Basic Highway Plan Reading

Course Overview

This series is designed to provide street or road superintendents, supervisors, maintenance workers, and entry-level construction, utility, permits, and planning employees the knowledge to read highway construction plans. It will cover the various types of plans used at road departments. Participants will discover how to read and interpret the different symbol and abbreviation standards, the features and details within plans, how to define and identify scales and dimensions found on plans, and how to read plans utilizing a sample set of highway plans. Local agency street maintenance crews and road departments will find the highway plans valuable tools to assist in right-of-way determination, easements, and the location of drainage features.

Target Audience

This webinar series is intended for entry-level and early-career transportation professionals involved in roadway projects, including maintenance staff, supervisors, inspectors, and personnel in construction, utilities, permitting, and planning roles. It is especially beneficial for local agency staff and road department personnel who need to read and interpret highway plans as part of their daily responsibilities.

Learning Objectives

• Measure using scale and stationing.
• Discuss the three basic views, symbols, and abbreviations used in plans.
• Identify components of the layout sheet.
• Recognize information contained in the typical sections and the summary of quantities sheets.
• Identify information found in plan, profile, ROW, erosion control, pipe, and cross section sheets.

Certificates and Credits

This webinar series is provided at no cost and will award a certificate to those fully attending and completing each webinar. Professional Development Hours ( 2.0 PDHs per module | 6.0 PDHs for attending all 3 modules) will be provided to those that request these during registration.

AGENDA

Part 1 of 3 – Introduction to Plan Reading (10/12/2026)

In this first session, we will introduce the basic concepts of plan reading. The following topics will be covered: Scale: What does it mean?; Stationing as a reference system; Views: Different ways of looking at a project; and Decoding Symbols and Abbreviations. We will introduce a sample set of roadway plans for the webinar series.

Part 2 of 3 – Title Sheet, Typical Sections, Summary of Quantities, and Plan Sheets (10/19/2026)

In this second session, we will begin walking through our sample set of roadway plans. We will cover the following: Layout/Title Sheet, Typical Sections, Summary of Quantities, and the Plan Sheets. Attendees will have an opportunity to practice their plan reading knowledge.

Part 3 of 3 – Profile Sheets, Right of Way, Erosion Control, and Pipe Sheets (10/26/2026)

In this third session, we will work on the second half of our sample set of roadway plans. We will cover the following: Profile Sheets, Right of Way Sheets, Erosion Control Sheets, Pipe Sheets, and the Cross Section Sheets. Attendees will have an opportunity to practice their plan reading knowledge.

Instructor Bio:

Todd Morrison, P.E. is a road safety advocate as a speaker, workshop instructor, and online trainer. For the past fifteen years he has worked for numerous Local Technical Assistance Programs, Cities, Counties, Contractors, and DOT’s. He has taught over 900 workshops and trained over 27000 individuals. He retired from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet after serving in the Divisions of Construction, Maintenance and Traffic. At the Cabinet, he worked with environmental, work zone, construction and maintenance concerns as a Resident/Construction Engineer, Maintenance/Traffic Engineer, Environmental Coordinator, and as a Branch Manager for Maintenance and Operations. Todd served for two years as Kentucky’s Safety Circuit Rider helping local agencies identify low-cost improvements to reduce crashes. He also served for two years as a Road Safety Subject Matter Expert for the Tribal Technical Assistance Program. Todd is an ATSSA certified Traffic Control Supervisor, Flagging Instructor, and Traffic Control Design Specialist. He is also a Certified Public Manager and NHI certified instructor.

Basic Highway Plan Reading

3-Part Webinar Series
Note – you must register for each part individually

This will be a limited-offering series, and we are only able to offer the recordings for a short time.
Recordings of these sessions are only available for viewing until November 13, 2026.

Part 3 of 3
Profile Sheets, Right of Way, Erosion Control, and Pipe Sheets

DATE: Monday, October 26, 2026
TIME: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (ET)
LOCATION: GoToWebinar

REGISTER

For those viewing the recording, please note that you will not be able to participate in the live polling while watching the recording. Once available, you can download the handouts in the link below:

Download the Handouts from the series here