Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Big Dig)

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: bwatterud

Originally posted by: rodent1989 I have a question about the real bigdig though.  After they finish all these tunnels and such, what happens to the old highways?  what are they going to put in all that space?quote>

As I understand it, they turned the area where the highway was into a big ol' park.quote>

Yup, take a look at this picture, it was taken just last month by a flickr.com user.

http://216.93.240.36/~blahdy/stex/big-dig-tunnel-portal/avenue/257450704_f59db14123_o.jpg

See the park construction areas there?  That's where the old elevated highway used to stand, and right beneath the park construction is where tunneled highway runs.

It's very difficult to build big buildings on top of where tunnels are, b/c these tunnels are not TBM based bore drill construction tunnels, where tunnel structure is stabilized by naturally solid mountaneous rocks.  These tunnels are constructed using slurry walls, then used "cut and cover" style method of artificially constructing roof on top of them using H-beams and concrete pours.  So building a big building on top of it would be not a good idea.

There is a proposal to build some mid-sized buildings as part of the park system (community center and museums, etc), but they are to be built on top of the on-ramps and off-ramps, using the ramp's concrete superstructure to spread the gravity load delivered by building's core structure.  And even that, 60%+ of the multi-million building construction cost is to build a strong foundation and load distribution core for building it on top of the ramps/tunnels.  I honestly think it's total waste of taxpayer money (then again, the whole big dig was a waste ) and I'm against it myself.  May be Ted Kennedy ought to pay for the park system project given that his family name is being placed on it hahah

[nycsc4 5,250]

this is amazing!!! I love it and can't wait for those signs!!

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: nycsc4 this is amazing!!! I love it and can't wait for those signs!!quote>

The signs are already released for beta testers, which you are part of.  Again, check your private forums list, and you should have the beta release thread for Boston Central Artery/Tunnel in there.

[nycsc4 5,250]

Originally posted by: blahdy

Originally posted by: nycsc4 this is amazing!!! I love it and can't wait for those signs!!quote>

The signs are already released for beta testers, which you are part of.  Again, check your private forums list, and you should have the beta release thread for Boston Central Artery/Tunnel in there.quote>

 

you are right!  thanks!  I am on my way to testing them now!!!

[bwatterud 7]

Whatever happened to this ramp?

I remembered it from a while back, and am just wondering if it's going to be released.

[tommiej 0]

bwatterud, you right, blahdy what happend with it?? because this is one nice ramp!! compared with your latest ramp, you've got a lot of work on this ramp... keep it up Blahdy,

[rodent1989 9]

since you changed the texture on the new ramps, will you be re-releasing version one with the new texture?  You're definitely right, the original concrete is well...bright.

[Menotyou 0]

Amazing Work!

[nycsc4 5,250]

great job, and the ramps look great in my cities! but i too would like to know what happened to that ramp that was mentioned above.

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

Could I also become a beta tester? I love all of your and Swamper's work!

[tommiej 0]

how is the zakim bridge blahdy?? i'm just curious, because i just looked over some of the older pages, including the ones with the zakim bridge!! you can do a much smoother transfer from bridge to highway, like you did on the 2.0 ramps, keep it up!!

[wgb24 20]

i would like to know if i could  be a beta tester

[Du Peixoto Rbd 0]

Originally posted by: blahdy owenluby: i'll work on adding you when i get the chance

Beta testers: the first beta release is out, check your Private Topics forum.

The Pakkusena International Airport continues its tradition of being the first to beta test BLP products & services   Pictures below.

quote>

Perfect!!! This is... Very nice! PERFECT!!!

[tommiej 0]

truly amazing work, I would love to have the ramps and buildings in my city!! great awesome work blahdy!! keep it up

[Haljackey 17,398]

Wow, great work!

The asphalt/concrete transition looks a little compacted though, however it is better than not having any transition at all. Any way that this can be a more gradual transition, such as one tile long unlike the half-tile length we see in these photos? Just a comment... will be testing the lots myself as soon as I figure out why they are not appearing on my menu in-game.

[Meastro444 1]

please do not quote pictures. your statement is true btw.

