Grade Staking Calculator

Because both are built from pure addition and subtraction, not multiplication. Benchmark Elevation feeds directly into HI Elevation with a coefficient of exactly 1, so a one-foot change there shifts HI Elevation and Ground Elevation by exactly one foot each. Cut/Fill Depth doesn't follow that same uniform shift, though — it's the absolute value of Design Elevation minus Ground Elevation, so as Benchmark Elevation rises, Cut/Fill Depth first shrinks by a foot per foot as the site approaches balance, hits zero, then grows by a foot per foot on the other side — a V-shaped relationship, not a flat one-for-one shift — and the Cut/Fill label itself flips between CUT and FILL right at that crossover point.

It's the horizontal distance from the road centerline to the point where the sloped cut or fill face meets existing ground — the location where the slope stake actually gets driven. It combines Half Road Width with the cut or fill depth scaled by the Side Slope ratio.

A larger H:V ratio like 3:1 or 4:1 means more horizontal distance is needed for every foot of vertical cut or fill compared to a steeper 2:1 or 1:1 slope, so the same cut/fill depth requires the catch point to sit farther from centerline as the ratio increases.

Grade Rod is the theoretical rod reading that would place the rod's foot exactly at design elevation given the current instrument setup. Sheet Reading is Grade Rod minus the actual Rod Reading you shot in the field — a positive Sheet Reading typically indicates cut, a negative one fill, which is what gets written on the stake.