Omaha 2100

[michaelsjewel 0]

This is my first city journal, but I thought it'd be interesting to show how I use simcity to build my cities/concepts.

I live in Omaha, NE.  I'm fascinated by city planning and the whole transportation infrastructure.

Needless to say, I love putting freeways, tons of them - in my cities/regions.

However, I'm trying to stay realistic to this one, as it is somewhat modeled to the real Omaha, with some added freeways and exisiting ones - it's not 100% accurate as even the map of the region isn't - but the river is.....   the freeway that is there already is somewhat accurate.

however, with limitations in the game to make freeway interchanges..... i've decided to experiment with one ways....to make custom interchanges and i'm happy with the outcome.  detailed photos to come later.

for now, here's what i've got so far.....

as of 7/31/2007 - i have the downtown area of omaha, ne. and the surrounding worked on. for a total of just over 1.8 million.  This isn't realistic as current standards as omaha's metro now is just over 850k.....  this is my future omaha.

so - with the past of the real omaha, and the future in my eyes..... here it is.....

OMAHA, NE.....  the future

Image 1.....  Here is the large regional view of the Omaha metro, in its beginning stages.  Downtown is near the river on the west side of the river.  Interstate 480 wraps around it ..... and many added for future traffic demands. more detailed images and descriptions of travel ...later

pop: 1.8+ million

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Image 2...   more up close of downtown omaha region.... not much more to say here.

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Image 3....  Here is the current transportation map of the omaha metro.  Red indicates freeway....white, avenue.  as you can see - there's lots of gray in the downtown area...indicating one ways.  Gray also highlights the major intersections.... of the freeway...esp. that of 480/480/75 interchange in the heart of downtwon...(surrounded by lucious green space)

my cities, i do have a tendency to put green and trees around the interstate's to make them more appealing.  takes a lot of open grass area plopping.

That's it for now, hope you enjoyed my short, intro city journal......

more shall be coming all in time.... thanks.

[Godzillaman 21]

MORE! The region looks good and so do the cities.

[bakercity 270]

Not bad for a newbie. I traveled through Omaha lots when going to visit family in Central Nebraska and down in Cass County. i am liking it so far. If I may, you might want to take a look at Mr. Beers Omaha CJ that he did. Anyway, keep the work up and most of all, enjoy.

[Almighty Nienaber 3]

Looks okay, i would give it a 6.9. it needs to be more filled out its like blotches of Skyrises and nothign else. im from Omaha, well like 2 miles from gretna. but its nice to see nebraska CJs, i would like to see more.

[michaelsjewel 0]

the city area is in beginning stages and i'm slowly building it one step at a time.....

just a reminder - this isn't realistic as i called this the future Omaha metro..... what i want it to be..... the interstates that are real are pretty similar...the region is mr. beer's i believe..... so the map is similar...but some creeks are where they shouldn't be i've noticed..... i've taken into account the fact of one ways and how i can make avenues as many lanes as i want to with them...hence why dodge street (more detailed imagery later) will explode as it goes west.....

i plan to do an elevated expressway(sorta over dodge) out by 680...(not shown) just like the west dodge expressway....express lanes are.... but that is a far distance from now - this is mainly downtown area....

mr. beers is pretty close to the real thing - i'm major metropolis happy so i do tons of avenues...etc.... however - i'm trying to stick to real interchanges...at least the major ones.....(interstate) and i'm not sure how to use ANT b/c i've tried and they went the other way...even following directions - so i'm dealing with what i can do....

there will be more updates later.... and definitely more filled in ...thanks for the comments guys.....

[Sim_Air 2]

hmm.. i can't see any pictures...you are using JPEG right?

[Schulmanator 5,787]

You are off to a good start. That's an impressive metro area under development. Keep it up!

[michaelsjewel 0]

Originally posted by: Sim_Air hmm.. i can't see any pictures...you are using JPEG right?quote>

 

yes.... jpg. format.....   i dunno maybe my website server was down when u decided to look? 

[Sim_Air 2]

i saw them now

looks good, waiting for more

[michaelsjewel 0]

ok...here's update 2 with tons more photos...mainly detail oriented......   

FIRST SET.... North O, Carter Lake....

Carter Lake IA is on the side of the missouri river that omaha is, which makes no sense why the state lines jump to meet the lake - which will be in photos later......   but due to carter lakes poor tax base, omaha annexes the town and it's now part of omaha..... (at least in my future version).....

these photos are along the North Freeway (Us hwy 75 freeway) ....heading north out of downtown ....

the actual freeway now has little exits.... but with omaha ever improving the North O district, high capacity exits had to be imposed.....

i give you two.....

