Cool Tools: Enhancing the Design Process for Massive Dam Projects Using Civil3D and Bluebeam

The New Bullards Bar Dam, located in Yuba County, California, and owned by the Yuba Water Agency, is undergoing design for an auxiliary spillway as part of their Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations management strategy. GEI Consultants (GEI) designed the spillway, referred to as the Atmospheric River Control Spillway, to release up to approximately 65,000 cfs. GEI completed a geotechnical exploration program in 2018, followed by 30% design submittal for a tunneled spillway in 2019. In 2020, a value engineering workshop changed the project to an open channel spillway and design progressed toward 100% submittal in 2023. The general arrangement includes a 525-foot-long excavated approach channel, 126-foot-tall concrete control structure with vertical lift guard gates and radial flow control gates, 400-foot-long concrete-lined chute and flip bucket, and 520-foot-long excavated discharge channel. The dam crest road will be relocated to cross over the concrete control structure and will remain open to traffic during construction via detour. The opinion of probable construction cost is more than $200 million. This paper presents Autodesk Civil3D and Bluebeam Revu tools that we used to enhance the design process of this massive dam project. The discussion highlights best practices that were used in drawing production of almost four hundred sheets. Topics include: the importance of a well-organized folder structure to improve collaboration across offices and disciplines; standardizing the appearance of the plan set using custom tool palettes in Civil3D; and use of external references and data shortcuts to manage static base files and active design elements. This paper also focuses on: sheet set manager custom fields that automatically populate title blocks and drawing references; hyperlinks for navigating through drawing packages; and Bluebeam features for internal quality reviews and documentation. Overall, these cool tools resulted in more efficient workflow and less effort expended on review and revision throughout the design process.
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