What does OPSD mean in ARCHITECTURE

An Ontario Provincial Standard Drawing (OPSD) is a set of standardized drawings used by provincial and municipal engineers to specify the size, shape and materials used for road infrastructure in Ontario. The OPSD includes both rural and urban drawings, which cover everything from bridges, culverts and signs to ditches, railway crossings, traffic signals and sidewalks.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation first published the OPSD series in 1992 as part of its Roadway Standards program. It was designed to provide consistent guidelines for all levels of government across the province on how to safely construct and maintain roads.

Using OPSDs offers many advantages, including helping reduce costs by ensuring parts are made to standard sizes; providing consistency between municipalities in terms of design elements; ensuring compliance with current industry standards; and protecting against potential liability issues.

No. The most recent version of the OPSD is available as an unlocked PDF file, so it can be viewed or printed with any standard PDF reader.

Yes. According to Section 15(2) of Regulation 340/94 under the Highway Traffic Act, only licensed professional engineers may use information from an OPSD for review or evaluation purposes related to construction projects in Ontario.

Since they were first issued in 1992, the provincial ministry has revised the contents of an OPSD several times over the years to ensure that they reflect current construction practices and technologies. As such, it's important that engineers check on a regular basis to make sure their copies are up-to-date.

No permission is required as long as you are a licensed engineer working within your provincial jurisdiction and following any other guidelines laid out by your regulatory body concerning use of provincial standards drawings.