Nyhaven: Views From Within (AIN)

[GreekMan 246]

awesome work zack! keep it up!

[woodb3kmaster 342]

jacqulina: Thank you very much, Jacky!

TmiguelT: Thanks! Your apartment building sounds like a big one, but you're right to point out that Nyhaven's new high-rises can hold far more than 100 families. I have some more high-density development plans in the works, so I'm sure you'll see more of Bixel's outstanding BATs soon.

Chris (GreekMan): Thank you! I'll do my best to maintain my high quality. (In case you're wondering, I'm not clairvoyant; I stumbled across your introductory post over at the SCJU forums.)

---

Well, my classes started today, so today's update unfortunately marks the end of the weekly updates. After today, I'm going back to my old schedule of posting a full update every other week and a special on the odd Thursdays, and I'll likely stick to this schedule for the whole school year. Though I hate to make you all wait longer between updates, at least this slower pace will let me prolong Nyhaven's life - I currently have ideas for updates that will last through next May, and I'm sure new ideas will come to mind before then. Anyway, it's update time!

Life in the engineering department never slows down, or so it seems. I've almost always had a few different projects on my plate at once. The early 2400s were no different. As construction progressed on the Downtown Rail Loop and Route 203, I was hard at work on an extension to the Nyhaven MetroRail's Puget Line, which I had first built 30 years earlier:

The existing line was kind of short, and from the start, it had always ended at Midtown Junction. Now there was a growing number of Nyhaveners on the south bank of the Columbia River who were taking the Puget Line into town, and they were growing tired of having to change trains at Midtown Junction. With this in mind, I drew up plans for an extension of the line through downtown to Nyhaven Central Station.

At first, I had planned for the line to continue on an elevated guideway from the tracks it shared with the Port Line, cutting across Chinatown and running over the city streets. But one day, I opened up the latest issue of the Nyhaven Sentinel to read this:

I personally was on the side of the editorial board, but I knew I had to listen to the critics. Consigning my elevated plans to the trashcan, I redesigned the extension to run mostly underground. It would be expensive to build, but public opinion demanded it.

A few months later, in the spring of 2402, the city held a groundbreaking ceremony at Midtown Junction. This was merely a formality, since no construction would take place at that station.

The real start of construction took place further north, on the edge of Chinatown, where the Port Line's guideway turned to the west. My workers built a new set of tracks continuing to the north and diving underground.

Not far from the ramp leading underground, there was a subway station on Saint Mark's Line. I wanted the Puget Line to serve it, so the tunnels turned west to pass under the older Saint Mark's Line tunnels.

Before long, the tunnelers reached the Loop tunnels. This marked the end of new tunneling on the south side of downtown, since the Puget Line would be routed along the course of the Loop for several blocks to the north.

Tunneling resumed just north of the First Avenue/Broadway station, to take the line away from the Loop and into Central Station.

A year later, the tunnels reached Central Station. All that remained was to build new platforms in the station and run tests on the new rolling stock.

At last, when January of 2405 rolled around, the extension was ready for its debut. On opening day, stations along the eastern side of the Loop saw thousands more passengers pass through them than before. The line was a resounding success!

The MetroRail system now made more sense with the Puget Line crossing downtown. People in the southern suburbs could get to their jobs more efficiently, and they were thankful.

[TekindusT 3,809]

As usual, amazing job; I love these subway planning&building updates! I hope you have a good "back to school".

[ironicepitome 0]

wow

i like this

[Simbourgeois 139]

EDIT: Welcome to page 19!!!

Fantastic work on your transportation system! Looks very realistic

Keep up the great work, it's always such a pleasure to see your updates!

Best regards,

Simbourgeois

Mayor of Belleville

[game40k 0]

This one of the greatest CJs I've seen please keep going!

[TmiguelT 10]

Originally posted by: game40k

This one of the greatest CJs I've seen please keep going!quote>

Indeed ! ... that's why i'm a nyhavener for life ...

