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Three Rivers Region

Started by dedgren, December 20, 2006, 07:57:49 PM

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dedgren

#10660
Not to say that 3RR is not a real place, though.

if you have the right version of Streets and Trips, it's not hard to find at all.




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@dedgren (responding to Marisa's (girlfromverona) first post): "Welcome to SC4Devotion!! Are you Italian, perchance?"
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So we added a bunch of things to our new terrain.

Latitude, longitude and townships.



All Lats, of course, are N, all Lons are W.  Here's a full-size version [linkie], which will open in a new window.

Water Features.



That's not very legible, but you can click here [linkie] to see it at three-quarter size- it's big at 907kb, but really pretty.

Place and physical feature names.



You can click here [linkie] for a 4,096x4,096 version, which is the same scale as the Atlas maps.  Caution- it's 1.2+ megabytes.  Remember, this is constructed from 256 actual in-game maps- one from each quad.

But 3RR's roads and highways remained my first and foremost intention.


David

955942
D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

riiga

#10661
Happy Birthday 3RR / Grattis på födelsedagen 3RR!

I can only hope for another 6 years, seeing how 3RR is still going strong thanks to all 3RR regulars, and of course you, David!  :thumbsup:

EDIT:  Felix, my great friend, I think the start of the things that will take 3RR into the future is coming later today.  Thanks for coming to the party! -de

WC_EEND

I also have 2 other Belgian treats for 3RR's 6th birthday:

A nice pack of Belgian chips (or French Fries) with mayonaise


and a range of different chocolates


Xander
RIP Adrian (adroman), you were a great friend

My LOT thread                                    

SCAG BAe146/Avro RJ Project

kalanc69

Hey Hey!  Sorry I was late to the party, but I had to do some running around to get things ready for the family trip to Disney World later this week! I hope someone brought some root beer, as that's the only beer I can drink now days! Not to worry though, I came prepared. It's been a great 6yrs, and I can't wait to see what the next year holds in store for 3RR! I'll be hanging around for a few hours to investigate the happenings!! Happy Birthday my 3RR friends!

evarburg

Chiming in : biscuits, anyone ?




vortext

#10665
Is it night already over there David? Kinda confused with all the timezones. Anyway, I'm outside having a blast   ;D



EDIT:  Gandalf! vortext, I knew there'd be fireworks.  It gets dark about six hours from now. -de
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

Reform

#10666
Congratulations.
After sneaking around 3RR riverbanks for few years, I decided to stop by for the party. And I allready spotted some familiar faces here.

Now, where can I place these Karelian pasties?  :)

EDIT:  All right!  Not only the newest 3RR Regular, but one with Karelian pastries!  Thanks for coming, my friend. -de

Simcoug

Congrats 3RR on 6 years - I don't post much on SC4D, but I have been known to lurk around 3RR in the past.  Lots of fun reading, especially for us SC4 nerds.  Thanks for everything.

metasmurf



To 6 years, from Umeå, Västerbotten, Sweden  &apls


dedgren

#10669
3RR's roads were laid out first with a pencil.



From there, it was simply a matter of intensive computer time in late 2007 to get them transferred onto a map.



A whole backstory was written for the Roads and Highways Division of the 3RR Department of Transportation ("DOT").

      Roads and Highways Division.  This division is charged with responsibility for the planning, construction and maintenance of the region's roads and highways.


R-37 heads south toward the DeLong Mountains

The roads and highways under the purview of 3RRDOT are classified as follows:

1.  Freeways.  Freeways are limited-access divided highways intended to move large numbers of vehicles a) longer distances around the region; and b) into and out of the urbanized area of Pineshore and its suburbs.


F-78 west along the Wind River

Generally, the 3RR freeway system consists of radial "spokes" extending out from Pineshore's city center, an inner beltway encircling Pineshore's central business district, several urban "spurs," and two other "ring" roads around the city at about five and fifteen miles beyond the city limits (actually they each will extend, if ever fully completed, about three-quarters of the way around, with the other quarter being the Hotham Inlet).  The region's freeway system also connects with U.S. Interstate 98 (the "Rooftop Freeway") and the joint U.S.-Canadian "Duluth-Winnipeg Freeway", which in the 'states is signed as Interstate 41.  3RRDOT, as a courtesy to its neighbor, "dual-signs" its connecting freeways with the U.S Interstate shields.

   
   

Canada, of course, has never built its leg of this latter road.

