off, draw a 144.32′ segment

in a counterclockwise direction around the cul-de-
sac. Show the delta angle, the length, and the
radius of this curve. You would usually show this
information on the inside of the curve, but, in this
case, show it on the outside.

5. The property line now curves for 9.82′ in a clock-

wise direction around the fillet where the curb
of the cul-de-sac connects with the curb of the
avenue. Indicate the delta angle, the length, and
the radius of this curve.

16 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

 6. Continue for 273.85′ at a bearing of N77°44′17″E.

7. The next segment is 355.67′ long at a bearing of

S12°15′43″E.

8. The next segment is 67.72′ long at a bearing of

S48°15′00″W.

9. The next segment extends the property line back

toward Cedar Park Drive. From the end of the last
segment, it measures 453.74′ long and is at a
bearing of S84°10′59″W.

10. The property line now extends 454.75′ in a clock-

wise direction to the POB. For this line segment
running along Cedar Park Drive, show the delta
angle, the length, the radius of the curve, and the
angle of the 100′ chord of the property line.

Try using the PEDIT command to join the line segments

together. Sometimes, a segment will seem to resist being
added to the property line. In such an instance, pick the
line, grab the GRIP at the end of the line, and MOVE it to the
endpoint of the other line. You should thus be able to join
all the segments together.

• Insert the border and title block you made earlier. Insert
it at a scale of 1. Civil drawings can be at one of several
scales, such as 1″ = 30′, 1″ = 40′, 1″ = 50′, 1″ = 60′.
Experiment with the border and title block by scaling
the AutoCAD block up to an appropriate size to surround
the drawing. For example, if you scale it up by a factor
of 30, and it surrounds the drawing properly, you know
that the scale of the drawing is 1″ = 30′. Once you get
the border set around the drawing, EXPLODE the block Questions
and edit the appropriate text. What is the area
1. Title this drawing EXISTING SITE PLAN—562 of the Capitano
OCEAN AVENUE. property in square
feet?
2. Fill in the scale.
What is the area
3. Change the plate number to 1. of the Capitano
property in acres (1
4. Place a north arrow at the bottom of the drawing
acre = 43,560
along with a bar graph showing the scale. Don’t
square feet)?
forget to change the LTSCALE to the same value as
the plotting scale.

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 17

 DRAWING THE PROPOSED
DRIVEWAY AND BUILDING SITE
(PLATE 2)
Ms. Capitano wants to enjoy a pleasant view from her resi-
dence, but she’s also interested in maintaining the look of
her property. She wants to keep as many trees as possible.
Therefore, she decides to route her driveway around the
majority of trees and have her house situated on the
southern portion of her property.

• After you’ve saved your first drawing, open it and save it

with the name of your second drawing. Make sure you’ve
exited the first drawing and are now working in the
second.
1. Using Layer Contours and style ROMANS-6, label
each contour line.

2. ERASE all entities (points and text) on Layer

Interpolate. ERASE all the internal lines on Layer
Grid. ERASE all entities (lines and text) on Layer
Spot.

3. RENAME Layer Contours with the name Contours-

Existing (color red, linetype hidden). Now you have
a base drawing on which to work on your next
drafting plate.

• You now need to layout the centerline of the driveway

that will lead to the building site.
1. Beginning at the center of the cul-de-sac of Ocean
Avenue, travel 50 feet at a bearing of S15°W to the
PC. The centerline then curves to the left. Its
Question radius is 85 feet and its delta angle is 97°. The
What is the centerline then travels 185 feet.
bearing of the 2. Label the PC, the PT, the end of the driveway’s
185-foot
centerline, and each 100-foot interval along the
centerline?
centerline. Show the curve data and the centerline
lengths and bearings for the driveway.

18 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

 3. Use Layer Driveway (color green, linetype
continuous) to draw the 20-foot-wide driveway. Question
What is the
4. There’s a 25-foot radius turning circle at the end
length of the
of the driveway. The center of the turning circle is
driveway’s
15 feet in a northerly direction from the end of
centerline?
the driveway’s centerline. Use the OFFSET command
to offset the centerline 15 feet so you can find the
center of this cul-de-sac. There’s a 20-foot radius
fillet where the cul-de-sac line joins the northern
edge of the driveway.

• The house footprint is 42′ × 36′. The bearing of the 42-

foot dimension is S73°E from the footprint’s northwest
corner. The four corners of the footprint are located at
the following lengths and bearings from the end of the
driveway’s centerline:
1. 49.23′ at S2°22′49″W

2. 17.02′ at S29°52′41″E

3. 72.33′ at S31°48′20″E

4. 55.66′ at S60°55′52″E

• Ms. Capitano decides to keep the driveway and the

house level at elevation 180. Her surveying company
recommends an angle of repose of 1.5:1. Draw the drive-
way layout cut and fill in the lower-left corner of your
drawing. Use the information listed here to show the
new contours on both sides of the driveway.
1. Use Layer Offset (color yellow, linetype continuous)
and Layer Cutfill (color green, linetype continuous).

2. Indicate the area to be cut using the ANSI31 hatch

pattern at scale 25 and angle 45. Indicate the area
to be filled using the AR-SAND hatch pattern at
scale 5. Draw the hatching on Layer Details.

3. Three trees need to be removed. Here are the

coordinates of these trees.

522180.83,44569.25

522246.39,44626.12

522340.87,44517.21

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 19

 4. Create Layer Tree-Remove (color yellow, linetype
continuous) and use CHPROP to change the layer of
these three trees to the new layer. If you wish, you
can use the ANSI37 hatch pattern on layer Details
to fill in the trees that will be removed.