Great Transportation Map and what a bunch of bad people on the chinatown district. i know that they don't want to see their buildings destroy  but oh well. i knew you were gonna find a solution. Oh before i came here when i saw the tittle i was a little suspicious " Northern Connections" .... you might want to change that name i see gangs around here that somehow have a northern connection and i'm not talking about mass transit ....

Anyway back to the Update..  I see Awesome progress going around Nyhaven and i would love to see more and some possible Southern connections as well .... those gangs are gonna get me this time

[StanislavSoltys 47]

Truely the best I have ever read! Question, can I use your idea for a new CJ? and, where did you get your first city hall on page 1?

[Raysfan16 5]

Haha, the comments are turning from "Nice update" to "Zack is god, this is the best CJ ever!" No surprise, this has evolved into a truly inspiring journal. Don't worry, you'll have competition when I release mine.

I like your updates, and the Nyhaven Sentinel takes the cake for the first CJ newspaper I've actually read since Digby. Great job!

[woodb3kmaster 342]

TekindusT: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the last update. School has been keeping me busy, but I'm still working on Nyhaven, whenever I get the chance.

ironicepitome: Thanks for stopping by and posting! I'm glad you like what you see.

Simbourgeois: Thank you, my friend! I try to make my transportation updates as realistic as possible, so it's great to hear that I'm doing a good job.

game40k: Welcome to Nyhaven, and thanks for replying! Your compliments mean a lot to me. Rest assured, this CJ is going to keep going for quite some time!

TmiguelT: Thanks! I don't think the folks over in Chinatown were really all that bad - after all, they were just trying to protect their homes. Nevertheless, thanks for the sentiment. Don't worry about those gangs; the Nyhaven Police Department is very aggressive when it comes to organized crime. Come back soon, my friend!

StanislavSoltys: Wow, now that's high praise! Thank you very much! You're welcome to start a CJ with the same basic idea as Nyhaven, although I must warn you that writing a story takes longer than simply posting eyecandy pictures. My friend GreekMan found that out when he started his latest CJ, Cardiff, which was also based on the same general idea as Nyhaven. But if you have the time and the will to do it, go right ahead!

Raysfan16: Heh, I've definitely noticed that trend, believe me. Thanks, it's great to see that I'm inspiring people! I'm glad you're enjoying the Sentinel, and I look forward to seeing your CJ when you start it!

---

Well, this update is much later than I had originally intended it to be, but RL hit me hard when school started up again back in September. I just couldn't find the time to play SC4 while juggling classes and fraternity business (I'm my chapter's secretary this school year), and being one of the newest members of the International Simlympic Committee hasn't made things any easier. All the same, I'm pretty happy with everything I'm doing. But now, your long wait for the next update is over! Huzzah!

One Friday after work in 2403, I decided to visit a friend of mine who had just moved into a new condo on Tenasillahe Island, not far from the town of Barrington. To get there from City Hall, I had to cross the river via the Tenth Street Bridge, downtown's closest road connection to the island. Let me tell you, traffic was horrendous! I had the misfortune of trying to cross the bridge during the evening rush hour, and it must've taken half an hour to go a measly mile. I couldn't stand the thought of my friend and his neighbors having to sit through all that traffic twice each weekday, so the week after that visit, I started looking into just how congested that bridge really was.

When one of my junior engineers handed me the report, I was astonished. The bridge was regularly packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic at more than triple its original capacity! It was clear to me that downtown needed a new bridge over the Columbia as soon as it could get one. But what major street could I extend across the river? Main Street was out, since the popular waterfront village was centered on its western end. Fifth Street had a ferry terminal blocking any potential extension, and anyway, it was too close to the existing bridge. That left Broadway as the sole contender for extension.

Having settled on a road to extend, I began to study the sites of the bridge's future ends. Broadway itself ended at the waterfront, with the historic Broadway Pier jutting out into the river along the bridge's future path.

Across the river, on the shore of Tenasillahe Island, there was a ferry terminal just to the north of where the bridge would reach dry land, with its access road running in the way of any potential extension of Broadway onto the island.

