NWM (Network Widening Mod) - Development and Support

[jibjohn]

all other parts are prohibited area.

in the highway code (UK road law) you may enter this area "if it is safe to do so" (as the outside lines are broken), if the lines on the outside were solid you would not be allowed to enter it "you MUST NOT cross a solid line".

[´br]

There is also some kind of a TLA-3 in Germany, although it's rather some kind of a row of many left-turning lanes than a 3-lane-street:
http://maps.google.de/maps?hl=de&ll=50.986276,7.846577&spn=0.000903,0.002642&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6

[j-dub]

"you MUST NOT cross a solid line".

There are so many complications I have seen in the US, from a visiting motorists perspective. Even though, the yellow solid was made for that, you look back on how they made the outside lines of the TLA solid, where as Canada does not solidify that same outer line. Basically, oddities are all around the world. I also notice they repaint intersections, and forget to break the lines up, while the NWM displays the US having a double yellow line on the ARD, I have dealt with one for a long time since that still does not have that solid line, and instead has split lines both directions, one is just white, while the other is yellow.



Another compromised set of rules, your not supposed to change lanes in the middle of an intersection, but then your not supposed to really go straight thru the crossing in the turn lane, so which is it? Sometimes there will be turn lanes where you turn at the next intersection, not the one your at. Sometimes they crosshatch turn lanes out for driveways, or they make one long 2 block continuing one, but because of this, you do not know until its too late. Now, the difficult thing is in the US, its not a federal offense to cross the solid white line, you just can not do it that it cut others off, but other communities may say otherwise to that. Of course, the law could of changed by now, I'm just going by the books my state has on this center turn lane stuff. Attached is an example of a turn lane that goes into a commercial area, but not the main intersection. I have to deal with this in reality, and cars changing either lanes at the last minute.

[Ramona Brie]

I used Euro textures for years. I only switched because some NAM components didn't work with them well, and they were outdated, and I couldn't see those darned MIS directions.

[joshua43214]

"you MUST NOT cross a solid line".

Another compromised set of rules, your not supposed to change lanes in the middle of an intersection, but then your not supposed to really go straight thru the crossing in the turn lane, so which is it? Sometimes there will be turn lanes where you turn at the next intersection, not the one your at. Sometimes they crosshatch turn lanes out for driveways, or they make one long 2 block continuing one, but because of this, you do not know until its too late. Now, the difficult thing is in the US, its not a federal offense to cross the solid white line, you just can not do it that it cut others off, but other communities may say otherwise to that. Of course, the law could of changed by now, I'm just going by the books my state has on this center turn lane stuff. Attached is an example of a turn lane that goes into a commercial area, but not the main intersection. I have to deal with this in reality, and cars changing either lanes at the last minute.

All 50 states are required to conform to federal standards for both street signs and road markings - it would be impossible to drive cross country if every state used their own standards. There are a few things like making a right turn at a red light, or a left turn from a OWR to another OWR at a red light that each state has its own laws on though.

solid white lines are "cross with caution." usualy used approaching a large intersection to control traffic weaving
dotted white lines are typical lane markings
Solid double yellow lines are never crossed, for any reason
solid yellow next to dotted yellow is means the lane next to the dotted line may go left of center to pass
double dotted yellow means that either side can go left of center to pass

AVE-3 and AVE-5 are very common and a huge help. I remember when they started using them in my home town. I made a massive difference in traffic congestion. You are never allowed to cross an intersection in a center lane. You are never allowed to drive continously in the center lane. You are never allowed to pass in a center lane. You are not allowed to turn into the center lane - they are only for turning out of, this law is very often ignored though.

There are federal standards that require lane marking signs be posted within specific distances of intersection that have dedicated turn lanes. Some communities ignore the requirement because they are unsightly. During heavy traffic hours the signs are often not much help because the traffic is backed up past the sign.

