Basic civil question

Drawing a map of a residential area with a cul-de-sac for school. I am starting at the POB and entering the distance and direction it says. We need to define the curves in the drawing. The radius is given for all curves, but we need to show the length of them. I'm having trouble with this since if you draw a line 50 feet from point to point, and then go another direction and then perform a fillet on it, the line will no longer be 50 feet from point to point. It will then read something a little shorter. I'm hoping someone understands this. Thanks

In the Properties pane/window, when you select an arc you will also get 'Arc length' given in there.

Your culdesac are generally controlled by the radius's not the length of the arcs else it wont be true geometry, dont panic about length, it can be lablelled seperately use LIST to find its length. Check the DIMENSION options

Draw circle first this is the bowl then the left & right side of the road, "centre of road though centre of circle" then just trim circle with road then fillet the bowl to the R & L sides, culdesac drawn.

If it helps, here's another way of looking at it. The radius of a curve is the same anywhere along the curve--it's the distance to the center point. That's what makes it a curve.

When you fillet two lines with a given radius, you get a curve with that fixed radius. The ends of the curve are the points where that curve is tangent to the lines, so they in arbitrary locations. That means the length of the curve is arbitrary.

A useful tool in drawing roadwork is the tan-tan-radius option for drawing circles. Pick two lines, give the radius, and you get a circle that's tangent to both lines.