Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Big Dig)

[blahdy 21]

just wanted to quickly stop by and thank everyone who commented and discussed regarding mass transit issue on this thread   I've been pretty busy this week with RL (installing & bringing up new servers at the datacenter...), but i'll probably do some more gmax stuff this weekend (going off for mtn. hiking on sunday though)

With regards to the mass transit problem, I agree that it's a problem where R$$ favors it only..

My humbe position on this MT issue is that it's not really a issue because:

In real-world, building a tunnel system to move traffic is really one of the unorthodox ideas out there -- you can already tell the RL Big Dig itself was controversial since 1982 before it even started having rising cost and shoddy construction issues.  The cost and heavy maintenance environment of maintaining a tunnel system makes it really difficult to expand in the future (well, elevated highway or ground highway is already difficult in urban setting, but tunnel makes it even worse i think) to the point that you have to really spend a lot of time doing an excellent urban planning to make sure that what you are buying is going to do something to return some of your investment.

In Boston, one of the real key elements of urban design associated with the Big Dig in the early stages was that they were going to build a park-filled greenway above the tunnel system, basically an avenue with parks in between, in the areas where the old elevated highway once stood.  And at the same time, there will be only ~2-3 max. on-ramps and off-ramps throughout the downtown for the new tunnels, and there will be feeder ramps ahead of the tunnel system entrances in Zakim bridge interchange at Charlestown as well as in the South Bay Interchange.

The goal of the above realistic urban planning in the RL version of the Big Dig is to force it so that a lot of intra-city traffic will not use the tunnels, but rather the surface roads like the new greenway to alleviate traffic capacity requirements.  Where as, much of transit traffic through the downtown (thru traffic) would use the tunnels.  So it is important for people to understand that the real world Big Dig did not 100% replace the surface traffic into underground -- it only split that in two for easier urban traffic management.

So in terms of realistic urban planning design, I would build both the Big Dig tunnel and also have surface roads available for people to use just like in the real-world and try not to put the big dig tunnels everywhere, as that's just unrealistic.  This way the effect you would have is probably realistic, even if mostly R$$ sims are the ones preferring the tunnel system.

As for cross-harbor tunnels, I've come to realization that big dig lots are one of the worst systems to use for crossing water for reasons people described above and based on my own testing.  I think what is probably going to happen is I will need to work on an overhanging lot that will change the SC4 ground highway tunnel portal so it looks a lot realistic while functioning as a true tunnel without subway involved.  Buddybud already accomplished this with his great Under Bridge Scenery lots and I'll have some ideas put together to do the same with the Big Dig using one of the realistic tunnel portals as design template in the near future.

[Sim shady 12]

someone figured out how to modify the tunel entrances in the game (arcidilla maybe?) maybe you could find that thread and find out how to do that yourself. anyways like how the project is coming.

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: Sim shady someone figured out how to modify the tunel entrances in the game (arcidilla maybe?) maybe you could find that thread and find out how to do that yourself. anyways like how the project is coming.quote>

Yea, but doing so changes the default tunnel entrance for every tunnels if I recall correctly.

I personally like Maxis tunnel portals, I just find them unrealistic for some applications such as harbor tunnels, but quite realistic for some other applications.  So I prefer the overhanging lots for people to specifically use in locations they need rather than changing the default tunnel entrance..

[Sim shady 12]

ahh, i didn't realize that every tunnel entrance would be changed. well then, i agree with you that an overhanging prop such as buddybud's style would be your best option. good luck on that! i certainly look forwards to seeing progress on it

EDIT: there we go, HamsterTK found the tunnel project i mentioned.

[Andreas Roth 629]

@blahdy: Your description of the actual situation in Boston is pretty much the same of what I have seen in my setup (I posted some pictures a few pages ago). The Tunnels are used by a large amount of through transit traffic, but the ramps aren't used that much, since the way using the off-ramp before the tunnel entrance and then using the surface roads is faster in most cases. The Boston Big Dig is pretty much the equivalent of a bypass road, but right through the city center.

