Screenshots of what freeways in Simcity 5 should look like!

[hillis06 0]

Some shots I took back in April of the 401 in Toronto.

[Xiao 0]

Date: 9/13/2004 10:33:02 PM
Author: bartolo
There isnt a blue sign onto 400NB, you have to be in the collectors. I'm pretty certain about that. I could be wrong

quote>

After reviewing it, I'm pretty sure now to...

Sorry about the mixup!

My first post here @ SimTropolis.com was made in this thread. Actually... most of my posts have been in this thread

[dudyconstructor 46]

i see the first post pages pictures are off. please host it offsite
and btw i have been wondering if SC5 is going to have a ground freeway like avenue in SC4 but with a highway road texture it would look great!

[dev 47]

 

I want this^  to be possible

[Dodge44 2]

I wouldn't like to drive that everyday.

[BrandonTheGreat 0]

Xiao, it has been a long time hasn't it? You said once that at the 401/427 Interchange, there is only six lanes. Well I went through there recently and noticed there are eight. Still it doesn't correct the bottleneck from 18 to 6 lanes. It only adds one more lane which shouldn't really make a difference. The 410 was supposed to see an extension about 6 or 7 km. they have a bridge built at Sandalwood Pkwy in Brampton, but it looks like with the new provincial government, this will never be fininshed. Completion time was Summer 2004. So I don't know if I will ever see this extension. 4 to 6 lanes from Windsor to Tilbury is being worked on as we speak. And from Toronto to Parry Sound, there is only 9km of the 400 that is not freeway. They project by 2012 the 400 will go to Sudbury. Anyways, that is what has been going on recently.

[+Guest]

Date: 3/20/2004 12:23:57 PM
Author: joexcooldude

----------------

On 3/15/2004 7:04:01 AM iamrobk wrote:I found a picture that shows the original plan for Phillys highways:

Image too large! Deleted. 800 x 600 max.

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Where would the Ten Mile Loop have gone in the western suburbs?

That plan would have been nice but some of those expressways would have been cancelled no matter what due to the amount of residents displaced. But if they had built that, there would be almost no traffic jams

quote>


I *Think* the ten mile loop would pretty much follow I-476, or go where the NE Extension would go if it just went straight down, rather than curving west a bit as it does after the turnpike.  Not really sure though.  Anyway, they reeeeeeally should extend 309.  Driving down Broad Street is just......yuck.

[Simbourgeois 139]

Maybe it should be like this - a highway for... pedestrians?

 

Simbourgeois

Mayor of Belleville

 

[BrandonTheGreat 0]

Simbourgeois, funny picture, I like it. It reminds me of the time they did a bicycle ride on the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, ON. Anyways, where is that?

[Duke87 1,070]

Date:3/19/2004 10:21:26 PM
Author:BrandonTheGreat

USA_Pride, yep I do agree with you Detroit's interchanges are pretty complex. As you may have read the topic earlier, the best freeway they got in Detroit is I-96, mainly because of its Collector-Distributor system. I find it funny that no one seems to bring those up. Being in Toronto however, we have a massive collector-distributor that reaches 18 lanes at one point, I have said this many of times but I will repeat it. I always thought these were common until recently when I discovered that barely any cities have it. In case you don't know what I mean by collector-distributor, look at the part of I-96 that has a division of Express Lanes and Local Lanes, that is the collector distributor system right there.
This isn't North America's busiest freeway for nothing. See how bad this is, and this is normal traffic....

quote>

You've obviously never seen the New Jersey Turnpike. It reaches 14 lanes at it's widest part, and It's usually decent on traffic, but if there's a sporting event at the meadowlands, if it's rush hour, or a friday evening (southbound)/sunday evening (northbound) in the summer, the traffic can be murder. the traffic friday and sunday is from people heading to/from the Jersey Shore or atlantic city for the weekend.

 

[ak72 54]

I don't think we need super complex interchanges, mabey just a couple more would help. We wouldn't want to slow down the game any more.

