Design the corridor in cadwork Engineer. Build it with Lexo – the contractor-side 4D and 5D step in digital delivery.
State DOT and FHWA staff, consultants and contractors are moving from paper and image-based workflows to digital delivery – 3D/4D modeling, e-Construction and BIM for Infrastructure. FHWA’s Advancing BIM for Infrastructure: National Strategic Roadmap sets the direction: a uniform policy framework, open data-exchange standards, BIM tools and workforce training. cadwork Engineer and Lexo cover the design-to-construction handoff in that workflow.
Engineers author alignments, profiles and cross sections in cadwork Engineer, transportation-corridor BIM software cadwork has developed since 2004.
The corridor design refreshes live in Lexo, where it is cut into the existing terrain for construction planning.
Excavation, site installation, quantities and construction stages are worked out in Lexo, then carried to the field with BIMteam.
The top license tier adds 4D stages for construction sequence planning, plus site installation planning in the model. Lexo computes each stage’s duration from the model quantities and stored production rates. It shows the model’s construction status on any day in 3D.
IFC is an open standard for exchanging 3D models, and it leads Lexo’s interface list.
BIMteam, cadwork’s separate cloud service, carries the coordinated model to the jobsite. With the ToField extension, the viewer connects the model with total stations or GPS for direct stakeout, and field points can be saved and compared with the planning model – support for field layout, as-built checks and inspection.
BIMteam is a web app, so field crews can open shared models on Android and iOS phones and tablets. It is a cadwork subscription, separate from the Lexo license.
Example web model: Merced, California, a road and bridge model in construction stages from 2009 to 2013, in the cadwork webviewer.
Lexo includes Python scripting (OpenLexocad). With an MCP connector, AI assistants such as Claude can read the API, write scripts and run them on the open model – for corridor quantity reports, IFC checks and batch exports.
Review AI-generated scripts and test them on a copy of the model before production use.
The new West Merced Overhead (Br No. 39-0230) on SR 99 is a cast-in-place box girder bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad, built in three stages. In late 2012, after the old bridge was removed, the last stage (the southbound side) was cast on heavy timber falsework beside the completed stages. That falsework was designed and built on the project in Merced.
This Lexocad model rebuilds it from the bridge plans, the 2012 project model and the site photos. It is the kind of falsework modeling and design Valley Structural Consulting can do with Lexocad. An AI assistant (Claude) built it through Lexocad’s MCP connector: it read the bridge model, generated each member as an IFC element, and checked the falsework for clashes with the columns and footings, and for the railroad opening.
A real question from Merced. On the Merced project, this was a real question asked of the VDC technician. The Civil 3D tools were not ready for this level of on-the-fly work by a crew. With an AI agent, a preliminary falsework calculation package is now ready for Steve’s review, and the crew has achieved singularity.
Illustrative model, not the falsework design used on the project. Falsework for construction is designed by a licensed engineer; cadwork California works with Valley Structural Consulting. Engineering Services
One walkthrough for commercial building work and one for roadway and rail work.
Introduction to Lexo basics: navigation, activating elements and the menus – the starting point for building models and takeoffs.
Watch the tutorial ›Video in German.
Earthwork for corridor jobs: modeling the existing terrain, then cutting excavation into it with computed quantities.
Terrain tutorial ›Excavation tutorial ›Videos in German. For a corridor walkthrough, contact cadwork California.
Lexocad is licensed in annual packages; 4D construction stages are in the top package. cadwork California is represented by Palo Alto Data Group (PADG).
lexocad free views IFC files at no cost. cadwork also offers a 15-day lexocad PRO trial.
Download “lexocad free”Email or call PADG with:
Or call +1 (408) 475-6450, Mon–Fri 8:00 A.M.–1:00 P.M. and 2:00–5:00 P.M.