With all this information in mind, I started drawing up the plans for the bridge. I planned to reroute the ferry port's access road further to the north and tear down the pier at the old end of Broadway, since the bridge's easternmost tower would need to be built on the pier's site. I didn't think this would be a very big deal to the citizens, but boy, was I wrong. Within weeks of unveiling the preliminary engineering to the public in December, I opened up one issue of the Nyhaven Sentinel to see this article on the front page:

I was shocked. The Historical Society actually filed an injunction against the city?! Clearly the old pier was near and dear to some people's hearts. When the Wahkiakum County Superior Court heard the society's case, I made it clear to the judge that the city would not tear down the pier without rebuilding it elsewhere. Once I had agreed to rebuild the pier one block to the north, safely out of the bridge's path, the injunction was lifted and the project began in earnest.

First of all, the bridge's future endpoints had to be prepared, and that meant clearing the old pavement from the sites and building approach ramps. First off, the westernmost block of Broadway was torn up...

...and that ferry port's access road began to be rerouted. At the same time, work began on the roundabout at Broadway's future western end on the island.

By August of 2404, the roundabout and western approach ramp were finished; the eastern ramp was completed not long after that.

At the same time, another contractor got to work on rebuilding the Broadway Pier just north of the bridge site, at the end of Moore Street.

After only a year, the pier was opened to the public as New Broadway Pier. It may not have been an exact replica, but most people didn't seem to notice. All that mattered was that the downtown waterfront once again had a signature pier, complete with a restaurant at its end. We had done a good job so far.

As the spring of 2405 turned into summer, the towers of the bridge rose out of the river, and the cables started getting installed. It wasn't long before the first sections of road deck were floated into place.

Further west, the story was pretty much the same. The towers were completed in mid-2405, and all the cables were in place by April 2406.

In September of 2406, the Broadway Bridge was finally opened to traffic. Many residents of the western suburbs and Barrington enthusiastically adopted the new bridge as their new route into downtown. Within a year, traffic on both bridges was close to capacity. Another successful project was complete!

[Raysfan16 5]

Geez, Zack. We've been waiting. You have been very rude.

Haha, jk. It's always a welcoming sight to see a Nyhaven update, and this is no exception. You should get some FLUP-age done on the road that was torn down to make way for the bridge though. Glad to see the preservationists sorta got what they wanted. A realistic compromise-every side is unhappy.

[TmiguelT 10]

I'm speechless . Let me start writing my comments on a 2 person perspective.

First as a Nyhavener: Bravo, bravo and bravo. What a great visionary we have working on our town. i knew that the pier would originate some problems. After i saw the public announcement of the project, some of my friends and i were upset with your first draft, i mean, how can you destroy a pier that it has so many memories of the past and memories of my teenage years? This was just unacceptable, but you came with a new plan and everything change for the greater . We are truly graceful that you are here in the city, and put this very well plans in action. Now i don't have to take the bridge of 10th Street anymore but the one of Broadway. This Bridge has also a excellent view at night time because we can look down and see the pier in all its majestic. Thank you once again .

Second as a Viewer: Oh man, you really pull than one off pretty good. This update was just jaw dropping. There was even a Court case, i mean, Nyhaven's Historical Society? that was out of the normal. Hopefully they didn't bring the ONU or even better the Committee of the League of Nations LOL ..... that pier sure mean something for the Nyhaveners ....

Ps. Don't worry if you can do some fast updates, we all know that when RL is hitting you hard you must relax and grab that bull from its horn. I'll be looking forward to the next update, but don't worry i can wait 6 months

[Schulmanator 5,793]

Another well-done update. I must say that I do enjoy the level of detail and organization you have. I look forward to your next one.

[Larks2242 251]

Great city, wow 6664 drivers that must be one busy bridge!

[GreekMan 246]

WOW! Splendid update! man nyhaveners getr really uptight over all kinds of demolitions!

"No don't destroy City Hall! We hate you! ARRRR Sue you!"

Nyhaven gets better!

[Mayorm 14]

great update woodb3kmaster, I've been waiting for an update on this.

[chrissc94 1]

I'm glad they got the new bridge and kept the pier. This is a very realistic approach with litigation and gradual planning & construction, great job! If every update is like this, I don't mind waiting.

