How would you automate creating routes from lists of directions on ArcGIS Pro?

[transportationplanner]

We are looking to create maps from hundreds of written turn lists for transit service. The turn lists contain directions for operators to drive designated routes between locations. For example: R/8TH ST C/SOUTHRIDGE DR L/6TH AVE

The geographic area would be limited to one metropolitan region. I'm not quite familiar with the tools that would be needed to automate or at least simplify shapefile creation of routes from directions on ArcGIS Pro. Has anyone done something like this?

[VenkataKondepati]

Yes, this is doable, but you’ll want to translate the text directions into something the network can understand.

At a high level:

Standardize the turn lists first (R/L, street names, order). This is critical.

Geocode the streets/intersections (ArcGIS World Geocoder or a local street centerline with an address locator).

Use Network Analyst:

Convert each turn list into an ordered stop sequence.

Build routes using Route or Closest Facility with turn-by-turn constraints.

For scale (hundreds of routes), automate with ArcPy or Python:

Parse the text → create stop points → solve routes → export polylines.

If directions are very granular (explicit turns), consider dynamic segmentation on a street network.

Key tools: Address Locator, Network Dataset, Network Analyst, ArcPy.
Main challenge isn’t the GIS—it’s reliably parsing the written directions.

[MelindaMorang]

Wow, yes, I agree with the previous comment that parsing the written text directions is the toughest part of this task.  What other data do you have to work with?