WisDOT Announces to Consultants

ACEC Wisconsin and WisDot hold a join conference every year to disseminate information to the consulting firms it works with. Hundreds of representatives of the consultant community were in Elkhart Lake, WI at the lovely Osthoff Resort.

Eric Arneson represented the DOT to discuss the decision to implement Civil 3D and how it will impact the consultant community.

Eric is member of WisDOT's Methods development team. This is a unique team of WisDOT employees who's responsibility is support of all computer aided engineering software within DOT. The software they support includes Microstation, CAiCE, AutoTurn and CAE Plot.

Some additional highlights:

• WisDOT will implement Civil 3D, Vault and replace their current plotting software by using the sheetset manager.
  
• WisDOT will decide in May 2008 if a deployment of Civil 3D will go forward for Fall of 2008. They may decide to push back full implementation if they feel the DOT is not ready.
  
• They will be rolling out Civil 3D to regional offices after finding people who would serve as good early adopters. They will also look for suitable projects to start in or convert to Civil 3D.
• The Methods team will continue to support CAiCE indefinably.
  
• WisDOT does not now, nor does it plan to require consultants to use Civil 3D. Consultants will still be able to submit plans in several formats including PDF.
• WisDOT may soon require consultants to submit surfaces in a 3D surface model form. This could mean LandXML, TIN or other format that could be used with machine controlled grading.
  
• All levels of project approval in WisDOT has been obtained.
  
• Methods development will soon complete Autodesk training curriculum for Civil 3D.
  
• Project kickoff meeting with IT and AutoDesk was conducted February 20, 2008.
  

And super-super coolness: There is talk of a WisDOT specific package that can be installed with Civil 3D - not unlike the country design packs that exist.

WisDOT PDF of the full slide show presentation.

I'm excited to see what happens in May. The Methods team is a sharp group.