[woodb3kmaster 342]

Raysfan16: Heh, good point about that compromise. I'm sure you're right about every side in the pier dispute being less than completely satisfied. Thanks as well for suggesting adding a FLUP tunnel to the road along the downtown waterfront - I'll see if that'll work, considering that the puzzle pieces would have to sit on some fairly uneven terrain. I wouldn't want to mess up the bridge ramp, after all. Thank you for your kind words!

TmiguelT: Thanks, my friend! I'm glad we were able to work out a deal concerning the pier; I wouldn't want to deprive you of a place where you have so many fond memories. The injunction was certainly the most litigation I've come up with in this CJ so far; I'm glad you liked reading about it. Thank you as well for your reassurances that the frequency of my updates is less important to you than their quality. That's really what matters more to me, too - I don't want to rush through things and present you with a substandard update just to stay on schedule. Thank for understanding!

Schulmanator: Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your kind words.

Larks2242: Thanks! Yes, the 10th Street Bridge was certainly busy before the new bridge was built.

GreekMan: Thank you very much, Chris! Yes, it seems that Nyhaveners are a tough bunch to please - at any rate, the Historical Society certainly gets uppity whenever the city tries to do something big.

Mayorm: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the update, and that the wait wasn't too long for you.

chrissc94: Welcome to Nyhaven, and thank you for your kind words! Yes, as much as we may dislike it, litigation is part of everyday life, especially when you're a city planner. Tough decisions like this one abound. Come back soon!

---

Thursday may just barely have started here in LA, but it's going to be a busy day for me. My fraternity is hosting its annual pre-Thanksgiving dinner tonight, so once class is over, I'll need to help set up the last remaining decorations and seating. We expect about 300 people to show up, so we need as much extra seating as we can afford!

Today, I took advantage of the holiday and consequent break from classes to redesign Kendall's Royal Mall, the park that connects the headquarters of each branch of Lower Columbian government. I based my design on the real National Mall in Washington, DC, replacing Pegasus's paths with BSC paths and adding CP's latest seasonal trees to the Mall. I also used a different, BSC parks-compliant lot for the fountain in front of the Parliament building, although it's still ardecila's Buckingham Fountain. In addition, I replaced the San Francisco City Hall which had been the Parlimant house with yoder7652's Osturland Great Hall, on a custom lot.

In the center of the Mall, where the two axes of the park cross, I added a circle of 12 Lower Columbian flags, made by my fellow League of Nations member Joelyboy, one for each of the kingdom's 12 states.

That does it for this week's specials. I'll post a couple more shots of this renovation after Update 35. Stay tuned!

[TmiguelT 10]

Great work on the Kinda slope park ... That's a nice touch to the city

[TekindusT 3,809]

Your bridge update has been amazing, I love how you've connected the two cities with the artificial island! Now, I just can't wait to see the new Kendall mall, it's a little boring now but I'm sure you'll do a great job with it!

[Muck308 55]

The mall looks awesome. Very crisp and uncluttered. The mosaic as a whole is very nice actually.

[Raysfan16 5]

Whoa! I haven't seen that area before. Very nice, I love the area's tranquility around the bustling city. Too bad the avenues facilitate speedy traffic. It would make me feel kinda uncomfortable. But seriously, I am really impressed with everything in that mosaic.

[Mayorm 14]

great update woodb3kmaster, I agree with Raysfan, I love how the park is in the middle of the city.

[GreekMan 246]

cool work! looking forward to more. sadly you have a massive problem with the same buildings. you should take care of it pronto!

[Larks2242 251]

Great update, It's cool how you have so much open area for the sims great job on your city

Larks

[hmm 17]

Wow... This city's awesomeness is just overwhelming...  

[bluemoose 223]

awesome work with the mall, very remenicent of the DC Mall!!!!

[Petrovar Ambassador 15]

nice mosaic wood!

[StanislavSoltys 47]

Thanks for letting me use the same idea for a CJ, sorry replyed late, just that I almot forgot abou this, until now.