[Xiao 0]

Date: 9/16/2004 7:49:38 PM
Author: Duke87

You've obviously never seen the New Jersey Turnpike. It reaches 14 lanes at it's widest part, and It's usually decent on traffic, but if there's a sporting event at the meadowlands, if it's rush hour, or a friday evening (southbound)/sunday evening (northbound) in the summer, the traffic can be murder. the traffic friday and sunday is from people heading to/from the Jersey Shore or atlantic city for the weekend.

quote>

Been there. Doesn't even touch the traffic volumes shoved through the DVP/401/404 interchange on a typical work day (376,000+) or through 401/Brock Road in Pickering, Ontario (228,000+).

New 2004 figures released by MTO show that Highway 401 is pushing an AADT (Average Annual Daily Traffic) count of 500,000 vehicles per day across the 401/400 interchange, with that figure spiking frequently on points throughout the GTA across 401.

Ever try escaping Toronto on the Friday of a long summer weekend driving up Highway 400 to cottage country?

In 72 hours, 1,500,000 vehicles leave from Toronto. That's an AADT of 500,000 vehicles across a major highway system.

I'll reiterate again. They don't call it North America's busiest highway for nothing.

Brandon, I found some interesting stats you may want to take note of with regards to 401:

-> It includes North America's busiest multi-structure bridge @ Hoggs Hollow (4 structures for both sets of Collector & Express lanes).
-> The worlds longest 12-lane or more span of Highway (Mississauga to Brock Road)
-> The worlds busiest trucking route.
-> Carries more than 40% of all of Canada's trade with the US.
-> Carries 4% of the all of the US's trade with Canada.
-> The longest non-toll freeway under a single highway authority in North America.
-> 401 & QEW carry so much US Trade to Canada that they are considered the most important strategic infrastructure in Canada by the US Intelligence Committee.
-> 401/400 interchange is the busiest interchange in North America with a total of 26 lanes of combined traffic

[RodneyMullen03 5]

Are you crazy? Los Angeles has a great transit system. Not to mention we have a bus system that can take you anywhere, we have subway and lightrail:

That's big enough to take you just about anywhere you need to go. If you leave Hollywood and go to somewhere like Long Beach or Compton and ask someone how they get to work, they'll usually say they take the Metro. The Blue Line is the most used light rail line in the US, and the Red Line is the 4th most used subway line in the US. The LA MTA is interesting because it incorporates the freeways in LA along with it. There is the Harbor Transitway that travels along I-110. There's the El Monte Transitway along I-10. The Green Line travels mostly along I-105. So it's a good combination. The bus and rail line is big enough to not say it's a waste like the transit in places like Atlanta or Dallas.

[Xiao 0]

To sum up my spewings about highways in SC5... I'd like enough control to create a functional highway that looks like the photos below with these features:

-> Collector/Express System (we here in Toronto love our C/D's)
-> Control over number of lanes
-> Transfers between Collector/Express
-> Stacks (up to 5-way)
-> Offramp & Onramp control (both design & placement)
-> Highway groups to be detached from eachother (IE I can detour the westbound lanes different than the eastbound lanes)
-> Tolls (only if you wanted to be really mean)

Highway 401 - Looking Westward @ Rouge River


Highway 400 - Looking Northward @ Highway 7 Interchange

[Sticksboi04 0]

LA's subway isnt the best in the country. lol. DC's is much better with a GREAT bus system yuo cant tkae everywhere. ART, DASH, Metrobus, Ride-On ETC.

[BrandonTheGreat 0]

Duke87, could you post some picture of the NJ Turnpike, I want to see who bad it really is, and another thing, isn't the NJ Turnpike a different style of freeway altogether, one set of lanes are car lanes and the other set of lanes are truck lanes? Can you please help me out on that?

Thanks again Xiao, 500,000 cars a day, you gotta be kidding me! Yep, it is getting more ridiculous as we see more people move here everyday.

