Highway Blues

[Mr.Mao 0]

I was very happy to unlock highways at 500k citizens.

But now when I try to put down some highways it almost impossible to do it right.

Highways can't cross smaller roads without resorting to expensive bridges and these bridges often give the "invalid junction" error.  So now I just use expressways mostly, since highways are almost impossible to install properly. Nevermind building things on the other side of the highway and connecting them to the rest of the city.

What are your experiences? Any tips to manage this problem?

[Omniassiah 3]

Pretty much same as you, Its worse when you consider that you can't add an interchange onto and existing section of high way with out bulldozing the entire highway.

[manuelandrei 0]

Oh my highways highways. The intersections are cool indeed. Only problem is you have to demolish half city block to place one. Oh and btw did you know that an highway intercity link costs 100.000 each turn (cash flow)?

I found out the hard way. Well they give you +100 to transportation but stil ouch. What I don't like is that none of the intersections support expressways. You need that converter from highway to expressway. I need to post some screenes. Will update this post soon.

[Naviss 0]

You REALLY have to plan these things out. Remember... A highway in this game is the same as a interstate in real life.... You don't see a interstate rolling down through main town with 50 little roads going off of it. You ALWAYS see a off / on ramp that goes to smaller roads.

Remember you CAN use the highway to express lane section to help with this, Which is what I do mostly. Express lanes is what you want through town not a highway unless using it as a by pass. The other on / off ramp is a handy one and a very nice looking one for your Large Rich Ava's. Really need ideas with it.

Just give it time and plan it out. They are a HUGE help when used right!

[nezroy 0]

If you want to have crossroads, can you not use the bridge/tunnel tool for the crossroad type you want and then go under the highway entirely? I realize this doesn't help when you want to connect the highway to that road, but at least you can connect things on either side and hook up to an interchange elsewhere when the bridge is throwing an error.

[Naviss 0]

Also you should always place a off / on ramp now and then even if it's not going to anything, This can help when you need to delete some sections of the highway without having to re-mark the whole road!

[manuelandrei 0]

Originally posted by: Naviss

Also you should always place a off / on ramp now and then even if it's not going to anything, This can help when you need to delete some sections of the highway without having to re-mark the whole road!quote>

Yeah thats a really bright idea. Especially when intersections come so cheap in maintanance.

[Mk4UmHa 0]

Yep, I can't connected highways to the highway bridge, I keep getting "invalid junction. Any ideas on how to fix this?

[mrfisse 0]

My best tip is simply to plan ahead before you build.

Use the expert mode and lay the bigger roads before you zone your areas. You can zone the bigger roads in smaller sections and then let them go over to smaller sections when you are outside your building limits. This will keep the cost down wich is important especially in your citys earlier stages.

I've done my city "Ystad" on the british server this way. Feel free to check it out. The networking is working really well in that city.

[manuelandrei 0]

Originally posted by: Mk4UmHa

Yep, I can't connected highways to the highway bridge, I keep getting "invalid junction. Any ideas on how to fix this?quote>

I had the same problem. I have reported the bug but I haven't received any answer yet.

[8elhaj 0]

Yeah they have to fix the highways, its kinda not good

[PLB82 0]

Originally posted by: manuelandrei

Originally posted by: Mk4UmHa

Yep, I can't connected highways to the highway bridge, I keep getting "invalid junction. Any ideas on how to fix this?quote>

I had the same problem. I have reported the bug but I haven't received any answer yet.

quote>

I can't do it either.  I get the "Invalid Junction" every time.  It's kind of frustrating because now every time I want to cross a road, I have to build a bridge over the highway instead.

Why no elevated expressways?   It would be so much easier.

Also, how do you place simple on/off ramps?  All I see are the huge intersections.

[morriswalters 16]

Highway bridge connections are borked. You can build elevated expressways using the large bridge.  Do it in sections and the suspension part never comes up.  There are only four interchanges.  Period.  To do intersections you will have to come to the ground  Or raise the ground to the bridge.  Use bridges and roads to elevate terrain.  That way you can create ramps.  You can raise roads like bridges.  If you are careful and with practice it is possible to make bridges that take up a minimum amount of space.  Set you bridge over the road you want to cross, keep it as low as you can.  The piers should just clear the road your crossing.  Use a road to create a ramp to the bridge.  Then build your bridge to the ramp.  This help keep the bridge not complete error from happening.  Tunnels don't seem to be working very well and I would avoid them.

[sparky66 0]

it would be nice if MC had just made stuff like this properly in the first place. SC4 had better highway intersections. this game needed more work before it was released. unfortunately, if you don't keep paying for the PO you will never get the complete game.

[0wn3d 2]

Originally posted by: morriswalters Tunnels don't seem to be working very well and I would avoid them.quote>

Tunnels are really working fine, the biggest issue is with graphical errors.  Many times tunnels will just look like a road going into a cliff, with no actual tunnel.  Other then that, tunnels work pretty well and the non-realisticness of them helps make them very useful (You can have a tunnel go off a road, do a complete 180 in a very small spot and then go wherever, never seen a tunnel do that in my entire life lol)

[Rigwald 0]

Originally posted by: manuelandrei

Originally posted by: Mk4UmHa

Yep, I can't connected highways to the highway bridge, I keep getting "invalid junction. Any ideas on how to fix this?quote>

I had the same problem. I have reported the bug but I haven't received any answer yet.

quote>

I, too, can't get my highways to span a river, etc...  If I start the bridge unconnected and expand over the river, then I can finish the end off by connecting it to an existing highway.  The result, however, is only 1 end of the bridge being tied in to the system.  The other end gives the invalid junction error.