[woodb3kmaster 342]

TmiguelT: Thanks! The Royal Mall has actually been part of Kendall from the beginning, but it wasn't until recently that I decided to make it look more like the real National Mall in DC. I'm glad you like it!

TekindusT: Thank you! The version of the Royal Mall I have shown you is actually what it looks like after my modifications. If you think it's a bit dull now, what would you suggest to liven it up?

Muck308: Thanks! I'm glad you like my improvements. I also appreciate your kind words about the mosaic - notice anything special about it?

Raysfan16: Thank you! The park certainly does make for a nice peaceful place in the midst of a busy city, as you said. I'm happy you like the mosaic, as well.

Mayorm: Thanks, Mayorm! I've said it before, but the Royal Mall is based on Washington, DC's National Mall, as Kendall is the capital of Lower Columbia. I liked the idea of having a park connecting the centers of government, so I adapted it to fit with my own capital.

GreekMan: Thank you, Chris! Much of central Kendall was built when my plugins folder was much smaller than it is now, but I recently installed a Maxis blocker, and I'm now going through the city and replacing the Maxis buildings block by block. It doesn't completely solve my repetition problem, but at least now the repeating buildings aren't Maxis-made!

Larks2242: Thanks! I'm glad you like the park.

hmm: Welcome to Nyhaven, and thank you for commenting! I appreciate your kind words.

bluemoose: Thanks! That's exactly what I was aiming for, so it's great that you like what I've done.

Peter (Petrovar Ambassador): Thank you, Peter!

StanislavSoltys: No problem! It's actually kind of flattering to have someone use the basic idea behind Nyhaven in their own CJ, I think.

---

The 2400's were a busy time in my career, what with all the different projects I had going on. In 2404, they got even busier. One morning, I opened up my copy of the Sentinel to find the following story at the top of the page:

A real tragedy had struck the city, and it was all because of local transportation infrastructure. Sure, there had been accidents on those rails before, but this was the worst such accident in all my time working for the city. I knew something had to be done to prevent another tragedy, so when I got to work, I set about planning a way to keep cars and trains from meeting on those railroad crossings.

The solution was really pretty obvious. The crossings had to be grade-separated, and the easiest way to do that in that part of town was to elevate the railroad tracks on their own viaducts. The plans were constrained by the locations of two very busy train stations, so the viaducts would only be about 0.3 mile long. I wanted to elevate the platforms at the more easterly station, but for the time being, I couldn't do that. As the plans stood, there would be a total of three at-grade crossings replaced by underpasses, and each of those streets was busy enough to warrant it.

In July 2405, we broke ground on the first of three parallel viaducts. The railroad company required us to keep most of the tracks open at any one time to allow passenger service to continue uninterrupted - a good idea, in my opinion, since those tracks were loaded with passenger trains almost every day. With that in mind, I decided to replace two tracks at a time. My workers started work on the northernmost of the three viaducts by tearing up the old tracks in preparing the site for construction.

Since we didn't need to grade the site because of the existing track slopes, we were able to start building the viaduct itself not long after the last rails were cleared from the site.

To speed things up, crews started building at both ends of the future viaduct and worked towards each other. The overpass over University Avenue went up pretty quickly.

The first viaduct was finished before I knew it. My crews sure worked quickly!

It didn't take long to start working on the middle viaduct. Once the workers had gotten into the swing of things, there was no stopping them!

Like with the first one, the second viaduct came together at breakneck speed. I could hardly believe that it was almost done, and it was only September 2406!

When it came time to build the southernmost viaduct, we had to do a little prep work. That pair of tracks connected to the Downtown Rail Loop, which I had built some time earlier. We couldn't simply shut the loop down while we built this final viaduct, so we had to lay a short stretch of tracks connecting it to the middle pair of tracks, since the viaduct for those rails was now open.

As the winter rains pounded Nyhaven, we kept working on the last viaduct. The finish line was in sight!

At last, in May 2407, all the viaducts were opened ceremonially, although the first two had been in use for a little while already. I had succeeded in making the city streets a little safer!