IMAGE 1 >>>>   here is exit 1 - first exit in this city outside of downtown..... with increased traffic flow, more lanes needed to be added to increase capacity.  so one lanes have been added.... 4 lanes go in either direction - but 2 do merge off towards this exit to increase access to the freeway as well....

IMAGE 2 >>>>> this is a play on play exit..... farther north than the previous exit..... because it is close to the exit of the sorrenson (sp?) expressway -   its exit size was truncated.....   using the nam's roundabouts...i was able to do this beautifully....

that's it for this set....

[michaelsjewel 0]

here..... i present to you the area known as EAST MIDTOWN....just east of downtown omaha..... because it located off of dodge and 580 that head into downtown - it explodes with development.....

IMAGE>>>>>

As you can see - there are many high rises near the left side of the city - b/c downtown is on the other side....

580(never built) is the freeway on the lower part of the image...

the next set will be the largest of updates..... DOWNTOWN.....

[michaelsjewel 0]

One of the most fascinating parts of a city is its downtown region.....   and i've gone no light direction at that.... some parts mimic the real thing - others - fantasy/futuristic....

the creek/lake u see in some of these images do exists...... 

the lake - conagra lake park (name?)...... and the creek is what connects to it in the center of the GENE LEAHY MALL - which is omaha's park (central park imitation)......

one ways run rampant in this region - but because 2 lanes for a one way isn't realistic for any one way that i've ever seen - i've doubled - or sometimes tripled that bandwidth....

enough with the general talk - on with the imagery - 

image 1>>>>>>  overlook of conagra park/ gene leahy mall.... along the missouri river riverfront.

Image 2 >>>>>  close up view of gene leahy mall.....

Image 3 >>>>>  close of view of conagra park..... the fountain is much larger in real life - but this will have to do....

Image 4>>>>  overview again - more to right.... 480 bridge on way bottom right corner...

Image 5 >>>>>  very large overview of downtown.....   480 crosses the river..... heart of downtown is on right half of image - council bluffs ia is on bottom 1/3 of image - on the other side of the river....

on the left - housing /commercial mix..... - the bttm left corner - on the omaha side (north side of river this image)..... is where the old market stood..... but due to buildings decaying.... they have been replaced....

Image 6>>>>                  this is the 480/N 75/ 580 interchange....    580 again - never built - however they did make lanes for it - just they go nowhere.... however currently in real life under reconstruction - i think 580 would've actually been smart - even if it ripped through a rich neighborhood in midtown known as dundee - or quite frankly could've diverged a little to the north of that area and been fine....

i've included 580 for traffic purposes to be more smooth....

the exit.... as good as i can get it to be most realistic.... but limitations.... i used one ways.   i like the complexity of it - it's ugly and beautiful at the same time - and i've used plenty of open grass areas to make it pretty....

Image 7>>>>>  this is where the current heart of downtown is.... the tallest building here - in the middle - is the panpacific building i downloaded.   what stands in its place in real life is the ONE FIRST NATIONAL TOWER.... which is the tallest currently in omaha - but because that isn't made for BAT - this will do.....

Image 8>>>>>> this is on the council bluffs side of the river..... an avenue with added one ways.... to actually make this work with the one ways to go the next city - i use the roundabout - and add avenues for extra bandwidth - more of these are found along the dodge street corridor heading out way west - which i've done already - just haven't developed....you'll see them way down the road - literally........... as dodge increases to 6 lanes either direction!!!!!!!

Image 9 & 10>>>>>  this is douglas - splitting off of dodge to turn into one ways....going into downtown.....     douglas going right - dodge heading left - 

once they merge to the left - it becomes dodge only.....  the funny thing is - in real life - dodge is the busiest street in town - including douglas - and in the game....turns out the same way....coincidentally....

i did just have 2 one ways (4 lanes) going across 480 into downtown.....but traffic got pretty bad - so i increased by 2 lanes - and it's still - as you can see.....quite busy

image 10 is the bridge going over 480 for douglas.....

Image 11>>>>>  updated view of douglas/dodge - just with new buildings.....   and it seems traffic has found a diff. route - but still a busy street nonetheless

Image 12>>>> here's 480 more to the south than douglas/dodge.....    this would be leavenworth (south bridges) and st. mary's (north bridges).....   both merge to the left to form leavenworth.

Image 13>>>>>    heading from south to north..... Douglas - dodge - 480(south and east freeways) /580 (left freeway) /75 (north freeway) interchanges.....

that is it for today....... lots of photos updated.....

the region is slowly growing - downtown will eventually be filled up soon - however - i may begin other cities around it - before that to make downtown a stronger community....

[Mr. Beer 12]

Interesting! Last year I did a CJ about Omaha, NE... but it was a recreation... Good luck also for your Omaha's 2100 project!

