The Commonwealth of Paradise (USNW): March 27: A (late) Most Heartfelt Thanks

[kj3400 178]

Replies (better late than never):

Adooxx: Thanks

reaps: Thanks friend

MamaLuigi: Thank you

Nathanthemayor: Well I couldn't have done it without the grater BATers and teams out there...

emperordaniel: Glad you like Grand Palm Industries.

Schulmanator: What can I say? I like trains

So the great Llama Trixie has left awards in people's stockings, and I got not a one for the 4th year in a row . I'm not complaining; I did get 3 nominations, for Best Tutorial,Best Roadgeeking CJ and Best Public Transport, and I got runner up for Best Tutorial and Best Public Transport! So to those few who nominated me, I really appreciate it.

So I s'ppose you guys want an explanation why everything's been quiet on the home front lately. Well If you didn't know (or cared), I'm going to tell you. My laptop was involved in an incident involving some water (I took my laptop in the bathroom and dripped some water on it while I was showering. Needless to say, it borked on me. So right now, it's in the shop. I haven't the slightest when it's going to be out, but I'll tell you this. As soon as I get it, you will get an update. I promise. So until then....

[nathanthemayor 1,263]

I'm sorry to hear about your computer . But good job on your nominations!

[packersfan 667]

Those first stoplights had a funky backdrop, haha. Really great signage, I am jealous, I'll have to come back for inspiration.

What stoplights do you using SimCity?

[kj3400 178]

Replies:

nathanthemayor: No worries, I'm back up and running

packersfan: Yeah I thought the flags would be a nice touch. The signals were made by Blue Lightning, so if you search for his content, you'll see them.

My computer woes are over and it's back to the grind for this CJ. Today, I've got a special treat for you all. If you'll recall, we had just seen Jackson City, which you all had chosen. But now it's my turn to choose And I choose option B....

http://img834.images...techoice.jpg

The Airport Expressway was not initially planned for, like so many other Paradise freeways. This one was built as the roads into the city became congested, especially from the south. City planners came together to discuss the route of the new road and what it would do. At first the road was to be completely all freeway, but the residents of Clearyville and Riverside Heights shot that idea down, protesting of the noise and extra traffic. So Airport Expressway became the first freeway to not be a complete freeway. From its beginning at I-1 to the Capital Beltway it would be a surface street with limited access, transitioning to a freeway and terminating at the Great Northeast Road at a roundabout, where it would turn into Airport Blvd.

This map shows the inital plan.

This map shows the route after it was finished. Red lines are unconstructed ramps, purple lines are modified ramps, and green lines are new ramps.

Airport Expwy actually starts here, but it was decided that the whole of the thoroughfare would be named Airport Expwy to avoid confusion and for quick identification from I-1. the section to the west was called Randall Av.

Although this is the first exit, Airport Expwy is not a freeway yet. It was decided that an interchange here would be best for bypassing this area in the future, when more people moved in.

The next bit of distance is quite boring,considering there's no development yet. Most freeway construction tends to happen before anyone moves in. No one can complain about a freeway when the freeway was there first.

The freeway can technically be said to said to start at Belluterrian Blvd, but the surface road speed limit of 35 mph still applies until the merge from the beltway. A simple fork is here for folks coming from the beltway and I-2.

The Capital Beltway interchange. I should explain the logic behind the interchanges coming up. With 3 exceptions, they are all partial, as most of the missing movements are made redundant by its other interchanges. There is no numbering, as most interchanges do not have all their ramps anyway. For example, this one only has southbound slips, because all access from the south is provided by Southern Blvd (Rt 6/the diagonal avenue above) and Belluterrian Blvd.

As we head into Norwood's limits, the speed limit increases and we are officially on the freeway portion of Airport Expwy.

Now we come to the major part of this interchange, which is saying something, as it's not a full interchange at all. The interchange with I-2 has actually not changed much as there is still full access to I-2. However freeflow connections were provided for the more sense making routes, north to west, south to east, and vice versa, with Airport Expwy being the N-S route.

The I-2 interchange was modified from its initial purpose of servicing the former Airport Blvd to servicing Snerp Rd. which was extended.

Original Interchange:

The half diamond with Raven Av provides access for southbound travellers to the local road network.

Farther north comes the most complex interchange on the freeway. Here the Airport Expwy interchanges with the Norwood-Woodbine Frwy, which is also carrying the Great East Road out from the capital. From the south you can only go east as going west would only drop you on I-2,where it ends. Southbound gets both options. this interchange is weaved in with the one for Carreon Av. (Rt 4) which heads to Woodbine too, but with more traffic lights.

The situation before the freeway moved through, as you may remember from update 32, was this:

After crossing the Johnson River, it has a standard folded diamond with North Coast Rd., the western end of Rt 9.

The last interchange is with I-302, the Gateway Frwy and a local road, Cornwall Av. As you can imagine, most people get off here to head to the airport.

The steep hills here made the long ramps necessary.

I-302 WB got an extra ramp, that it would have otherwise lost.

