Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Big Dig)

[Madhollander 0]

Say i was wondering, the US/1 highway northbound that is on one side of the bridge, will that be a highway to in the game ?

i personally think that it would actually be nicer (and more efficient) if it was a road or avenue, so that a normal in game road/avenue can use the same bridge as the highway and still cross the river instead of being forced to use the highway (wich not every vehicle is allowed on, tracktors n handicapped person vehicles n such).

great work so far though !

[blahdy 21]

madhollander:  yea, I suppose that's something to consider.  But as stated before, this model is more or less modelled after a landmark rather than being made as a standard bridge for most cities..   As far as how the cantilevered lanes will merge, whether onto a road or highway at the other end, I have not yet decided at this time -- which is why I'm working on Northern Approach (the tunnel entrance) first.

More progress update..

Concrete barrier/median installation has been started:

How the above looks like in real-life (picture copyright: Mass. Turnpike Authority)

How the current setup looks like in low quality preview, still a lot of work left to do!

[hamsterTK 93]

hold up, your not batting the construction stuff are you? its fine if you do i guess...

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: hamsterTK hold up, your not batting the construction stuff are you? its fine if you do i guess...quote>

No, the above real-life picture is old, taken in spring of 2005, basically last year.  They could not open the cantilevered lanes until the late spring of last year, because they had to get rid of the old elevated viaduct stuff out of the way first.

The completed model won't have any construction stuff on it, it will be modelled after the completed setup they have as of today.

[blahdy 21]

Completing the norther approach's bridge terminus, where the deck hands off to the ground.

The other side:

How the whole thing looks like right now as is, in preview, looking from north:

How the thing looks like in real-life:

As you can see in the real-life picture, all the neighborhood to the right side of the I-93 construction area is poor/ghetto.

The construction area in the middle is where the new underground highway runs beneath the construction zone, and old 1950's built via-duct used to stand.  The old via-duct is now completely removed.  The land parcels where the via-duct used to stand are being reconstructed in mix of lxury condos/real-estate developments, museums and beautiful parks.  Construction for these parks and artistic amenities are planned to be completed by 2007, which will then be the official completion date of all works related to Big Dig (although all highway segments were completed in Jan 2006), after over a decade of construction.

Anyway, the reason why the neighborhood to the right of the underground highway is so ghetto is because when they built the old elevated via-duct in early 50's, it effectively cut off the Boston's waterfront from rest of the city, with poor highway architectural designs and lack of technology at the time.  Several major streets that linked the waterfront to rest of the city were severed due to the via-duct being built in 50s.  But, with the new underground highway system, and parks being built on the land where the via-duct used to be, the waterfront is getting reunited with the city for the first time in some 40-50 years.  Hopefully the ghetto buildings will start getting demolished and new developments will start in a few years..

[Madhollander 0]

I just love these 2 pics

http://216.93.240.36/~blahdy/stex/big-dig-tunnel-portal/zakim92.jpg

http://216.93.240.36/~blahdy/stex/big-dig-tunnel-portal/zakim103.jpg

Great work, looks F-ing Brilliant !

[simzebu 20]

About how many tiles of water will the bridge be able to cross? Will the land on the shores need to be at a certain height for the bridge to work properly?

[lrfox 2]

This looks awesome still. keep it up.

[blahdy 21]

Thanks all

simzebu:  It will be 5 tiles of water, when completed as planned (the real Zakim bridge is actually very short (although world's widest), where the section of Charles river it crosses is more like a canal than anything else with a channel lock right next to it).

The total length will be between 25 to 30 tiles long, and about 3 tiles wide.

Update:  45% Completed!

As we mark the 45% completion, cabling on the bridge is now fully completed in both approach areas.  Northern approach (tunnel transition) is taking shape and about 60% completed.  Elevated highway transition approach is not yet started.

Cabling work is completed.  Night lights are installed on the other side of the bridge, and cables are carefully repositioned to terminate to the proper areas in the light hole.

The Leverrett Connector on-ramp is now completed, which means the tunneled transition area is now 60% completed.

Low quality previews of the current state as we stand at 45% completion:

[Mothas 2]

VERY VERY VERRY VERY BEAUTIFUL ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Can we yet download your job ??

One more time : VERY GREAT GREAT JOB !

