Author: Robert Garrett

Robert has over 25 years experience as a practicing engineer and is licensed in the State of Tennessee. After graduating from Tennessee Technological University, Robert worked for the Mississippi State Highway Department, Bridge Design Division. Then he spent 12 years with the Tennessee Department of Transportation in the Roadway Design Office and later served as Regional Manager in the Design Survey Office.From 2000 to 2006, Robert worked for Robert G Campbell and Associates in Knoxville, TN where responsibilities included roadway, site, and utilities design projects.Joining Bentley Systems in March 2006, Robert wrote specifications & documentation for software development. Duties included testing, customer feedback and ensuring the products met the needs of the civil engineering user base. He also developed training material for education both internally to Bentley and for outside organizations. He served as Product Manager for Utilities Products, including the new OpenRoads Subsurface Utilities Design and Analysis software. Robert also provided guidance and implementation services for new technologies.He is a frequent presenter and trainer at user conferences.
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SUDA Tip: Configure Multiple Land Use in Catchments

When a catchment is created in SUDA, a feature definition is assigned to the catchment. This feature definition will assign symbology to the catchment feature,…

OpenRoads Designer Connect Edition Tip: How to use Survey TIW files from SS4

When implementing OpenRoads Designer Connect Edition for processing of survey, you will want to use any TIW files you created in SS4. When you add and…

OpenRoads: Problem with Missing Dynamic Cross-sections

Occasionally, an OpenRoads file will fail to show the dynamic cross-sections properly. I really don’t know what precisely causes this but it is a royal…

OpenRoads: Generate Cut & Fill Slope Limits in Different Symbology

You need to generate linear features which mark the limits of cut and fill slopes on each side of the corridor. You also need the symbology of the cut…

OpenRoads Designer: Display Terrain Model Elevation Bands

Applies also to OpenRoads Terrain Models in Select Series 3 and 4. Question: How do I display my terrain models with elevation range bands like I could do…

SUDA – Join Adjacent Conduits

Problem: I have two conduits which are supposed to connect but do not, because there was a slight gap between the ends of the geometry I used for creating…

SUDA Tip: Units Confusion

There is a problem in the SUDA tools, which is not widely known, that can lead to issues with units.  The problem leads to the units in the SUDA data… Read…

SUDA – Which Property Panel Should I Use?

You may have noticed that there are two locations to access the properties for utility features in OpenRoads. This is seen in the context toolbox: Also, if you…

OpenRoads Tip: Reverse the Direction of Alignment

This one is better described as a trick, rather than a tip. Caution: the following should be used with care and check all data after completion. It is always…

OpenRoads Tip: Point Report

To generate a report listing the locations of multiple points, use the Point Feature Station Offset Elevation report. The points which are reported on can…

OpenRoads Tip: Terrain Model – Control Triangles in Concave Areas of Project

Pretty much every project has one or more areas like shown below, where terrain model triangles will cut across the concave corner of the project. My first…

SUDA Tip: Shallow Nodes

Sometimes, when we model nodes in SUDA whose minimum depth is very shallow, we are surprised to see that the depth is not what we expected. For example, the…

OpenRoads Tip: Terrain Model – How to Extract Break Lines

I recently fielded a question where the designer needed to extract the break lines which existed in the OpenRoads Terrain model.  The designer could see them…

SUDA Tip: "Scenario Failed to Compute. Review your data and try again."

Written By: Robert Garrett One of the things that SUDA does quite well is to provide good feedback messages about errors in the drainage network configuration…

SUDA Tip: How to Configure a Single Structure Which Contains Two Independent Grates

Written by Robert Garrett In a roadway with a center barrier, we often use storm drain inlets like this one. This type of structure presents a unique…

SUDA Tip – Best Practice for Headwall 3D cells

Written by: Robert Garrett When configuring the 3D cells of head walls for use in SUDA, there are some required construction points to be created in the cell.…

SUDA – Setting node orientation relative to centerline

In the OpenRoads Subsurface Utility tools, the rotation of nodes is always stored internally as an absolute angle. As you can see in the next image, even…

SUDA Tip: Editing Utility Profiles

Written by: Robert Garrett When editing profiles for SUDA conduits, the visual feedback provided in the profiles view can be a little confusing. Consider a…

OpenRoads Tip: Offset Alignments and Matching Profiles

Written by: Robert Garrett I often get the question: How do I make alignment B exactly match the stationing of alignment A?  Invariably, this question is…

SUDA Tip: Best Practice for Creating Pipes Between Nodes

Written by: Robert Garrett I often get the question: Does it matter which direction I create pipes for my drainage or sanitary networks? The simplest answer…

SUDA Tip: Importing Pipes from Legacy Drainage Files (InRoads and GEOPAK)

Written by:  Robert Garrett In the previous SUDA tip we discussed how you can import from GEOPAK Drainage and InRoads S&S into SUDA and automatically…

SUDA Tip: Importing Legacy Drainage Files from InRoads and GEOPAK

Written by Robert Garrett Importing legacy drainage projects into Subsurface Utilities Design and Analysis (SUDA) is easy and is accomplished from the menu:…