3RR has about 120 miles/192 kilometers of completed freeways.  Many were built in the 1970s and 1980s, in particular the ones in Pineshore, and are in need of reconstruction to meet current capacity needs and to bring them to modern design standards.  Pineshore is also the site of the famous (or infamous, depending on your position) battle over the "Riverfront Freeway" along the western shore of the Grand River through a district of historic (or old, run-down and unsightly, again depending on your position) warehouses.  This link (unimportant or vital...your position, etc.) has been blocked for about 15 years but, in light of the current traffic congestion problems, resistance to the project (along with the warehouses themselves) appears to be crumbling.  If every mile of freeway planned by 3RRDOT was built, the system would total about 275 miles/440 kilometers in length.  Occasional governmental proposals to impose tolls on some freeway stretches to assist in raising funds to complete the system have led to impeachment, and sometimes worse...  Freeways run within a right-of-way of 200 to 300 feet/60 to 90 meters, with the smaller width usually being located in urbanized areas.  Generally, freeways have six lanes (three in either direction), but some rural mileage is only four lane (two in either direction).

The region's freeways are numbered with principal freeways being two digits- even numbers indicated freeways running primarily east-west and odd numbers are assigned to those running more-or-less north-south.

     

Beltways, spurs and ring freeways are assigned three-digit numbers, with the last two digits referring to the principal freeway with which the freeway in question is most closely associated.  Beltways and rings start with an even number, thus the "460 Freeway" is one of these two types designed mainly to serve as a bypass in connection with the "60 Freeway."  Spurs, on the other hand, start with odd numbers, thus the spur "117 Freeway" is the freeway branching off of the "17 Freeway" to serve the Three Rivers Region International Airport.  Much like U.S. Interstates are called "I" followed by the route number for short (e.g. "I-98," "I-41"), 3RR's freeways are called "F" followed by the route number.  Thus, the "60 Freeway" is generally referred to as "F-60."

2.  Primary Roads.  Primary roads are the region's main short-trip traffic carriers, although some serve as the principal highway to more remote areas of the region where traffic counts do not justify building a freeway.  By and large, each of 3RR's freeways replaced a corresponding primary road serving the same corridor, with the older route number then being "de-commissioned."  The primary roads that remain essentially feed long-trip traffic onto the freeways, and then again carries that traffic as it exits near its destination.  There are currently just over 400 miles/640 kilometers of roads in the primary road system.


R-31 crests Buck Ridge with Gunsight Mountain just across the 3RR/U.S. border in the distance

The legislation creating primary roads dates back to the 1920s, a time when the entire 3RRDOT was simply the "Bureau of Roads and Streets" and was run from two offices in one of those warehouses now threatened by the Waterfront Freeway.  It called for[/size][/font]

  • ...a system of improved two lane roads, each lane of which shall be no narrower than nine feet, laid out as much as possible on the grid of existing rural roads, with no more than five miles to separate any two parallel primary roads.  Primary roads shall be constructed on a right-of-way no less than 50 feet in width.  The north-south primary roads shall be odd-numbered in one or two digits, with lower numbered routes beginning in the east of the region, and the east-west primary roads shall be even-numbered in one or two digits with lower-numbered routes beginning in the north of the region.  A primary road that is subordinate to another, such as one providing a route into a town or a cut-off shortening a round about distance, shall be three digits, with an odd number being the first digit, and with the controlling primary route's number being the last one or two digits, and with the middle digit being filled with "0" as necessary...

Here are two primary road route shields in use in the region.

     

All primary roads in 3RR are paved, and have between two and six lanes.  Several are divided and limited access and, except for the route number, indistinguishable from 3RR's freeways.  This is easier to understand when you know that every limited access highway in 3RR "signed" as a primary road has a "secret" "F" number, and is actually part of the freeway system.  This is done for no other reason than to rationalize the route numbering system, and not as part of some "black helicopter" conspiracy, as is believed by some less enlightened residents.

Currently, most two and three lane primary roads are located on 150 foot/48 meter wide rights-of-way, except in urban areas where the ROW generally remains 50 feet/16 meters.  New four and five lane roads are constructed on 200 foot/64 meter wide ROWs.  All divided primary roads, whether limited access or not, are on 300 foot/96 meter ROWs.  It is the policy of 3RRDOT that rights-of-way are kept clear of trees, brush and other obstructions, but clearing programs frequently lag behind Mother Nature's unlimited budget.

The major 3RR primary roads link up with Manitoba and Ontario's provincial and Minnesota state highway systems.  To the northwest, a 3RR primary road connects to Manitoba Route 12.


As for Ontario, the connection is to King's Highway 44


which, interestingly enough, does not connect to any other Ontario highway, as it crosses the border west into Manitoba as its way further north is barred by Lake of the Woods.  On the U.S. side, no federal highway reaches the border with Minnesota.  It is reached, though, by state route 11


which heads east to the border towns of International Falls [linkie] and Fort Frances [linkie], and west to the North Dakota border at the Red River of the North [linkie].  As Minnesota Route 11 would be a through route but for 3RR. it is "dual-signed" with R-52 and "To" signs across the region.