I would also like to see highways be able to be placed straight (not at the whim of my hand).  Simple on/off ramps would be helpful as well.  I like the idea of elevated expressways (as in Sim City) or highways dug into the terrain (as is the mode in many cities).

[Palpatine001 57]

Bug issues aside

Plan and PLAN WELL IN ADVANCE, highways like their r/l counter parts are expensive in money and planning resources.

So leave lots of room unless you like to demolish for your later highways

Oh and remember, expressways run TO city centres, Highways run AROUND them

[Androv 6]

There's no way I can fit highways into my current city, they just take up too much space on my map which is 75% unbuildable. I'd hate to see the traffic problems on the maps with over 1,000,000 citizens :S

[Wrightguy0 40]

Originally posted by: Palpatine001

Oh and remember, expressways run TO city centres, Highways run AROUND them quote>

or through them  but never to them

[gabry85 2]

Originally posted by: Palpatine001

Plan and PLAN WELL IN ADVANCE, highways like their r/l counter parts are expensive in money and planning resourcesquote>

Correct. But in real life any project, including 'zoning', is first planned on the paper. SC4's highways were expensive too, but at least you can delete a small piece without losing the whole segment, or worse, bridges.

Now, one nice thing I would love to see in a 'next-gen' city-builder is a planning mode where you can experiment with all your crazy or expensive projects for free and confirm when you're ready to build. Alas, this still seems to be a dream as I don't expect to get anything like that anytime soon.

[Rigwald 0]

Temporary bridge fix.  As you build your bridge, you must finish it connected to a highway (or better yet) a highway junction of some kind.  That leaves the starting point of the bridge.  In order to continue in that direction, I had to build another bridge, but keep it on the ground like a road, and then connect that to an existing highway junction.  Costly and a real pain, but it works.

 

[Palpatine001 57]

Oh well, case of trial and error (and save often) when coming to building highways.

I wonder what time will bring with transit expansion options (apart from what we already know)

[Attachtatuk 0]

How do you put on/off ramps ?

[Rigwald 0]

Originally posted by: Attachtatuk

How do you put on/off ramps ?quote>

I haven't found any simple on/off ramps.  I have to do a cloverleaf and step it down to an expressway then into an avenue (unless I only one one direction, then it is the large interchange.  Takes up WAY too much space, but there seems to be no on/off ramps.

[Attachtatuk 0]

Originally posted by: Rigwald

Originally posted by: Attachtatuk

How do you put on/off ramps ?quote>

I haven't found any simple on/off ramps.  I have to do a cloverleaf and step it down to an expressway then into an avenue (unless I only one one direction, then it is the large interchange.  Takes up WAY too much space, but there seems to be no on/off ramps.

quote>

I was afraid this was the answer. I saw those "road interchange" but I couldn't believe that this was the only way to connect your street grid with the highway. Wow that sucks... they take so much space for nothing!

Thanks man

[Androv 6]

Hopefully they will release some more interchange tools in the future There is an interchange for a large avenue as well, but it takes up even *more* space!

[Palpatine001 57]

Highways and interchanges like in real life are a pain to plan, pain to build, pain on the budget and TAKE HEAPS OF SPACE.

Trail and error, Trail and Error o/

[MandelSoft 2,769]

What happened to the good old diamond and partial cloverleaf? I didn't see anything like that on the screenshots. Only three unrealistic types of interchanges:

- .... a waaaay to large Avenue x Highway interchange with roundabouts ...

- ... a T-stack that left all rules of logic in design ...

- ... and an over-expensive cloverleaf ...

They should really check the RL designs of basic interchanges. Another thing that keeps me from buying the game...

Best,

Maarten

[Rigwald 0]

Originally posted by: Palpatine001

On

Highways and interchanges like in real life are a pain to plan, pain to build, pain on the budget and TAKE HEAPS OF SPACE.

Trail and error, Trail and Error o/quote>

Simple on and off ramps do not take much space at all.  They tend to be 1-2 lanes on either side of the the actual freeway, not something 5+ times the actual width of the freeway itself in a square (like the funky one provided which has the traffic circle).  

 

In terms of space, I think some people over estimate the amount of space required.  Google earth various U.S. interstates as they go through suburbs and cities.  There are areas where they have a small footprint.  The only area that requires large footprints are interchanges between various freeways.  Again, they tend to be dug down into the terrain to proved straight (or relatively straight) overpasses for the surrounding roads, without the need for tunnels or bridges.  (This is especially true in cities and towns.) 

[zwr100 2]

I find it realistic that it's difficult to build highways and forces you to de extensive planning.

HOWEVER,

500k?!? Is it really that high?  IRL Cities don't get to 500k and then decide to build higways.  Interstate 81, one of the more major highways in Pennsylvania was only built in the 60s/70s.  It goes through (very near) Chambersburg 20k pop, Harrisburg 50k pop, and Wilkes-barre/Scranton 40k/70k (nowhere near Philly or Pit).  If you had to wait until 500k pop to build a highway, Pittsburgh would have no highways, and Philadelphia would have the only highways in the State.  I can pretend that they accidentally put one too many 0s or just ignore the number but I still don't really feel right about the highways and city development.

In real life I often find that the the highways already exist and growth happens around the existing transportation routes (seriously - look at new neighborhhods).  Sure highways had to be built at some point in time, but I don't really get the feeling that we're playing over the course of a hundred years or whatever.  I would find it more realistic if instead of just connecting to a neigbor city you had to build a highway from one connection to the next.

Extensive planning isn't a bad thing, but the type of planning you have to do for highways seems unrealistic.