Meastro444

[blahdy 21]

bwattertud:  It's 65% done, it will be completed later on as time permits.  I need to consult with modding first since vehicles will not be visible over overhanging portion of the lot.

rodent1989: unfortunately, Big Dig 1.0 will be officially declared EOL (End of Life)/Deprecated when 2.0 is out.  The new 4-tiles long straight on-ramp, which is already released to beta testers should prove to be a good replacement for big dig 1.0 on-ramps.

tommiej:  Zakim Bridge will be completed later on as time permits, a significant portion of the model will have to be redone to conform to 2.0 standards with respect to texture UVW mappings and to cut down the grotesque number of polygons in that model.  But it's still on todo list, not dropped off the list

haljackey:  I think they look fine the way it is now, but some RL ramps do have asphalt transition that extrudes longer into the ramp.  When I model those ramps, they will also have gradual asphalt transition as well, so i think you will like those.

And.. a new ramp in the making...

This is the I-93 NB (northbound) on-ramp in Essex Street at Chinatown-Financial District border area.  This on-ramp was originally built in late 50's & early 60's as part of the Dewey Square tunnel project back when the original central artery highway was built.  It was heavily renovated during the Big Dig and re-opened in 2005 with new concrete coating and a refurbished structure.

The model is currently 40% complete, texturing is not completed yet either, but here is how it looks at the time being.  Note the significantly older design in tunnel boat structure (walls, etc).

And utilities / inner-tunnel is completed.  The height of the tunnel is pretty low because it was originally built back in 60's.  Because of the older design, utilities, such as electrical+fiber optics runs for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and water for fire hose, etc are mounted on along the wall, where as modern on-ramps (i.e. Atlantic Ave. on-ramp) have them run inside the structure.

[tommiej 0]

good to hear!! great work one again blahdy, you're right about the amount of polygons, what was 1 million + or something!?

detailing is already awesome!! keep it up

[ICFan 0]

BW Blahdy!

[XDesign_Team 49]

This is incredible work you done... I think the pylon need more details.

[1dera3 29]

Wow, that looks excellent! BTW, I love the camera angle in the first pic. Keep it up!

[crazychickensc12 84]

wonderful moddeling blahdy!! these are looking really really really nice!! keep it up big dig duo!!!

[nycsc4 5,250]

great work, they look amazing!!! but in the beta release-when i connect a one way road to the ramp the road deck disappears totally. any ideas as to why this is happening?

[Swamper77 90]

NYC,

After dragging the oneway road into the tunnel entrance, switch to an underground view (pipes or subway). Then exit the underground view and the roadway should reappear. The same issue affects the Maxis Elevated Rail/Subway transfer lot.

-Swamper77

[Menotyou 0]

Wow that is fantastic!

[nycsc4 5,250]

Originally posted by: Swamper77 NYC,

After dragging the oneway road into the tunnel entrance, switch to an underground view (pipes or subway). Then exit the underground view and the roadway should reappear. The same issue affects the Maxis Elevated Rail/Subway transfer lot.

-Swamper77quote>

 

thanks that really worked!!

[MiniMark 7]

I havent been here in awhile, and offer more encouraging words. blahdy without the Boston Big Dig i probably would of stopped playing SC4 a long time ago. keep up the great work

edit: had to fix the spelling of his username

[jj88 24]

Looking good!

[Palpatine001 57]

Great work Blahdy keep it up, am waiting for 2.0

Seems I just spent most of my evening reconfiguring 1.0 to accept buses, now my commute times have really been shaved in 1/2 from 90mins to 45mins in a city of 467,000 sims.

Anyhow Im sure 2.0 will be even a greater addition to my transportation nightmare in Solaria. Now excuse me while I go and spend a million bucks fixing up my crap motorway network.

[blahdy 21]

sorry all for lack of updates lately, been quite hectic as usual.

We will provide some updates in a week or two as we work on the modding aspects on Atlantic Avenue on-ramp to bring that into the game.  It's slow, but just wanted to communicate and keep you all informed that the project is far from abandoned