3.  Secondary Roads.  Secondary roads are the region's local rural traffic carriers.  There are no secondary roads within the city limits of Pineshore, which has the responsibility under its charter for maintaining all streets and roads that are not in the freeway and primary systems.  Secondary roads are two lanes wide, may be paved or simply "improved" (chip seal, tarred, or graded and compacted gravel are all common) and are built, with a few wider exceptions, on 50 foot/16 meter wide rights-of-way.


S-527 crosses the prairie headed toward the Southern Range


S-546 just south of Low Light Hills

Secondary road numbers are three digits long and always begin with "5."  Odd-numbered secondary roads run north and south, running from lower to higher across the region from west to east.  Even-numbered secondary roads run east and west, running from lower to higher across the region from north to south.  Here are two secondary road route shields from the region.

     

There are about 1,100 miles (1,760 kilometers) of secondary roads in Three Rivers Region.

4.  Bridges and Tunnels.  The 3RRDOT also has the responsibility for the design and construction, and repair, maintenance and inspection of the region's 923 freeway and road bridges and 5 land and water tunnels.


R-22 crosses Two Moon Creek heading west

These bridges range from the mile-long (including approaches) cable-stayed F-60 bridge across the East Channel to numerous short iron truss spans over creeks and streams built in the late 1800s and early 1900s.


S-511 crosses Hay Flats Creek

The region has three mountain and two underwater road and highway tunnels.  One alternative proposed as a resolution of the Riverfront Freeway controversy is the "Little Dig," which would put a little less than a mile of the new freeway underground.  Cost estimates, though, exceed the amount of 3RRDOT's total budget over the next 10 years.


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@dedgren: "Coming up later today in 3RR- We make a license plate...and don't even have to go to prison to do it."
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This has all come together in the full-size regional road and highway map.



That's hardly usable, so here's a full size (same scale as the individual Atlas maps) region map [linkie].  The only format that comes in under ImageShack's 1.5 gig size limitation is .gif.  Unfortunately, .png doesn't even get close.

Each township also has a page in the 3RR Road Atlas [linkie].







We've done, along the way, 3RR rail.  Air and water transport are planned for future publication.


David

956054
D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

mattb325

Happy 6th birthday   :thumbsup:

Some wonderful achievements have been realised here over the last six years, and what an interesting and unique source of inspiration to many it has become!

For the celebrations, I have brought lamingtons



and, liquor....


Girafe

ok guys,

let's start to serious beverage for people who are still standing:

Real vodka from Russia:



And of course HAPPY BIRTHDAY  &apls &apls
The Floraler

This is the end, hold your breath and count to ten, feel the earth move, and then...

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *    *   *   *   *   *    * 

Schulmanator

My, my... With all of these goodies to eat and drink, I won't have an appetite for dinner. And that sounds great to me!!

Woohoo! Party on!!!
See the all-new National Capital Region!:http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=15118.0

dedgren

#10673
All the 3RR transport stuff means nothing, however, without a way to get it in the game.  The bulk of the work done by the NAM Team, of which I have been quite proud to be a member for the past few years, has been done between the time 3RR started and today.  In particular, creations like the RHW make detailing 3RR's freeways possible as I had originally envisioned them.


F-637, Dutchman Township


F-637, Dutchman Township

3RR, though, has also been in a very productive collaboration individually with Alex (Tarkus) over the years.  It seems like forever ago now, but between the two of us over a couple of months in 2007, we turned this



into this



and ultimately in the game as this.




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@dedgren (after being corrected by 3RR Fact Checker douwe): "Winnepeg"- OMG, will I ever overcome my shame?..."
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Alex also helped me take another one of those occasional flashes of inspiration we've had here



to reality.




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@Shadow Assassin: "Using Maxis trees? How dare you!"
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Going back through the pages of 3RR in getting ready for today, I was struck by how many things in the game we now take for granted that 3RR played a role, and sometimes the role, in changing.  Here's a few.

before


after


before and after (no points for guessing which is which)


before and after (again, no points)


before


after


before (yes, these are the actual vanilla textures)


after


before


after




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@dedgren: "Hey, dude, where's my grid?"
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And then there's the STR...


David

956122
D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

MTT9

Matt from Argentina joining the celebrations  ;D

Hope i'm note late for the cake  ::)

Now, back to my usual lurking  $%#Ninj2
You can call me Matt

rooker1

Hey David,
Trying to get all caught up with the things going on here.  I just got my new desk all setup and the computer running just a while ago. 