[WeirdOne 0]

Hello blahdy,

I want to say your work is amazing, but I have a few questions as to the functionality of the lot.

a) Will you be using "custom pathways" to make the onramp, and the side I-93 (?) connection actually work as transit pieces (not just the main center highway portion of the bridge).

b) If yes to the above, how will the I-93 (?) side connection flow into the "regular elevated highway" and function. Will we need to attach a special "connector" piece, or will the connection be modelled in your model?

c) Since the tunnel entrance looks wider than a regular highway, will the I-93 (?) connection be a separate entrance? What I'm probably getting as is, will the total size contain "3 subway" connections, as I believe that was the original intention, or will it still contain two and somehow be...condensed to fit the standard lot.

d) Finally, how will the onramp function? Will it too be a subway connector? Will it have "custom pathways", etc?

Sorry for the barrage of questions (hope they made sense), but looking at the *highly unique* lot you're creating, I just wanted to make sure these things were planned out so you didn't run into kinks later on. I look forward to a reply.

And once again, because it bears repeating. EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT work that is most highly impressive.

[ILL Tonkso 1,239]

Fantastic Work, oh you asked for Birminhams version..

Heres the Queensway

(slightly useless that one)

Going underground again on the Aston Expressway,

I hope these are anyway usefull The real things, as with Boston help the cityscape of Birmingham a lot, being the UKs second city and over twice the size of Boston there is a lot of traffic.

[chatbat1 1]

Is this project going to have any underground transitions? For example can we go from one highway to another under the ground?

[aldara6166 109]

Originally posted by: chatbat1 Is this project going to have any underground transitions? For example can we go from one highway to another under the ground?quote>

 

Since the underground road portions will have to be done as subways, theoretically the user can create as many underground transitions as they wish...basically, to make the lots work in-game as they would in real life...that is to allow traffic to drive from above ground to underground and back again...the lots are basically nothing more than fancy road to subway conversions...that is the only "known" way to get traffic to drive underground at this point in the game...

Hope that helps...wasn't trying to step on your toes by answering Blahdy... 

[simzebu 20]

Originally posted by: chatbat1 Is this project going to have any underground transitions? For example can we go from one highway to another under the ground?quote>

If you mean in the U-Drive-It mode, I am pretty sure you can't. But the traffic and commuters will go underground.

[chatbat1 1]

Can you tell me if thier will be an underground Highway to highway transition? How far off in the future are we looking before the average sim caan use these highways?

I will have to say the project looks great and just may help with easing congestion.

oppse looks like my other post made it on by accident sorry.

[blahdy 21]

Hi all,

Ill Tonkso:  Thanks for the pics.. unfortunately it seems the ones they have in Birmingham are quite old ;P  But, the signs in your pics are quite useful for localization purposes in the future, thanks!!  I may also color the wall panels inside the tunnel differently to match that of the UK/Birmingham version (instead of two stripes of red, do what's in your pics)

Other than that, the overal structure design of tunnel entrances (the tunnel 'boat' section), the concrete barriers, etc the whole design for the Big Dig was done by Bechtel and Parsons Brinkerhoff, basically the largest construction firms based in US.   Since these two companies do a lot work around the US and abroad, they use similar designs in many locations -- so it makes sense to use the same design here and just localize the signs, etc to match that of UK version I think.

If you are into studying architectural designs for hobby, you can quickly see that normal highway construction style by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (formerly MA Dept. of Highways) in rural areas and work by Bechtel/BP are quite different -- which makes the downtown Boston section of I-93 quite different in theme/style than that of the rest of the state.

(MA state does msot of the design for smaller projects throughout the state, such as the Route 3 widening project between 2001-2004, then hires contractors like Aggregate Industries to do the work/mgmt.  In case of Big Dig, the work was so significant that they had to hire consultants, Bechtel/BP to do the whole thing from scratch, including all design work)

WeirdOne: Currently, I'm guessing there will be three subway connectors on the lot, depending on whether it is possible to do so in modding (if not, we can improvise then as appropriate).  If it is possible to mod that way, we'd have one subway connector for Leverrett Circle on-ramp and we'll have two for I-93 South and I-93 North lanes.