[+Guest]

Philly does suffer from bad highway planning. The Schuykill Expressway is only 4 lanes total all of the way into Center City, where it is 6 lanes total. Due to this, traffic is usually backed up from the Turnpike all of the way into NJ.

quote>
Interesting. I remember there being an eight-lane stretch of Schuylkill Expressway somewhere around Philly...

[Xiao 0]

Yep. Approximately 500,000 vehicles a day. The old 416,000 figure was from 2001 (IIRC).

Completely nuts, and if Ontario keeps resting on its laurels in Toronto and not add any additional highway capacity or mass-transit capacity (IE GO Transit/TTC/Municipal Transit), Toronto and the surrounding areas are going to suffer even more than they already do (just look at Peel & Durham for example).

Durham has come up with a 15 year expansion plan for transit services out here, proposing the following:

-> A 15% reduction in AADT's across the region on major routes (2, 7, 7A, 12, 48, 401)
-> Increase safety
-> Reduce pollution
-> Foster growth

Durham Region, while still one of the top 5 fastest growing areas of North America, has seen housing & business development fall in the last 3 years due to inadequate high-speed highway infrastructure.

The plan calls for the following additions to the Provincial Highway network in this area:

-> Expand Highway 407 from the Brock Road terminus to at least Solina Road, Bowmanville (just 3 KM's west of Bowmanville).
-> If the EA is approved, expand Highway 407 all the way from Solina Road, Bowmanville to Highway 35/115 interchange @ Enterprise Hill.
-> Construction of two 4-lane Link routes, each 10 KM's in length, that connect Highway 401 to Highway 407 (major north/south arteries).
-> First link (Whitby Link) will run just west of Lakeridge Road in Whitby.
-> Second link (Clarington Link) will run just west of Solina Road in Bowmanville
-> Install interchanges on each link to interface with major East/West routes in Durham (Highway 401, Bloor Street, Highway 2, Rossland Road, Taunton Road, Highway 7, Pebblestone Road, Highway 407)
-> Install new high-capacity 401 interchange @ Clarington Link (between Courtice Road, Courtice & Holt Road, Bowmanville)
-> Install new high-capacity 401 interchange @ Whitby Link (between Salem Road, Ajax & Brock Street, Whitby)
-> Install new high-capacity 401 interchange east of Harmony Road, Oshawa (location to be determined)
-> Install new high-capacity 401 interchange @ Stevenson Road, Oshawa
-> Install new high-capacity 401 interchange @ Lakeridge Road, Whitby
-> Install new high-capacity 401 interchange @ Lambs Road, Bowmanville
-> Close old 401 interchange @ Park Road, Oshawa
-> Close old 401 interchange @ Bennett Road, Newcastle
-> Encorporate an Ottawa-style Transitway running just south & adjacent to Highway 407 from Markham Road to the Clarington Link.
-> TransitWay is to be minimum 4-lanes wide where the new BRT Initiaitive (Bus Rapid Transit) will interface with the municipal transit services from Clarington, Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Markham, Scarborough & York to offer a high-speed, high-occupancy mass transit system.
-> BRT busses will be high-efficiency hydrogen buses (possibly natural gas as well)
-> Install HOV/Bus lanes along Highway 2 between Oshawa & Pickering
-> Expansion of Highway 401 Express/Collectors from Brock Road in Pickering to Salem Road in Ajax (12 lanes)
-> Expansion of Highway 401 from Salem Road in Ajax to Thickson Road in Whitby (12 lanes, but no C/D)
-> Expansion of Highway 401 from Thickson Road in Whitby to Waverley Road in Bowmanville (10 lanes)
-> Expansion of Highway 401 from Waverley Road in Bowmanville to Highway 35/115 interchange in Newcastle (8 lanes)
-> Expansion of Highway 115 North of Highway 35/115 Interchange to Highway 7/115 interchange in Peterborough (6 or 8 lanes)
-> Expansion of Highway 2 from Mearns Avenue, Bowmanville to Highway 2/35/115 Interchange (4 lane surface street)

All this by 2021. It's going to be a great time to be in Durham. Finally a sigh of relief for us commuters who have no choice but to use Highway 401 (even though I love to drive!)