Airport Expwy is the first and only freeway in Paradise that ends at a roundabout.

That's all, I hoped you enjoyed it.......

NOT!

I've decided to include a video tour of the Airport Expwy. As with most of my 'firsts' I hope you can bear with my rookie mistakes.

  Edited May 13, 2012 by kj3400  

[suomi2005 52]

Wow this is insane, awesome work!

[TowerDude 2,187]

[Charlie_Zane 963]

amazing! So many different types of interchanges!

[Dannibee 138]

Grewat update kenny. I love the RHW and good greif has a lot of effort gone into this or what?

[_marsh_ 1,118]

How dare you use maxis trees!

Seriouslythough, I love the feel of the place. It's great!

[cacks 41]

This update is spectacular! Your maps are really good, I totally agree with what towerdude said!

[Samerton 833]

Epic! Really love the highways. Great job!

[Vahr 343]

Ooooo! Very nice Kenny! I love the map diagram and you nearly running the red light.

[Titanicbuff 1,262]

boy- complex highway system. Has a feel of the city of Pueblo, CO interstate 25 system in its complexity.

[deathtopumpkins 43]

Very nice update Kenneh! Love the roadgeekery, of course especially how all of your interchanges are organic and fit the very specific space, i.e. none of them have full access or fit traditional designs.

[nathanthemayor 1,263]

Whoa your interchanges are confusing(And amazing!), kinda like some back on the east coast...

[anotn 223]

Nice, impressive highway system, and the interchanges looks nice some of them are really complex, must have taken ages. I enjoyed your diagrams too. I would love to see these places again, when you have filled it with fields, forests, buildings or whatever you choose, I think the highways will look even better with a little bit of surroundings.

[Forthwall 1,118]

Nuu Bandwidth Exceeded

Love the video though!

  Edited May 12, 2012 by Mastof  

[nas786 104]

That's a nice video. Highways are crisp and clean. At around 4:40 in the video you seem to go over rail surrounded by fence, what mod is that?

[kj3400 178]

I apologize for photobucket being stupid, and if you missed the update, hopefully you can see it now, as I reuploaded the pics to imageshack.

Replies (since I'm here):

suomi2005: thanks a lot

Towerdude:

City_Master: thanks

dannibee: you know it. Many sleepless nights XD

_marsh_: How dare you sir, imply that I care? But thanks

cacks: see td's reply

Sam(erton):thanks

VInce(Blue Lightning): I like to live on the dangerous side

titanicbuff: It is pretty rapid fire with the interchanges

Connor(deathtopumpkins): With all the freeways in the vicinity, I couldn't afford to be redundant with the interchanges

nathanthemayor: Thanks, I should know. I live there.

anotn: I will probably revisit it soon enough.

Mastof: Try now

nas786: Those are just catenaries to simulate electrified railways.

[kj3400 178]

So I don't leave you all bored and such, here's a couple of pics from Palmer Lake that I'm pretty sure I haven't shown before...

[simlink 1,098]

Awesome ferris wheel!

[Charlie_Zane 963]

The ferris wheel really stands out at night! And also those buildings in front of the beach!

[Benedict 3,119]

I agree - the glow off the ferris wheel is fascinating.

[Ceafus 88 1,929]

#mindblown

[kj3400 178]

Replies:

sim_link, benedict, frex_ceafus: Thanks!

This update is over 3 weeks in the making. I don't know why it took so long...

Today's update is another construction project (I promise to lay low on those for a while XD)

The area between the Great Southwestern Road, Route 6 and I-1 has always been a tricky thing to work with, mostly because of the road layout. It was rather awkward. Just take a look for yourself.

The west side of I-1 is served by two tiny 2 lane ramps, and to get from one side of I-1 to the other, you have to get on the freeway. Surely this wouldn't be acceptable for a major road out of the capital. So, as does often happen in the Commonwealth, plans were made to improve this.

Here is the original layout and the planned layout right below that.

And the important middle bit, the construction.

Meanwhile the Rt 6 realignment has already finished.

And the finished product:

Enjoy!

[nathanthemayor 1,263]

Wow what a fanstastic redo. The new one looks amazing!

[Mayorm 14]

I love your CJ, your cities remind me of my own, I love how you mix in some custom content, but you can maxis throughout your cities. It is great to see a mostly vanilla gem, from a CJ that participates in unions, a lot of times the union CJs are all about having custom content, and the focus isn't on the cities. I love your CJ, and my only regret is that havn't noticed it until now

Keep up the great work, and I will definately be following your CJ from now on

[kj3400 178]

Replies:

Nathanthemayor: Thanks

Mayorm: I thought I used quite a bit of custom content But thanks nonetheless. I hope you can get your CJ back up and running

Just a little something I took last night in Clearyville. Suburbia at its finest.

Update soon!

[Jack³ 291]

Nice, I like all the trees.

[kj3400 178]

Jack3oh3: I do like trees

Today's update is just a random assortment of pics from the region as well as from West Paradise, the province that is still settling.

Enjoy!