A Compendium of Interchanges....

[JoeST]

The roundabout under El-Highway is already released as part of the NAM, in the most recent release

Joe

[hconline]

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Aplause


jaw drops, drools


Amazing, I wish I had the time and patience to make these amazing interchanges.

[schm0]

This is the only picture I could find of a retaining-wall exit ramp in a sunken highway. If anyone can find a better view, please let me know, but it is this interchange that I'd love to see!



An overhead view of my local freeway:

[Pat]

John gotta love paint lol  anyways great update and i love how you have used the new toys!!!

[Haljackey]

Well I haven't posted here in quite some time, but I have a new Compendium of Interchanges to show!

In addition, I also figured out how to properly post my images.  They will appear compressed at 800x500 in this thread, but simply click on the image to view them in their full resolution of 1440x900!  The new format also dramatically decreases the size of the photos as well, which used to be 1MB+! 

Let's begin with this one:


I posted this image back on page 3, before the MIS ever existed.  It was very tough for me to make this kind of connection due to the use of the Multi-RHW concept.  Now, thanks to the overrides established with the RHW starter pieces, there is no longer a need for such a concept, making this obsolete.

Here is the same junction, now reconstructed using the new RHW as well as some use of the MIS:


If you also look closely, you can also see the speed sign increase from 90km/h in the first photo to 100km/h in the second, due the added safety features the RHW and MIS provided.



What else do I have to show?  Oh, how about this one!

Here is a RHW narrowing itself down from four to two lanes before a raised bridge:


Here it is with the new RHW-4 to RHW-2 connection and the lane shift puzzle pieces:


Eventually, I added an interchange near the riverfront, so I decided to beef up the highway.  I used the new raised avenue bridge in latest NAM as well as using the accel/decel lanes provided with the RHW MIS.  Now vehicles can safely merge onto the highway unlike the tiny ramps that the ground/elevated highways use.


For those who are wondering, here is the rest of the interchange.  It is a B-2 class parclo interchange, and was made this way because it is located near the river.  I also used several puzzle pieces included with the RHW and MIS to construct the ramps and junctions:


Here is the highway south of the interchange.  Later on, the highway expands itself yet again to a RHW-8, so it can properly fit with my existing Multi-RHW network in a city to the south.




Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed them!

Best,
-Haljackey

[TheTeaCat]

I did indeed.
Nice reconstruction of the highways .looks much better now 


TTC

[oldrogue]

Very enjoyable...made the wait betwixt updates somewhat worth it ... thanks

[mightygoose]

some great work their haljackey....

in response to dragonshardz PM about the missing photos from update 7B here are the remaining pictures.

i think it is a great way to look at where we were previously to inspire our future efforts....

so without further ado.... even though we have had update 8 lol....

Update 7c

this belonged to ardecila. nicely modelled but a traffic nightmare realistically, too much crossed traffic paths.......



this variation on a stack is also by ardecila before the NAM stack was modelled. althugh the layer format of the NAM stack is more conventional i do like the cross top stack design, also the NAM stack is far from perfect with its texturing and support struts....



the holy grail for me.... there were experiments with elevated over elevated networks.... now this guy made only one post on simtrop saying he had made puzzle pieces for 30m height EHW, slope from EHW^15m and an EHW^30 over EHW^15.... other stuff by smoncrie supports this work....



2004 design.....



2005 design.....



and the last design made in 2006.... all working.... i know haljackey would flip his lid to get hold of these, as would I.

next up.... GLR(well rail, GLR wasn't invented yet) in road....







cum up with in 2004, and disappeared back into obscurity.... anyway those were the ones missing from the previous page.. although the smoncrie evidence on ELR over ELR i only found today...

anyway i got started so i thought i would do the whole lot....

continuing to dig through the ST archives.....





these two were the original US and EU textures that were invision for the ANT.... turning lane road anyone?? i know they are quite common in the UK.



2005 goaskin was beating mIncrobal to the punch with t21 exemplars for props under EL rail lol.....



2005 also, an alternative to GLR(rail again) in road, this time in streetcar formation.... these were only textures however....



this one popped up in mid 05 and got asked after for about 18 months every 3 pages or so.... current status is unknown....





mid 2004, the potential candidates for redlotus' next interchange.... what a shame....



haljackey posted this one in 2006, not sure if its a mock up or a photoshop job, either way could be extremely useful now if the highway was replaced with say RHW-6 or even RHW-8?



the single lane road idea we have going on over here was first invisioned as a potential use for the ANT instead of the RHW/dirt road idea...

finally..... back in early 2005.... thalassicus came up with a new set of models for the EL rail viaduct....







the models are better than the ones we have at the minute, even if the textures are slightly lacking....

to round off on my travels through over 240 pages of NAM threads on ST i came across two rather interesting posts....

firstly.... DEDGREN, our famous and dear friend's FIRST EVER POST in the simcity community.... i thought i'd share it for nostalgic purposes.... it seems he viewed the NAM much as we view 3RR, if not for tropod, the seven trumptes and crew... 3RR may have not existed...

This is my first post on a Simtropolis forum, so if it's all screwed up, don't laugh too hard at the newbie.

I'm 51, an attorney and an urban planner (MURP, Virginia Commonwealth University 1988). I have been addicted to Sim City since the original program, which I had on a 128K Mac.

