Necessity of Highways

[VonBecklar 1]

I am a long time player, but have only in the last 6 months discovered this and other great sites and the people on them. This is my 1st post as well, but if it helps out newer folks to this site like me or someone with a question like jdfess6 then I have done a good thing!

I only build my highways underground. That way people can still travel a great distance quickly and I dont have to deal with any of the problems of having them on the surface (like they look terrible, are a pain to connect to, etc....) Did you know that you can raise the terrain, build a tunnel from one side of the raised area to the other, and then completly flatten out the land or even lower it below sea level and the highway tunnel will still work? As long as you dont try to lower the terrain where the tunnel mouths are they will keep on keepin' on.

When I build a bridge I also only use highways, more or less for the same reason. Vast distance traveled quickly. Why even consider an avenue bridge when people travel faster on the highway and it takes up the same amount of space?

And it may be true in some instances that highways are not used or not even needed, but that is exactly why I build my highway system the way I do. Its still there if Mr. or Mrs Joe Sim want or need to use it. Its unseen, but its there.

[Dizastrow 4]

Im just sharing a success story.  You can put as many on and off ramps as you want.  Im just saying that I use only a few and the Sims seem to like it and use the highways continuously.  I dont go hog wild with the placement of highways, but make sure one section goes to each of my city centers.

[J D 1]

My cities have awkward road patterns, making highway placement impractical. And when I do use highways, it is more for aesthetic and realism points than for practical purposes.

To make highways effective, you need large zones of residential, and a highway bisecting the zone. If the highway takes them to commercial and industrial zones, then it will be used a lot. If you just lay the highway down all willy-nilly where you think it looks realistic (like I do), it won't necessarily be used.

[Quzo 0]

Originally posted by: loveangel

Originally posted by: Dizastrow My system works!!

Last night I started a new region and built a few cities right away.  Put ONRAMPS by the connections to each city tile and ONE in your R, I, and C centers.  Dont put them anywhere else.  People are using my highways like crazy!!quote>

And what you're suggesting is that adding another onramp will discourage people from using your highway...?

The idea that adding onramps to a highway will cause a bottleneck effect and congestion in front of every ramp, slowing everybody down, makes sense in real life.  But I don't think theres really any related game mechanics in sc4.  highways will have a set capacity, "merging" shouldn''t necessarily slow anybody down unless it goes over capacity.quote>

Yes very true. I have a probelm with bottle neck when some of my avenue turn into roads. I'd say plan ahead if you can to prevent bottle necks.

I only build my highways underground. That way people can still travel a great distance quickly and I dont have to deal with any of the problems of having them on the surface (like they look terrible, are a pain to connect to, etc....)quote>

Yes I use the hole digging lots for that. They are a great asset saves lots of space in my city. I also have a thing that converts road traffic to subway trains. That comes in handy too.

[J D 1]

Originally posted by: VonBecklarI only build my highways underground. That way people can still travel a great distance quickly and I dont have to deal with any of the problems of having them on the surface (like they look terrible, are a pain to connect to, etc....) Did you know that you can raise the terrain, build a tunnel from one side of the raised area to the other, and then completly flatten out the land or even lower it below sea level and the highway tunnel will still work? As long as you dont try to lower the terrain where the tunnel mouths are they will keep on keepin' on.quote>

I do this with my rail. In my high-density areas, they cause more traffic problems than they solve if they aren't underground. Occasionally, they'll poke out of the ground for a station or a bend, but otherwise they won't show themselves unless they are back in medium or low-density areas.

[VonBecklar 1]

I do the same with my railroads as well for the same reasons I and thx1217 (nice Lucas reference) mentioned above.

I should mention that sometimes I do want the look and will lay them, but usually and in general I keep the high volume transit on the down low. My greatest achievment using this method was 600k sims on a very tall island with a bay. The island itself only took up 5/8ths of the map and I had to build up not out. I just terraced the whole stinking island and made multiple levels that encircled it. Every level then had underground highways going to the other side with aves criss corssing the surface, kind of in a flanel-ish pattern, form coast to peak then back down to the coast.

Because of the way the island was shaped I had 2 running north to south and 2 or 3 (depending on the level) running east and west. 600k just with regular roads, aves and underground highways. and the trans map was green everywhere. Proper zoning helped too.