On another note, the idea with those overhanging props that could cover the in-game tunnel portals sounds like a nice concept indeed. I also like the Maxis ones, but you're right, they look out of place when you use them for an underwater tunnel, for instance. That's why I really love Marrast's underpasses, they are basically the same as your Big Dig tunnel entrances, visually speaking - and therefore, extremely realistic.

[hamsterTK 93]

I personally like Maxis tunnel portals, I just find them unrealistic for some applications such as harbor tunnels, but quite realistic for some other applications.  So I prefer the overhanging lots for people to specifically use in locations they need rather than changing the default tunnel entrance..quote>

actually goaskin found a trick where you could have as many different entrances as you want, you would just swap out a file that told the game what kind of entrance to put in every time you build a tunnel. all the entrances are stored in another place so even when the file that tells what kind to build is gone the portals stay. It worked perfectly, the only concern was that users would not understand it and it would be a constant source of grief for the help squad/mods

errggh that reminds me i actually batted an entrance for him but never gave him the fixed version with nightlights.... well its on my laptop which isnt working right now due to a dead power brick

[blahdy 21]

btw.... sorry for being such a lazy ass   but could someone quickly get me a texture for one-way road tile ?

[Swamper77 90]

Here you go, 1 Oneway Road straight section in BMP form.

-Swamper77

OWStraight.zip

[Dr. Neitchskrimfrauwnmoya 7]

Hey blahdy, like everyone else said, your work is incredible and really appreciated.

However, concerning your lane painting, there is something that seems wrong. All the lines are painted white, but usually (in Canada at least, I don't know if it's the same in the US), the line on the left side of the road (ie: on the driver side) is painted yellow. Nobody else seems to have notice that, so maybe lines are all white in the US, excuse me if it's the case. The same error (if it's an error) was present in your 1.0 lots.

Here is an image showing what I means, look at the yellow line on the left (sorry for the big crack in my windshield lol).

[blahdy 21]

Thanks Swamper77!  That helps a lot

Dr. Neitch:  The reason why real-world Big Dig and this version of Big Dig ramp lots don't have yellow painted lane at the far left corner is because they do not form a median barrier against traffic going another direction once they emerge into the ground;  rather, they merge into existing forward traffic as regular highway ramps do.  And in at least MA DOT codes, all merging lanes in forward direction must be painted in uniform white, and yellow should only be used on lanes depicting barrier from traffic going against your direction.

Hope this helps!

Beginning the formation of feeder road's on-ramp.. sign is placed first to preposition where other stuff will need to go.  This is very preliminery and will take a while to shape up:

[Sim shady 12]

nice job. i like it. are the lanes widening out? either way, looks fantastic.

[blahdy 21]

sim shady: not sure what you mean by widening out?

In order to meet people's anticipations, Big Dig 2.0 lots will be released in part-by-part approach, instead of being released in a pack.  The curved off-ramps and on-ramps will be the first lots to be released soon.

Basic preliminery LOD'ing work for the black curved on-ramp model (below) is almost finished.  As soon as that is done, it will be handed over to a modder (most likely Swamper77) for integration into SC4

[TinySim 4]

Looking good great

Also, page 36!

[Sim shady 12]

rejoice! you will be releasing peice by peice! that sounds great. back to the last picture, i was trying to say...ugh lol can't really describe...lol nvm then.

[buddybud 63]

this is some amazing stuff here

im drooling...really...spit all over the place.

please kindly refrain from posting freaking amazing pictures, do to the fact i cant afford yet another keyboard.

cant wait to see those curved bits ingame....

cheers

[buddybud 63]

double post due to excessive drool...really

[UnkleS27 24]

that looks incredible, you are doing fantastic work

[Alfred.Jones 2]

That looks really good blahdy!

[Dexter 41]

This system looks great!

Do you plan on releasing a left hand drive verson of these? If not I will have to change to right drive .

Also, on the black gantry version, I thought black streetlight columns may match the signs better .