When SC4 was released, I was originally reluctant to shift over from the huge investment of time I'd put into 3000 building what I thought were pretty incredible cities. I bought it, but didn't spend near the time with it as with the previous version.

The Rush Hour Expansion changed all that. I've always thought the most fascinating aspect of SC was the transportation networks, and in particular the roads and highways. I found myself spending hours creating huge cities (through every cheat I could find) just to play around with fine-tuning trips and commutes. I found myself ultimately frustrated, though, by the lack of choices Maxis provided with respect to modeling realistic intersections, interchanges and the like. I found my interest in SC4 was lessening as I simply couldn't seem to do anything I hadn't already done.

Then I discovered this modd. Stumbled across it is more accurate.

You folks (the ones doing the scut-work on this stuff) are Gods. I have, since installing the modd, played SC4 almost compulsively ever since. I'll tell you how bad it is- I'm doing it on a laptop as I drive the 45 minute commute to work. Your work has the potential to really take SC to the next level generally. I know it already has for me.

I'm going to print out and read this whole thread before I post any of my specific thoughts about the modd, and about any suggestions I would have, as I don't want to take up Simtropolis' bandwidth duplicating what has been said by others. As the Governator of California once said, though, I'll be back.

Thanks again.


D. Edgren


and lastly, you know every now and again there are those articles about famous men predicting things in their area of expertise that turn out to be totally rubbish...

well here is an ST faux par on a grand scale....

the seven trumpets...



I am more pleased with puzzle pieces. The only advance of the ANT is that it has a dragging tool. It is not possible to create such tools for new network. But the system itself is somehow useless.

I think the oneway highway pieces will mostly be used to realize complex interchange/exit solutions or to split the highways where it's the best solution, f.e. if there are many hills and small valleys. I think mostly oneway highways will represent short parts of a regular highway and not a replacement for a oneway road which begins and results into a regular oneway road.

Highway puzzle pieces are better.

Forget the ANT! It's useless.

i hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane.... update 9 will follow at some point....

thanks

Mightygoose

[JoeST]

WOW, history at its beginnings, nice trawlings there.

Joe

[Jack Bauer]

Wondeful!!!! this will be the best NAM !!!

[oldrogue]

Incredibly entertaining and thought provoking update.....thanks so much...am going to reread it in a day or so to pick up the threads again...cause I know I missed something.

[Haljackey]

Great finds Mightygoose! 

The stack and diagonal interchanges take me way back in the day.  I was an avid follower of the stack interchange development about a year before I ever became a member @ ST (found the site in 2004). 

About the interchange you gave me credit for, I vaguely recall it, among with others.  A lot of images have been lost both @ ST and my hard drive, so even if I did post it, I don't know if I was actually the one who made it.

Anyways, good job! What's next?

EDIT: Speaking of stack interchanges, anyone remember these? 







Thats the one thing I don't like about the one in the NAM.  The flyovers should go over the roadbed.  That would be much more realistic! Take this stack in RL for example.  It has flyover ramps as well as ramps that go below the roadway.



Best,
-Haljackey

[dedgren]

Thank you... Thank you verruh much...



Sheesh!  That was a long time ago, mg.  I no longer play SC4 on my laptop driving to work, though- I'm too busy using the Lot Editor.

It's funny to see how that SC4-RH addiction has stood the test of time.  The thing with 3RR, too- but that goes way back.



I love this game!

It's great to be back here in the Blue Room...  We'll be here all week...


David

[Pat]

@ John that is such a wonderful find there!!!

@ Hal that bites that you dont remeber either way on some of those interchanges that Mg Showed and gave credit for, But anyways I love the new stuff you showed....

@ David LE and Driving is not a good mixture please do it carefully lol 

[Haljackey]

Hey Everyone, I have a new rather interesting interchange to show you.  Its simple, yet elegant.

Again, please click on the images to view them in their full resolution.  Thanks!

Before:


After:




Its my first (pure) Multi-RHW interchange constructed with the MIS. 

This new interchange should make it easier for motorists in this part of town.  The tunnel was removed and replaced with an overpass, so this shouldn't hinder cross-traffic.  Drivers on the highway can totally bypass this interchange by driving on the express (or inner) lanes of the roadway.
-It is now nearly completed.  To the north, the highway widens from 8 to 10 lanes through a similar Multi-RHW configuration before it swells to a 12 lane transfer.
-And for those who are wondering, its a real image!  100% pure RHW/MIS.  No tricks or conversions required for the Multi-RHW this time!



More pictures can be found in my city journal over at Simtropolis.  Actually, there's a lot of good stuff there if you're interested in urban transportation.  Just follow the link in my signature to go to it (the one to ST)!

Best,
-Haljackey

[Pat]

looks real nice there Hal    Aint MIS something else?

[simzebu]

Cool, Haljackey!

Forget the ANT! It's useless.[/i][/b]

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981

By the way, for a good time, click here.

[Shadow Assassin]

Don't forget that famous "We'll only ever need five computers in this world" quote.

[RebaLynnTS]

Man will never fly.
Man will never go to the moon.
You can't go faster than sound.

I could go on, but I think that'll do.

[freedo50]

Guys, can we try to keep this thread on topic? Feel free to start a "Predictions of a different future", or whatever, thread but please put it in the off-topic section; this thread is intended for the discussion of interchanges.

Fred