I came across this in your second last post in the middle....
Quote
"That's hardly usable, so here's a full size (same scale as the individual Atlas maps) region map [linkie].  The only format that comes in under ImageShack's 1.5 gig size limitation is .gif.  Unfortunately, .png doesn't even get close.

Each township also has a page in the [img=http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?board=196.0]http://3RR Road Atlas [linkie][/img]."
The gif is not working and you need to hyper link the other link not img.  I was going to fix the second problem myself but than you'd still have to fix the other....so I'll just leave it to you.

Great work so far and a huge Happy Birthday to 3RR!!  Here's to many, many more.

Robin &apls
Call me Robin, please.

Sunset_baby

*Sunset_Baby/Yarahi/3RR visitor nr.900000 clicking in to see what the hap's about...
*shaking some hands
*eating some cake and drinking some beers
*sneaking back to the comfy shadows of lurk..

(Happy Birthday 3RR, here's for 6 more)

meinhosen

#10677
You totally called me out a couple of pages back.  Waaay not cool.  And that was over 8000 replies, who knows how many years, and 3 deployments ago... doubly way not cool.  ;)   

All the joshing aside, there are a lot of fun memories from the early 3RR to now.  Between the single-track rail (my biggest wish since day 1 of playing any Sim City) and the little "you'd never notice it if you didn't spend 6 hours meticulously placing it" details, not only 3RR but SC4 as a whole has undergone a transformation so dramatic that anyone who bought the game within a year or two of its' initial release would scarcely recognize it now for the same game.

I think most of all I've always enjoyed 3RR because it represents an investment of time into a city/region that I've never had available.  I would say, in a small way, that I've played vicariously through the growth of the region by secretly wishing I had the time to devote to making my own cities, towns, villages, rural areas, and empty areas look like yours. 

As always, thank you for sharing your dream.  Let me get my hands on a beer or 3 and we can all toast to 6 more years of fun.

EDIT:  Heh!  Don't feel too picked on, my longtime friend.  Here's a review that was written about 3RR in 2006 over at Simtropolis.

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[row] [data]Three Rivers Region is a relatively new CJ by novice CJer dedgren.  It is only his first effort at city journalism, where many of our more experienced CJers are already on their third or fourth journal.  Over the past seven months or so dedgren's CJ has wandered all over the proverbial map, and does not display, from page to page, any consistent theme.  The author admittedly cheats, and openly encourages others to do so, as well.  The CJ starts well, with a table of contents linked to the content on various pages, but the titles of the links are so arcane that they are almost worthless to any reader not "in the know."   The author also provides a list of mods, but his choices of these important game components are so eclectic that it is difficult to understand why anyone would follow his lead.

The CJ has no urbanized areas worthy of note, and lacks any high-rise development altogether.  Seemingly endless tutorials occupy many of Three Rivers Region's pages, and the tutorials often are more detailed than would seem necessary, at least to this reviewer.  The CJ has an extreme amount of non-SC4 content, which is frequently distracting.  Unrelated RL pics frequently appear and, while they are nice, this is a city journal, not MySpace.  In the last ten pages or so, the journal has seemingly become sidetracked on what appears to be an endless discussion of "scale," which is often at a technical level that is of little interest to the general reader.  Here again, the author admits that his region is grossly deficient in terms of representing any sort of realistic area, and it seems he is simply "treading water" while looking for a fig leaf behind which the whole thing can be mercifully dumped.

Lots of folks, seemingly inexplicably, do comment at Three Rivers Region.  It is difficult to understand why, as the author has the habit of repeatedly and insufferably referring to his "urban planning" education and foo-foo professional qualifications- an obvious and insufferable effort to make his readers feel small and awed by his "know it all" persona.  When that gets him nowhere, he whines about his advanced age...[/data] [/row]
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Whenever I start getting too full of myself after reading all the great comments here I go back and...

...wait, wait...

...what?...what!


...I wrote that?  Oops- nevermind.
-de

You're telling me I get to be home for more than 12 months?


dedgren

#10678
In the next couple of minutes, post the names of the three rivers 3RR takes its name from without looking.

...awww, c'mon.  Someone has to know...


David

956220
D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

Grneyes

#10679
Definitely love all the stuff you've done, David! Are you still actually playing the game or just creating stuff?

EDIT:  MaryBeth, I guess I don't play the game in the traditional sense any more, as most of my effort over the past couple of years has gone into creating collaboration quads and testing out stuff I'm working on in the game.  I have a sense, though, that as soon as TTR is wrapped up that will change. -de