5. Create a legend to indicate the meaning of your

hatching patterns. Place the legend above the
driveway layout cut and fill.

• Remember that contours point uphill. Surface water

will thus collect in streams that flow down the pointed
contours. On the Capitano property, a 250′ culvert is
necessary to guide some of this surface water under-
neath the driveway. The culvert needs to be 24″ in
diameter. The endpoints of the culvert are at the
coordinates listed here.
522251.44,44675.63
522092.96,44482.29

• Create layer Culvert (color yellow, linetype continuous)

to show the end portions of the culvert that won’t be
covered with fill. For the rest of the culvert, use Layer
Hidden.

• The surveying company recommended an angle of

repose of 1:1 for the residence site. The slope around the
residence begins 10 feet away from the footprint.

• Indicate two sections taken from this drawing.

1. Section A is perpendicular to the centerline of the
driveway at Station 2 + 20 and points in a westerly
direction. Indicate that this section is on Plate 3.
2. Section B is perpendicular to the long sides of
the residence approximately halfway between the
easternmost side of the house and the westernmost
side. Indicate that this section is on Plate 4.

• Title this drawing PROPOSED DRIVEWAY, BUILDING

SITE—562 OCEAN AVENUE. Fill in the scale and change
the plate number to 2.

20 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

DRAWING THE DRIVEWAY
PROFILE AND SECTION A
PROFILE (PLATE 3)
A driveway (or roadway) profile and associated sections are
helpful when calculating the quantities of materials to add or
remove from the building site. Your driveway profile begins at
the center of the cul-de-sac on Ocean Avenue and runs the
entire length of the driveway’s centerline.

• For the driveway profile, use a vertical scale of 1″ = 10′

and a horizontal scale of 1″ = 60′. Show the stationing,
however, in 50-foot increments. Therefore, when plotting
the drawing, the distance between Station 0 + 00 and
Station 0 + 50 will be 5/6 of an inch.
1. Label Sta. 0 + 00 (Center of Cul-de-sac Ocean
Ave.), the curb, the ROW, the PC, the PT, and the
stationing at the end of driveway.

2. Use Layer Details with the appropriate hatch

patterns to show the cut and/or fill in the cross
section. Don’t forget to show the culvert as an
ellipse. You can make the culvert larger than it
actually is. This way, it’s easier to see on this
drawing. Indicate the culvert’s true diameter
next to the ellipse.

• For Section A, use a vertical scale of 1″ = 10′ and a

horizontal scale of 1″ = 60’. Show the stationing,
however, in 50-foot increments. Thus, when plotting
the drawing, the distance between Station 0 + 00 and
Station 0 + 50 will be 5/6 of an inch.
1. Label the southern edge of Driveway and the
northern edge of Driveway.

2. Use Layer Details with the appropriate hatch

patterns to show the cut and/or fill in the cross
section.

3. Technically, the culvert should also be in this

section. However, it’s clearer to show the culvert in
the driveway profile. Showing it in Section A might
be more confusing than helpful. Thus, it’s best to
omit that feature of the building from Section A.

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD 21

 DRAWING SECTION B PROFILE
(PLATE 4)
For Section B, use a vertical scale of 1″ = 10′ and a
horizontal scale of 1″ = 60′. Show the stationing, however,
in 50-foot increments. Thus, when plotting the drawing,
the distance between Station 0 + 00 and Station 0 + 50
will be 5/6 of an inch.
Use Layer Details with the appropriate hatch patterns to
show the cut and/or fill in the cross section.

Inspecting Your Completed Work

Before sending your cover sheet and disk back to the school,
examine your drawings for any errors. Make sure your name
and student number appear on the disk label and on the
cover sheet taken from the front of the booklet. As part of
your inspection, consider the following points:

❐ Check for correct shape, size, and placement of the

entities. You can confirm the exact placement by
checking the coordinates of all the lines, points, and
arcs.

❐ Check that the entities are on the right layers.

❐ Check to ensure any blocks are the correct size.

❐ Use the ERASE command to delete any unwanted

marks.

❐ Make sure your name and student number appear on

the disk label and on the cover sheet.
When you feel confident that your work is complete, save
the current drawing file to a disk. Submit this disk and your
cover sheet for grading. Send in this material as soon as you
complete the project. Don’t wait until your work on the next
project is finished.

22 Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

 FOR YOUR INSTRUCTOR'S USE
GRADE GRADED BY

STUDENT NUMBER: 05404100

PLEASE PRINT
Drafting with AutoCAD

NAME __________________________________________________

ADDRESS _______________________________________________

CITY ___________________________________________________
STATE/PROVINCE ZIP/POSTAL CODE

❐ Check if this is a new address.

PHONE —

Project Booklet
Cut Along This Line.

Civil Drafting with AutoCAD

Grading Criteria
Your drawing will be graded on the following criteria:
Completeness of drawings 20 points _______
Completeness of the title blocks 20 points _______
Accuracy of the Labels 20 points _______
Correct layering of objects 20 points _______
Overall appearance 20 points _______
TOTAL _______
Comments _________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE FOLD THIS COVER SHEET INTO THE DISK MAILER WITH YOUR DISK CONTAINING
YOUR COMPLETED DRAWING FILE. ALSO, BE SURE TO WRITE YOUR NAME AND STUDENT
NUMBER ON THE DISK LABEL AND IN THE SPACES PROVIDED ON THIS COVER SHEET.

MAIL YOUR COMPLETED PROJECT TO

Penn Foster
Student Service Center
925 Oak Street
Scranton, PA 18515