"RoadEng gets back to the basics of what road and civil design is all about, but so fast! It's great! So many designers lose focus of what's important and that is optimizing cut to fills, grades, drainage, volumes. The best point is that I can do it. I have always drawn the line on software, as my time is too valuable in past however now in starting up my own business things change and the speed at which I can knock a design out and present it to a client is impressive.
Amazing software thank you!" Andrew G (Civil Engineer from Australia)
(Read the full review on G2 Crowd)
“McElhanney discovered “RoadEng” while looking for an easier way to deliver resource based road designs. We tested the software with immediate success, going from watching training modules on the weekend to project delivery without delay in the following weeks.
Since that time, it has quickly become a companywide standard tool for the design of linear based projects including resource roads, construction access, pad design, pipelines, pedestrian trails, etc. We regularly us it to manage large LiDAR base plans, conceptual engineering, earthworks balance, and preparation of final drawings (plan-profile-cross sections-mass haul).
We believe its greatest strengths are how easy it is to learn and fine-tune design alignments. The ability to have the plan, profile, cross section, and mass haul open at the same time provides a great visual aid for designers which leads to more effective designs. The addition of “Optimizer” provides valued engineering for large projects based on a wide range of criteria by automating the process. The Softree team is friendly and provides great support.”
Jason Paquette, AScT,
Senior Technologist
McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd., Nanaimo, BC
"We at ESRA (East Side Road Authority) have been using Softree Optimal since its launch.
It has become an integral part of our engineering design software. With it we are able to test multiple vertical alignments in very short time spans, allowing us to test alignments that we would usually not have the option for due to time constraints. It has (on average) reduced our estimated cost for construction of subgrade by 15%-20%. Its ability to take into account the varying aspects of road construction and materials is unparalleled. We would recommend it to anyone looking for an easy to use, quick and accurate road design software."
Tyler Dychko,
Manitoba East Side Road Authority, Winnipeg, MB
"In Mahnomen County, our problem has been finding a road design software package that is simple enough for our technicians to learn and retain after a season of being in the field, but that is also powerful enough to do the things that we need to accomplish in our road designs.
We tried the Softree RoadEng program and are currently starting our third year using the program.
Our Engineering Technicians find it easy to learn and use, and the quantities generated by the program have been very accurate. The other thing I have been very pleased with is the technical support for the program. The group at Softree has been very quick to answer any of our questions and have been great to work with. I would definitely recommend Softree software to anyone looking for a user friendly design package.
Jonathan Large, P.E.,
County Engineer
Mahnomen County, Minnesota, MN
Canadian Projects Limited purchased RoadEng Civil Engineer to compliment their existing Civil 3D software.
"We really like the ease of use of RoadEng, it lets us try a variety of alignment options and quickly provides us with material quantities differences. The software is relatively easy to use, with minimal time invested in learning and maximum time spend on design optimization. "
Travis Peterson,
Canada Projects Limited, Calgary, AB
"We know of no other road design software that allows us to immediately view the affects of tweaking an alignment: If we change the profile grade, the corresponding changes to earthwork and cross sections are right there on the screen.
Or, if we change the horizontal alignment, we can immediately see the ramifications on profile, earthwork and cross sections. Plotting cross sections is very easy, even through road segments having irregular widths such as cul-de-sacs, turnouts and ditch relief culvert headwalls. Superelevations are accurately portrayed in the cross sections." "Obtaining quantities for construction is simple and quick. The data tables can show volumes for earthwork, base course, top course, pavement, etc. Creating custom roadway templates of any geometry is possible, including undulating roadway widths and changing structural sections. The program can design from p-line traverses with cross sections collected at each traverse point. We use this for forestry road design. For civil projects, we design from digital terrain models created in the Terrain module. We can make very accurate DTMs and contour maps with Terrain. Terrain is the best DTM software we have found. We also use it to create profiles that are skewed from centerline, for example for proposed culverts. The Softree company has always provided technical help in a timely and professional manner over the telephone. With high speed internet, they can show us how to solve a problem using our job file." Using Roadeng in combination with AutoCad gives us all the versatility necessary to create construction plans that meet the standards of County public works departments. We are very pleased to have made the investment in Softree’s product. "
Mark W. Stevens, PE,
Stevens & Associates, LLC, Chehalis, WA
Based in Washington State, Stevens & Associates, LLC Consulting Engineering firm specializes in road design and fish passage structures.
"Franklin County is somewhat unique, compared to most counties in our state, as it pertains to our choices of highway design and drafting software.
Franklin County made a conscious decision, many years ago, to follow suit with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). So, we made the switch from AutoCAD to Microstation and when the WSDOT switched from CEAL to CAiCE we went with them.
As is the case with most privately owned companies that are doing things right, they were gobbled up (bought) by one of the giants. So, when CAiCE was purchased by Autodesk, which ultimately stopped maintaining CAiCE, we were left with another decision. Do we continue to pay maintenance on software that we love, but no longer supported, or do we stop paying maintenance and continue to successfully use the software we have? We chose the latter. Due to advancements in operating systems (OS) the writing on the wall became very clear. Our software would no longer be able to work on the new OS. Therefore, we needed to select new design software. We initially evaluated software from two (2) companies. Since we use MicroStation, the first software we evaluated was obvious. Since a majority of the counties in our state made the transition from Eagle Point Software to AutoCAD Civil 3D, we felt it necessary to evaluate it as well. In the economic times that we are all facing, especially public agencies, and in the wake of laying-off six employees (in our Engineering and Transportation Division alone) in the last three years, we had to ask ourselves the following:
- Can we justify to the people we work for (the taxpayers of Franklin County) the extremely high cost associated with purchasing, training, re-training, and implementing a software?
- Do we need extremely robust software? Software that we will only utilize a small percentage of its capabilities?
- With a staff that wears many hats, can we afford the downtime associated with re-training every time an employee returns to the office after spending 3-6 months in the field?
The answer to all of the questions is a big fat "NO"!!! Upon answering those questions truthfully and sincerely we looked for other options. The two (2) new options we explored for our new software package were Softree and Carlson Civil. Our final decision had to be based on the ultimate cost (purchasing, training, and implementation), and does the software meet our needs. Once we answered those questions our decision became very clear and extremely easy.
Therefore, we chose Softree as our civil engineering solution. The initial cost of the software was unbelievable, and our staff was able to start using it out of the box with no physical training from Softree. Their support is amazing, no 3rd party retailer/training. Whether you call them direct, or send them an e-mail, there is nothing better than getting direct answers from an individual that has a part in the design of the software.
Softree sticks to its word in providing a “Clean Simple Approach”. As they say “The key to good software is its ability to deliver power without complexity”. So true!
I highly recommend Softree, and we are proud to be a client."
Matt Mahoney
Design Engineer
Franklin County Public Works Department, Franklin County, WA
"After years of struggling with the “Cadillac” of Engineering software we decided to give RoadEng a try and to our amazement we found it very intuitive and complete.
It gives us all that we needed in design software without all of the bells and whistles, which we did not need. Our first test was to design a 3 mile paving reconstruction project starting from scratch. Even though this was our first try, and not having used the software before, within a week we had the whole project complete and we only had to make 4 - ten minute phone calls to tech support. The next week we tried another 3 mile paving reconstruction project and had it all done in one day (plans, profile and cross sections) without any phone calls.
I would recommend this software to any County or City Engineering Department that is looking for software that is easy to learn and has all that is needed to get the job done."
Steve Gooder,
Assistant to the County Engineer
Cerro Gordo County, Mason City, IA