schematic road/pavement layouts

[Not_Suoh]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best way to schematically layout entry roads or parking lots on a site. Currently I am doing all of this with model lines and site components (parking spaces) because it is faster and easier than the topography tool. I'm using RA 2010.
Just curious if anyone had a better workflow.

[patricks]

I have often created a heavy blue line type called "Layout", and then I will sketch out my parking lot layout in a site plan view. I usually just do them as drafting lines. Then when I get it like I want it, I can just do my normal floors for grass, paving, sidewalks, etc. and I only have to pick the layout lines instead of actually sketching the floor lines.

I use floors for these because they can hose slab edges for things like curbs, and they can be dimensioned easily.

For rendering, I will turn off the floors and render my topography with subregions for the sidewalk, grass, paving, etc. You can't dimension to the subregion edges, which is why the floors are needed. Also with the layout lines, I can easily pick those when sketching the subregions.

[gbrowne]

I would say the main thing is: Is it being rendered? If not, stick to model lines. Use a topo and pad for elevations and sections perhaps, but its a fight if you model a site purely for plan views.