In short centerlane avenues are a blessing, the inside lanes move at a steady pace, people turning left don't stop traffic, and buses can drive down the right lane without interfering with traffic flow.

[jdenm8]

Or, instead of adding a dedicated Left Turn Lane, do what they do here, disallow left turns into driveways (Continue the double unbroken) or give the road useable shoulders. Simple.

[metarvo]

It should be no surprise, since I'm in the U.S. after all, but I'm sure I have encountered every NWM network currently available at one time or another and then some.  With my state's recent dissolution of separate night speed limits, the "TLRHW-5" I mentioned earlier is now 70 mph 24 hours a day.  This is not to say that TLA-type networks are the only wider networks built here, though.  TLA-5's are a way of life around here, although some have been converted to AVE-4's (complete with the medians) for safety reasons.  Of course, this annoys would-be left-turning traffic to no end.

Speaking of left turns, there are in fact some roads here that allow left turns on certain days/times and disallow them at others.  These are usually MAVE-4's without left turn lanes, as opposed to TLA-5's.

[joshua43214]

Or, instead of adding a dedicated Left Turn Lane, do what they do here, disallow left turns into driveways (Continue the double unbroken) or give the road useable shoulders. Simple.

This is bad for commerce in the typical urban setting.

We have two basic types of avenue arround here. The most common are the TLA-5's. These run through residential neighborhoods and they are lined with small shops, small malls, and small appartment buildings. Virtualy all commuters use these in their home neighborhoods. They move huge ammounts of traffic every day, and have the benifit of being lined with shops so you can run errends on the way home.

The other types are massive 6 to 10 lane wide limited access highway. Access is gained at traffic lights, and they have service roads that run along side them. These are lined with large shops, malls, and large appartment complexes. Everyone avoids them as much as possible since the traffic on them always sucks.

The TLA-5's actualy move better because they are all 35mph. Folks try to make last minute multiple lane changes on the bigger roads and cause all sorts of chaos at high speed.

We also of course have Maxis style freeways. The RHW extended ramps are almost never seen in urban areas, you see some of it in the suburbs though (where its not really needed). Arround here, you accelerate hard down the ramp and merge, otherwise you get forced off at the next exit. Each entrance ramp turns into the exit ramp for the next exit - and they are packed one ontop of the next. It can suck when there is an accident.

[MandelSoft]

^^ Here in the Netherlands it's totally unlike that. In my home town Zoetermeer, the city ring road, which is a limited access avenue, actually can handle large amounts of traffic with no problem (and has a speed limit of 70 km/h instead of 50 km/h). Only problem are the left turn lanes to access the freeway A12.

If you look at the roads in Den Haag (The Hauge), most of them are full-access roads, and it's a pain driving through that city. Hell, it's even hard to get into the city itself during rush hour; the freeway A12, which leads right to the city center, is often clogged up for miles/kilometers (depending on what unit system you use  ). That, even when Den Haag has a two central train stations and lots of tram lines (where a few lines lead to neighbouring cities)!

We also of course have Maxis style freeways. The RHW extended ramps are almost never seen in urban areas, you see some of it in the suburbs though (where its not really needed). Arround here, you accelerate hard down the ramp and merge, otherwise you get forced off at the next exit. Each entrance ramp turns into the exit ramp for the next exit - and they are packed one ontop of the next. It can suck when there is an accident.

Don't know what you mean here with "RHW extended ramps". But I think you are talking about weaving acceleration/decelleration lanes. And weaving sections, especially short ones, are not good for traffic flow...

Best,
Maarten

[strucka]

So I'm guessing but is the lack of sticky posts with presentation a sign of an early christmas? =D

[riiga]

So I'm guessing but is the lack of sticky posts with presentation a sign of an early christmas? =D

If you mean the posts that used to show up on top of every page in the different NAM threads, I think they're not there anymore because of the new forum software. But rest assured, the release is "imminent", whatever that means. 

