CBD highways and interchanges; how many?

[zwr100 2]

How many highways and interchanges do you put in a CBD, and where?


If this is too much info feel free to just let me know what you do and why rather than understanding my city

 I'm working on an all residential/commercial CBD on a medium city tile and trying to plan for highways but I'm struggling with placement.

I've made my blocks 8x8 tiles with the intention of getting 2 or 3 large 4x4 buildings per block.  The city is 12 blocks by 12 blocks with the outer 4 rows of blocks being all residential and the middle 6 blocks by 6 blocks all residential.  All of my roads are avenues, so I have capacity to turn...well really 2/3 or 3/4 of my avenues into highways, with highway/avenue overpass/intersections practically everywhere.

I want the highways to be functional, but also somewhat realistic.



I've considered placing 2 highways running north/south and 2 east/west and taking them through the commercial areas as much as possible.  (The result would be 2 highways 4 blocks apart in each direction with 1 row of commercial blocks to the outside and 2 inside.)

If I make big clover intersections at all 4 highway intersections the nearest on/off ramps get pushed away possibly putting unwanted traffic into residential areas not to metion lots of lost space :/ . If I don't make clovers the traffic should exit east/west and re-enter north/south via avenues in the commercial areas thus increasing traffic where I want it.... But I'm not sure how to feel about using highways that way (is it efficient? realistic?).  I've also considered the same 4 highways without clovers but adding a plus sign in the middle of the 'box' the 4 highways create.  But then I'm losing tons of space to ramps and interchanges.

The other option is to just have one n/s and one e/w highway intersect in the middle, and perhaps add the others later. The ones down the middle could destroy a strip of blocks (instead of using an existing avenue) and place the highway between the two avenues; but I'm afraid it won't get used as much that way.

I'm sorry if this is too obsessive compulsive, but that's how I play the game.



(I have NAM, but I really don't like using any other mods/addons and refuse to use cheats, so budgeting and smart growth are imperative.)

[Kahara 0]

It is up to you. For CBD's I usually place highways in a grid format dividing the city into sections whether it be, halves, quarters, eighthes or whatever. But thats for functionality. For eye candy, place them as if you would see them in the real word. Generally highways are for excessively larger cities with traffic problems. I find that avenues will suffice.

[ewd76 2]

Originally posted by: zwr100

I want the highways to be functional, but also somewhat realistic.

quote>

It seems to me that if you want it to be realistic, and to have large buildings, you are going to need a city that is bigger than 12 blocks by 12 blocks.

[zwr100 2]

When I said 'city' I was refering to the squares that make up a 'region.'

The medium sized square is 128 tiles by 128 tiles, which is enough space for 12 8x8 tile blocks plus avenues between every block and a 3 tile border as my cbd (I won't make it a perfect grid).

My concern is deciding how many highways to put in this cbd.  I'm thinking at least 2 highways that run the length and intersect, but maybe 4+

[Kahara 0]

As I said it is really up to you. maybe you could have the 2 highways that intersect, and have a cloverleaf on the intersection and offramps along it, as well as other forms of mass transit such as el rain or subways, depending on the layout of the city you might need more highways.

[kj3400 178]

I think that the minimum of freeways you should have in a city is 2. the most is about 4 or 5, it depends on the size of the city. And they should definitely connect. There should be about as  many interchanges as there are major arteries in the city. You don't want to interchange with a lot of minor roads. And you shouldn't have ruler straight highways, they should curve a little. This is based on my experience, so you might not want exactly what I said, and I hope I helped.

[Kahara 0]

You can also use avenues as they carry more cars than roads or streets but they don't need offramps.

[loveangel 0]

I really like having underground highway tunnels that go beneath the CBD, with small sections (sunken highway) between tunnels with just enough space for an offramp. It really cuts down on the amount of space you use, and I think it looks really cool having the highway from suburbia disappear under the skyscrapers. Not to mention that the extra variety you get working with some sunken highways for the onramp/offramp sections.

[SeeSpotSplat 0]

Another interesting way to do it which is fairly realistic is to have one highway split into two at one side and then rejoin on the other side.

This acts like a bypass around the very center of your cdb. Then you have most of your streets served and also don't lose as much space, since 3-way clovers are smaller than 4-ways and also you only need two connectors.

Hope that gives you ideas!

[Kahara 0]

I really like loveangel's idea about the highways under the CBD. Never though of that and it would allow for access to the highway while not taking up much space. Where I live we have three highways diverging from the city, underground. I think this would be a good idea when planing a city, if you plan to have one that large.

[zwr100 2]

Originally posted by: SeeSpotSplat Another interesting way to do it which is fairly realistic is to have one highway split into two at one side and then rejoin on the other side.

This acts like a bypass around the very center of your cdb. Then you have most of your streets served and also don't lose as much space, since 3-way clovers are smaller than 4-ways and also you only need two connectors.

Hope that gives you ideas!quote>

  I like it!!  I tend to put a big plus sign or # over my city.  I feel like the goal of the highway is to get people/services from the center of the city to/from the edges quickly without having to drive on roads/avenues through the residential areas.  It needs to alleviate traffic congestion for the residents, but increase it for the businesses, so a plus sign with a square in the middle (through the commercial areas) seems like a really good option.  The resulting 4 3 way interchanges seem pretty reasonable.  And looking at some smaller cities it seems pretty common to have a couple major highways leading in and out of a circle around the city; but I guess that becomes a matter of scale.  Plus I can easily skew the intersections a little, rather than a straight line, or trying to plan for curves.

THe options I was trying before;

1) 1 4 way clover for a plain plus sign felt like a random crossing of two highways.

2) The # shaped higway system was either avoiding the central part or clustering it.

3) The + inside a # results in great coverage but 5 clovers, which is just absurd.

So far I like your + with a square best!

The underground highway would definately be the best, I'll have to try that sometime too, but for now I want the visaul surface highways.

Thanks for the ideas, I hope to see more!

[Kahara 0]

I used to have a sunken highway run through the middle. Than have roads and avenues run overhead which made up the rest of the city, but the sunken thing got boring, another thing you could try is the rural highway.

[demetrius 1]

I love to put Highways on the small city blocks because the city can develope fast(er)

[demetrius 1]

I love to put Highways on the small city blocks because the city can develope fast(er)