[sjh123 0]

I-75/85 in Atlanta

would be nice if the highways could curve like this

[jondecker 0]

This may have been mentioned already (I really didn't want to read through 11 pages of posts) I would like to see self sinking highways.  Many urban areas have below grade highway systems and I use them in my cities also, but I think it would just be so much easier if you could lay the highway and it lower itself below grade with retaining walls appearing as they sink.  I would also like to see 3 or 4 lanes on each side because many of the interstates even in rural areas are being widened to that stage to avoid future problems because of the sprawl  of many cities.

[Dippit 0]

Date:9/17/2004 4:29:50 AM
Author:jondecker

This may have been mentioned already (I really didn't want to read through 11 pages of posts) I would like to see self sinking highways.  Many urban areas have below grade highway systems and I use them in my cities also, but I think it would just be so much easier if you could lay the highway and it lower itself below grade with retaining walls appearing as they sink.  I would also like to see 3 or 4 lanes on each side because many of the interstates even in rural areas are being widened to that stage to avoid future problems because of the sprawl  of many cities.

quote>

 

Apparently, Sunken Highways were going to be in Rush Hour, but Maxis decided not to put them in there. So it is highly likely that they will be a feature of SC5.

[BrandonTheGreat 0]

Xiao, since you are on the east end, I am on the west end as I said before in the PEEL region. Now will those improvements happen like the extension of C/D from Brock to Salem, everything is close together as you said and that is quite hard. About extending the C/D westward. I read somewhere but I doubt it is possible now for the C/D to extend west as far as Mavis Road, which is about 5km of extra C/D. It said to be done by 2005, and they haven't even started. I don't believe that would work unless they extended it as far west as the 320, at Highway 20 in Milton. That is where it should start, if the C/D were to extend to Oshawa in sometime, just think of it, 60 miles of straight C/D, and in most other cities that have C/D, it is an average of about 6 miles of C/D. Now that is about 20 years from even getting off the drawing board I would say.

[GAT-X105 3]

Yeah, the New Jersey Turnpike is a pretty complicated road. For a large chunk of it, it's separated into cars only and cars and trucks areas. The cars only is on the inside while the cars and trucks are on the outside.

Also, north of this part, the Turnpike spits into Eastern and Western spurs. The Eastern spur goes past the Lincoln Tunnel up to the George Washington Bridge, while the Western Spur follows a more...western...path.

[Xiao 0]

Date: 9/17/2004 10:41:43 PM
Author: BrandonTheGreat
Xiao, since you are on the east end, I am on the west end as I said before in the PEEL region. Now will those improvements happen like the extension of C/D from Brock to Salem, everything is close together as you said and that is quite hard. About extending the C/D westward. I read somewhere but I doubt it is possible now for the C/D to extend west as far as Mavis Road, which is about 5km of extra C/D. It said to be done by 2005, and they haven't even started. I don't believe that would work unless they extended it as far west as the 320, at Highway 20 in Milton. That is where it should start, if the C/D were to extend to Oshawa in sometime, just think of it, 60 miles of straight C/D, and in most other cities that have C/D, it is an average of about 6 miles of C/D. Now that is about 20 years from even getting off the drawing board I would say.

quote>

mmm... 60 miles of C/D! Sure would make my commutes into & out of Toronto a little more enjoyable (along with countless of others)!

Unfortunately, I probably won't be around to see the C/D system expand into Oshawa (and there's a good chance it won't happen). It's a problem of space. There simply isn't enough road allowance on either side to expand to 12 lanes with a C/D system here in Oshawa. There's room for 10 straight lanes, but that's pushing it.