The two cantlilevered lanes that sit right next to the bridge deck in real-life merges into the main I-93 highway up in Charlestown area after it transitions into a double-decker elevated highway.  But for Simcity purposes, because there are no double-deckers in the game, I'll have to go renegade from realism for this part.  I'll probably have the cantilevered lanes come down as an off-ramp connecting to a street.

aldara6166: no problem man   Some of the questions asked here can be answered simply by reading this thread from beginning, so I don't mind people answering others questions as it saves me the hassle

[blahdy 21]

New update

1. Ground-breaking of the elevated-highway transition/approach sector, as cabling work throughout the bridge has been completed.  This section of the bridge will be modelled after my own imagination, because the real world Zakim bridge transitions into a double-decker via-duct, which SimCity4 lacks.  Thus, I'll go creative and plan out a nice way to transition into Maxis elevated highway.  Stay tuned for more ;P

2. Sign-posts and light poles going up as the work in tunnel transition approach is continuing.

And, stay tuned for the first HIGH QUALITY gmax preview of the current work in progress!  Unfortunately, this is going to take a long time to render

[hamsterTK 93]

man, your really going fast with this project. That thing looks really awesome too. and having some uk signs on here could be really cool

[blahdy 21]

Thanks ;-)

Okay, here is the first high quality preview (took 4 hours to render at current poly setup).

And east-side view for the first time -- this one is low quality preview.

[blahdy 21]

And here is the MASTER PLAN that outlines how this bridge BAT is going to be completed, with Scheme D representing the transition to Maxis elevated highway.

[buddybud 63]

this looks fantastic.........

im wondering...it would be nice if some on-off ramps>subway for highways could be included.

that way you could easily connect an above ground highway to a below ground one. (connect to the subway really).....that would allow for some pretty creative networks.

[blahdy 21]

Thanks buddybud!

May be for future version add-ons, that's something I can come up with. As you can see though, the Zakim bridge is the first attempt at on-highway off/on-ramp like you described (the Leverette Circle connector on-ramp). I'm thinking of though, for future versions, probably making my own complete interchange that makes use of both tunneled transitions and elevated/ground highways (just like the south bay/fort point interchange in Boston).

[WeirdOne 0]

Hey blahdy,

Thanks for the response. Just for consideration, have you though about making the end piece of the bridge modular instead of strickly transitionioning into an elevated highway. Potentially for "release 2", you might consider a modular end piece, say, one for elevated (already being worked on), one for ground, another potentially for a sunken highway, and maybe even another underground transition. Just curious if you've thought about those options.

Again, great work. I saw the "Scheme D" and it really cleared things up for me earlier. I really have to say your work is inspiring. Can I ask what program you are working with? It might even motivate me enough to pick up modeling myself.

[ILL Tonkso 1,239]

Gotcha, if you need any help with the LHD UK version just let me know and i will gladly provide any additional material needed

[JBSimio 152]

Every time I look at this, I can't decide if I should be just be amazed or be amazed and feel like crap all at once!  This is just ungodly the amount of work you've put into this so far.  I can't believe how real that looks.  Great work!

JB

ps... why do we all call it work when it's something most of us do for fun?

[blahdy 21]

Thanks all for the kind comments

WeirdOne: I may consider it in the future.  Only problem is that the entire bridge's decks are tilted from north to south in a uniform angle of descent.. (same case for the real bridge as well)   This makes the south side very easy to plug into a tunnel entrance, as it sinks underground, while it's easy to plug an elevated via-duct at the north side.   To do ground HW, sunken HW or another underground transition at north side will require either (a) extend the length of the entire model to facilitate smooth transition, this means the BAT may get as long as 40 tiles long (woah!), or (b) redo the entire bridge to aim for the right angle of descent at the north end.

But! I'm not saying no to your request, it's worth considering and I'll put some thought into it later on.  Thanks!

Okay the implementation of Scheme D has begun:

Low quality preview:

[6459978. 106]

The modelling on this is great! But I don't understand the end premise... is this going to be a transit puzzle piece of some sort? or just eye candy? and what does the tunnel entrance connect to?...

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: 6459978. The modelling on this is great! But I don't understand the end premise... is this going to be a transit puzzle piece of some sort? or just eye candy? and what does the tunnel entrance connect to?...quote>

Thanks!

I hate to sound like an ass, but I'm going to have to politely ask you to try reading through the whole thread or visit NDEX Freeway Transition project thread.  It's fully explained in both threads, and only reason why I'm saying this is because so many people ask this very same question

[hamsterTK 93]

6459978:to keep it short, its a highway->subway converter. as long as you dont connect or cross  transit subway lines with the subway lines connecting freeways it will function as a underground freeway. Trucks wont work(i think) but who has trucks in their city center anyways?