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By Karen Weiss, Autodesk

California’s Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is one of the largest and most complex transportation agencies in the United States. With over 50,000 miles of highways and freeways under its care, Caltrans also manages intercity rail services, more than 400 public-use airports, and special-use hospital heliports. When this agency makes a major technology decision, it sends ripples through the entire transportation industry—especially among civil engineers and state DOT professionals across the country. In June 2011, Caltrans made a bold move by replacing its outdated Autodesk CAiCE software with AutoCAD Civil 3D for road and highway design projects throughout the state. This shift was part of a broader global trend toward building information modeling (BIM), which has been gaining traction as a more efficient and collaborative approach to infrastructure planning and design. Now in its second year of full implementation, nearly 2,000 engineers and surveyors have been trained on AutoCAD Civil 3D. The success of this transition led to a key milestone earlier this year: the Chief of the Division of Design issued a memo stating that all new projects starting July 1, 2014, must be designed using Civil 3D. This marked the official end of CAiCE use within Caltrans.

23D visualization of Presidio Parkway, San Francisco. Image courtesy of Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Having overseen a similar statewide software implementation during my time at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, I can truly appreciate the scale and complexity of what Caltrans has achieved. It's not just about switching tools—it's about transforming workflows, training thousands of users, and setting new standards for the future of infrastructure design. To support this transition, Caltrans developed comprehensive software standards and workflow templates tailored to their specific needs. These resources are helping both internal teams and external partners meet Caltrans’ unique requirements more efficiently.

3AutoCAD Civil 3D design for El Dorado County DOT roadway project. Image courtesy of EDCDOT.

The shift to Civil 3D is already paying off, with improved collaboration, better data management, and enhanced visualization capabilities. As more state DOTs follow suit, the benefits of BIM and digital design tools will continue to reshape how infrastructure is planned, built, and maintained. If you'd like to learn more about Caltrans' transition and the impact of AutoCAD Civil 3D, check out the official announcement. You can also explore Autodesk’s full range of solutions for roads and highways. This article was originally published on Autodesk’s BIM on the Rocks blog.

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