David

[penguin007 27]

some interesting intersections there

keep up the good work

will

[homeandaway 1]

the dense feel to this city is utterly amazing!, the selection of high-rise is wondeful! - i adore this City and shall be coming to see more!

[Sim_Air 2]

Those pics are amazing!

Those are ploppable buildings or did you grew them? If the second then it must have been hard doing it....

Keep it up with the nice updates!

[michaelsjewel 0]

most of them were ploppable....... but i can't seem to plop enough .lol...... it seems like they want more and more jobs....there's over 1 million commercial jobs in the downtown city - and housing demand is lower than what it used to be b/c outside cities are coming in to work.... however - some of the buildings u will find in the other surrounding cities - i zone for commercial - and sometimes the ones i downloaded do pop up - so it's a mixture..... as for what your'e seeing - mostly ploppable - took a long time doing it too -

my main concern is there isn't enough building choices to go around....

due to such high demand of commercial jobs - i'm trying to figure out where to put a new downtown .....well - where in downtown to put the new skyscrapers - im thinking to the north - since the south part is all.....residential...

as for the intersections..... this is the first city/region i've attempted this. it takes a lot of editing to get it just right sometimes..... but it is pretty..... even if it takes up way more space - some intersections i have left alone - however.....

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Wow! Omaha has certainly grown by 2100!!

[michaelsjewel 0]

image 5 on the downtown category - u will see the 3 tannish (same) buildings in a triangle - which is the council bluffs side - i believe at least one actually did come up - on its own......(growable)....... most likely the one on the riverfront.....

[Voulpiotis 4]

Great high density work! I love those pics, the planning, the highways, the traffic.... Excellent!

[Fresh Prince of Wmbg 44]

This is one beautiful post-modern city journal you have created. It inspires me to create one of my own. Also , can you please tell me where i could obtians these buildings.

Thanks  in advance.

 Fresh Prince

EDIT: Thanks guys, i got everybuilding expect the one circled in green. My bad michaelsjewel i did'nt mean to fill your CJ with my selfish search.

[michaelsjewel 0]

all of the buildings were found on the STEX...... on this site.... however - i do not know the names off the top of my head.... the one in yellow i think is ONE LIBERTY PLAZA....found in philadelphia.....

[Sim_Air 2]

To: Fresh Prince of Wmbg

Perhaps searching for "ploppable", "building", "landmark" and/or "commercial"

I am sure you will find those buildings in the STEX; you just have to spend boring hours searching for them; who knows, maybe you will find more interesting things while searching.....

To: michaelsjewel

Good looking and waiting for the next update

[Voulpiotis 4]

The yellow is the Liberty Plaza or Liberty Place (try both). For the red type "dmscopio" and download that building (dmscopio's BATs are wonderful, you can download all of them!).

[Almighty Nienaber 3]

Ok fresh prince of Wmbg: i think those are buy Dusktrooper. ill look for them for you and ill postthem here in a while, okay

-Zach Nienaber

Edit: okay i found some of them, 

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=4451&v=1

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=17853

[Almighty Nienaber 3]

But the CJ is looking Beater, hope it goes on

[michaelsjewel 0]

current problem..... i've never usually used roads or avenues to connect to the next city..... and in this one i have...however - i've noticed that no one will use the freeway (highways) if you do this...... so......... many connections between the cities will be removed to just a few avenues..... and whatever interstate runs through them....

i've worked on the I-80/480/75 interchange area in south omaha just south of downtown - pictures to come later....

[michaelsjewel 0]

SOME UPDATES.....

here's a new development in downtown....

IMAGE 1>>>>>  this is the merging of 2 one ways..... St. Mary's (heading to bottom)..... and leavenworth (heading towards top).......   when they merge going west (bottom)...they form one avenue - leavenworth.

I particularly like how this merging worked as it looks smooth at an angle.... so therefore i made a park so that way tall towers could not obstruct the view.  however - this area will become very dense due to extreme demands of commercial in downtown and not enough room to fill it.

IMAGE 2>>>>>  this is the updated regional view of the omaha metro - as you can see - more streets by far have been laid out to the west and to the south of the downtown area....   most of the actual development is in the south O / I-80/480 interchange..... area.

IMAGE 3>>>>> here's the names of the cities in the region thus far - many unworked on - however - ignore that i called CARTER LAKE - crescent .....apparently when naming i goofed and forgot the name.....i always see the lake and think crescent....so yah.....

and

IMAGE 4 >>>>> transportation view of region......    

[crazyyaya 4]

Really? I didn't think civilization was going to last that long. lol.

[michaelsjewel 0]

Originally posted by: crazyyaya Really? I didn't think civilization was going to last that long. lol.quote>

 

oh come on!!!! lol