[nycsc4 5,250]

looks amazing, i can't wait to for these to come out.

[Meastro444 1]

looks awesome. best mod ever.

one question, does that model make a 90 degree turn, or will the rest of the turn 'below ground' ingame?

[ICFan 0]

Mouth Watering!

[Sabretooth78 808]

Ambitious project! Let's hope it doesn't cost you as much to complete this version as the real one did.

And use good materials, Sims don't much care for falling panels...

Excellent work.

[blahdy 21]

wow, thanks all for your great support while i was away for a bit enjoying the lovely RL

Answering specific questions..

Dexter: unfortunately, left hand version is not on the table.  However, ill tonkso is making British Queensway tunnel system which is lefthand-centric.  I believe he already has on/off-ramps released out in STEX.

Also regarding the gantries it's a bit of a long story heheh.   In the real-world big dig, when they initially started the highway project, they decided to use all-blue theme in Central Artery/Tunnel (which btw appears to be favorite color of Parsons Brinkerhoff for much of their highway projects involving sign-posts going up).  They use rounded circular shaped sign posts in highway interchange points, South Boston/Logan airport ramps that are all painted reflective blue with all-weather coating, and did the same with 90 degrees angled sign posts for ramps near the North End area of the city.  But for some reason they decided to use black colored 90 degrees angled sign posts in the Financial District/downtown area... not sure why... And they didn't bother to change the color of the street lights either, so you have blue street lights and black sign post gantries...  Seems inconsistent, but that's a fact of life here in Boston and I think it's fun to present the same case in-game as well

meastro: Thanks!; not sure what you mean by 'rest of turn below ground' though..

lol buddybud, thanks for the graphically detailed expression and your project is very amazing and inspiring also.   I'd like to make some real tunnel entrances soon (i.e. angled on-slope entrance, not subway-converter tunnel), and may be you can help me out in some modelling aspects there  

I hate to do it, but I'm going to have to post those pics one more time (yea i know it's probably getting boring by now, but people seem to love every little detail changes documented in pictures here)     I have now completed night lighting on all curved lots and made correction to black sign post gantry texture.  There are still a couple light "off-set" issues but I think they are minor enough to really ignore it for sc4 viewpoint, honestly...  But anyway, the new curved ramp lots as they are now 100% completed, ready to be modded are provided below, with some real world pics as well.

The three lots below are now in "Goldenmaster" stage, where they will no longer be worked on for modelling purposes with exception of last minute hot-fixes.  They will be finished with the LOD'ing and go straight to modders for in-game integration.

Black-Gantry On-Ramp:

Blue Gantry On-ramp:

Black gantry off-ramp: Modelled after the North End / Government Center Exit on I-93 Southbound.  Not precisely 100% accurate to real world counterpart, there are some fictional improvements, such as addition of curving arrow (the ">") signs and placement of street lights, etc.

[Alfred.Jones 2]

They look so good blahdy!! I cannot wait to use them!

[nycsc4 5,250]

i can't wait till these come out!! i am so excited!!

[____----____ 37]

Originally posted by: aleking i am quite interested to see what an ingame shot of these curved lots

is going to look like, are there going to be some kind of overhanging

props to fill in the inner curved portions, or will it be a standard square

box lot? and if so what will go in the open space?

anyways everything textures and model wise looks great

and i can't wait to give these a try in my cities.

Alekquote>

 

so what kind of lot are these curved pieces going to go on

will there be some type of overhanging prop pieces as fillers

I am just wondering how the curved nature will fit into the SC grid

[trainboy2004 0]

One question can you use these lot's for U-drive it missions and will AI use it?

[blahdy 21]

aleking:  The curved portion of the ramp will be overhanging lot, so there won't be a huge box of open space.   I'll need to speak with Swamper77 on this though prior to moving forward, regarding how much it affects the elements like pathing, etc.    In terms of connecting to the SC4 roads, it would look like this:

trainboy2004:  UDI doesn't work for subways unfortunately..

[Glenni 1,447]

Wow!!!Dude this is just simply awesome!