Road alignment setting-out
Staking road centreline, chainage pegs, curves, edges and slope limits, and setting design levels for subgrade, sub-base and pavement layers.
Licensed service · EL-845/2026
Road alignment setting-out builds on the ground a road defined in the design by its plan, longitudinal profile and cross-sections. The surveyor first stakes the centreline at chainage intervals, typically every 20 metres and closer on curves, then marks the carriageway edges, shoulders, ditches and slope limits. Each stake shows the depth of cut or height of fill.
The service is aimed at contractors building highways, streets, industrial and rural roads, car parks and airfield pavements. Roads are built in layers: subgrade, sub-base and base courses, then asphalt. Each layer must match the design level and crossfall; otherwise drainage fails and both pavement thickness and material consumption change.
The centreline and curves are staked with SOUTH GNSS RTK (±1–2 cm in plan) and total stations, while levels are set by levelling or trigonometric heighting. On long routes temporary benchmarks are placed along the road so each layer can be checked quickly. Setting-out data for every chainage is generated from the design model in Credo and Civil 3D.
After each layer is completed we take control measurements and hand the results to the contractor as an as-built scheme.
When you need it
- Construction of new roads and streets
- Widening and reconstruction of existing roads
- Internal roads in industrial zones
- Car parks, hardstandings and airfield pavements
- Rural and agricultural roads
What's included
- Preparing setting-out data from the design model
- Control points and temporary benchmarks along the road
- Staking centreline, chainage and curve elements
- Marking carriageway edges, shoulders and ditches
- Slope stakes with cut/fill values
- Level control of subgrade and pavement layers
How we work
- Receiving the road design (plan, profile, cross-sections)
- Restoring or establishing the control network
- Staking centreline, chainage and edges
- Setting levels for each construction layer
- Control measurements and as-built scheme delivery
Deliverables
- Centreline, chainage and slope stakes on site
- Road setting-out certificate
- Coordinate and level table by chainage
- Layer-by-layer as-built schemes