Without expropriation of land, the C/D system could run as far east as Brock Street in Whitby (the next exit east of Salem). After that, you run into the problem of GO Stations, entire industries, police stations, movies theatres, homes and countless other businesses that are built within 100' of the road, not to mention the secondary highways & surface streets running right next to 401 on both the north & south sides. It just won't work (much to my dissappointment).

Maybe they'll go Big Dig style! (imagine 16-lanes C/D underground.... oh the possibilities!!!)

However, here's to hoping one day I'll see something like this running past my door out here in the boones!


Highway 401 Looking West @ Brock Road (Eastern terminus of Collector/Express System)



Proposed Highway 401, 407, 115, Clarington Link & Whitby Link Expansion Plans

[Simbourgeois 139]

A tourist guide: And on the left side you see the castle of Bourbon dinasty. Now we'll drive some 150 km this highway... high... way... way...  Where's the road???!!!

 

It's Autoroute A20, Viaduc de la Rauze in France

 

 

 

But here's a pic I really like: Pont du Grand Canal du Havre. 

 

 

 And also this one: Viaduc de Nantua sur l'A40

 

 

Isn't that nice to drive and see all those beautiful places: Autoroute A4

 

[BrandonTheGreat 0]

Xiao, I just want to ask you one question, do you take those wonderful shots of the 401 yourself, because they are amazing. The thing I said about the C/D reaching Oshawa, it looks like the 401 would be called I-96 before that happens.

[Xiao 0]

Date: 9/21/2004 9:09:12 PM
Author: BrandonTheGreat
Xiao, I just want to ask you one question, do you take those wonderful shots of the 401 yourself, because they are amazing. The thing I said about the C/D reaching Oshawa, it looks like the 401 would be called I-96 before that happens.

quote>

I've taken a couple of those pictures while testing out my new digital camera, but the majority of them are from websites I have found online that have tons of Ontario 400-series & secondary series highway pictures ranging from Highway 3 in the west end to 401 through Cornwall.

I'll protest to the bitter end! It will stay 401. No Interstate signage here! :D

[Xiao 0]

Here's another series of photo's on Ontario's highways:

Highway 400 @ King Sideroad Interchange (Looking Southbound).... go commuters to Barrie & all points north!



Highway 400 @ Highway 7 Interchange (Looking Southbound).... traffic's moving not to badly right now



Highway 403 @ King Road & QEW Interchange (Looking Eastbound).... I get screwed up driving through here



Highway 404 @ 401/DVP Interchange (Looking Southbound).... Yay! Rush Hour (or should I say HOURS)



Highway 404 @ Vandorf Interchange (Looking Northbound).... mmm... suburbanite Highway...



QEW @ Burlington Skyway (Looking Westbound).... and on your right you can smell Hamilton



Highway 410 @ Courtney Park (Looking Northbound).... mmm... more suburbanite Highway...



Highway 410 @ Courtney Park (Looking Southbound).... What scares me? No crash barriers...



Gardiner Expressway @ Fort York (Looking Eastbound)... nice view...



Gardiner Expressway @ LakeShore Blvd Interchange (Looking Eastbound)... lots of 115KV Transmission Towers



Gardiner Expressway (Looking Eastbound)... just heading into the city on a weekend afternoon...

[dwd123 0]

If ever they do come out with a new version of Simcity, the idea of more freeway options would definitely be a bonus!! Atleast offer freeways with 4 or 5 lanes travelling in each direction. Not very many big cities have only 3 lanes travelling near downtown. And how about better freeway interchanges--like the option of making 2 separate freeways merging together to make 1 as I often see in the real world--and what is up with those barrier walls on the edges of the highway. Also creating a median between the freeway directions may make for more reality. Hit me back with your thoughts.

[fivedayrental 0]

thought you might be interested in this. i just saw this on the homepage of yahoo.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041229/ap_on_re_us/texas_superhighways