For many low volume roads in steep terrain balancing cut and fill is not an option. When the side slope is greater than a critical value we must design a full bench cut alignment.

Auto Balance can also be used to "Auto Full Bench Cut". Each cross section in a station range will be moved (vertically or horizontally) until the minimum cut cross section is achieved.

In a situation where the grade is approaching maximum and the P-Line is relatively straight, I find that the horizontal alignment works best. If you use Auto Balance with Horizontal alignment, don’t forget to use Edit-Auto Generate first to put PLAN points on Surveyed Stations. In any event, check your design in Plan and Profile after using Auto Balance to see if any unrealistic alignments have been made – you may want to manually change some of the cross sections.

Unacceptable fill

Too much cut

After Auto Balance