[joshua43214]

Don't know what you mean here with "RHW extended ramps". But I think you are talking about weaving acceleration/decelleration lanes. And weaving sections, especially short ones, are not good for traffic flow...

lol, not good for the faint of heart more like...

It really is all about compromise. When they rebuilt the downtown freeway system here 20 years ago, they took out several interchanges and replaced some of the other interchanges got longer ramps. It helped the freeway traffic alot. It made downtown traffic 10 times worse. They are just now finishing up the project to put some of the interchanges back in.

Urban freeways are meant to carry people into urban areas where they work, live, shop. If you have fewer interchanges, those interchanges become massive bottlenecks, and can affect traffic on the city streets for many blocks as traffic tries to enter or exit the freeway. Many people just drove through downtown streets until they reached the medium density areas surrounding it before they got on the freeway. The overall traffic is actualy better if there are more interchages since it spreads the street load out more evenly.

My city is also a bit unusual in that an extremely large percentage of the commuters commute from the mid wealth North-East subburbs, to the high wealth North-West subburbs (a number of international busineses are headquartered there) and they have to commute down the outerbelt. There are two massive multilane intechanges in the North-West, that both dump onto huge 10 lane wide avenues. The traffic backs up every morning for 5 to 6 miles. Far enough back that it often interferes with southbound traffic on one of the crosstown freeways meant to feed downtown. The whole thing is a massive mess, and one accident in the midst of it can leave your stuck for hours. I used to make the drive everyday to work, and it was exhausting.

The North-East subburbs on the other hand have 5 interchanges over about the same distance, and traffic there moves along just fine.

I guese the point I am trying to make is, that designing freeways to minimize weaving takes up alot of space. This means fewer interchanges, and produces horrible urban traffic. On the other hand, putting less emphasis on freeway traffic, and more on street traffic gives a compromise where everybody is moving, and there are fewer bottlenecks.

[Flatron]

I have just discovered a TLA3 in Germany, more exact at Dorfen, Bavaria, where there is a red-painted lane thats dedicated to leftturns on B15. I couldnt take aa photo but you can see it in google maps

[MandelSoft]

*Opens Google Maps and searches location

You mean this?
http://maps.google.nl/maps?q=Dorfen,+Bavaria&hl=nl&ll=48.268717,12.155187&spn=0.000987,0.002642&sll=52.469397,5.509644&sspn=3.701232,10.821533&vpsrc=6&t=k&z=19

Well, at least it's an odd section of road. I think it's unique in it's kind.

[Tarkus]

It's here at long last!  Network Widening Mod Version 2.0 has been released!

• Three new networks have been added, including the triple-tile 6-lane Avenue and 7-lane Turning Lane Avenue, plus the single-tile 4-lane Narrow Medianless Avenue
• Draggable transition functionality, allowing easier connections with default networks, other NWM networks, and networks in the RealHighway addon (downloaded separately).
• Basic diagonal and curving functionality for dual-tile and triple-tile networks (note: this does not include intersections).
• Numerous new T-intersections, including dual-tile networks ending at single-tile networks.
• Limited support for diagonal intersections on single-tile networks--this functionality is still experimental and offered on an "as-is" basis.

You can pick it up here:

Network Widening Mod Version 2.0 for Windows

Network Widening Mod Version 2.0 for Mac

And you'll need NAM Version 30 (includes NAM Essentials r132):

NAM Version 30 with Essentials r132 for Windows

NAM Version 30 with Essentials r132 for MacOS

Enjoy!

-Alex

[gn_leugim]

Thank youuuu

[Korot]

To bad I'm feeling sick right now... Would start playing with it immediately otherwise. Fortunately, there is always Monday! Thank  you very much!

Regards,
Korot

[Jack_wilds]

Thank-you NAM-guys... shining new toys to play with is always a good thing 

[ivo_su]

I Love You Alex and all of the NAM team
AVE - 6 is here 

[Fabian93]

Awesome!  Can't wait to check out all the new possibilities and looks.
You guys rock

Fabian