The Laughing Moose Showcase

[bluemoose 223]

Emperordaniel: D: Thanks!

M-98/ South Sunderland Connector Interchange

(AKA Brightside Interchange)

The M-98/ SSC Interchange is an odd interchange that grew from a simple trumpet to the monster it is today.

It was first designed to Connect Downtown and Southern Sunderland with the M-98, which loops up over the north side of Sunderland. The South Suncerland Connector Highway, which is of A-Road status, greatly reduces travel time to Downtown Sunderland, even with its lights and intersections. As Development crept west, however, the trumpet was expanded to provide some partial access to the west on Southern Boulevard, the Western Extension of the SSC.

An Overview:

The Eastern Approach on SSC Westbound. The SSC still uses the old trumpet setup to have full access to M-98 East and West. Also, we can see the roads that provide access to Southern Boulevard.

The Central Portion of the interchange where the old trumpet can clearly be seen.

The Southern Approach on M-98 includes a very long, and for motorways, steep, grade down a mountainside. Because of this special speed limit matrix signs have been set up and an extra south/west bound land has been added for trucks and busses to climb the mountain without interrupting traffic flow on the main motorway. Because of this, many extra signs are present forcing large vehicles into the Climbing lane exit.

The Western, partial access Approach on Southern Boulevard Eastbound.

An "All-Turns" Exit provides access to the township of Brightside and U-Turns on Southern Boulevard. All-Turn Lanes are common on Southern Boulevard and SSC.

I hope you guys enjoy this!!!

[nathanthemayor 1,262]

Whoa!Nice trumpet/Roundabout interchange combo!And that is one steep highway!

[simlink 1,098]

Wow, I love that interchange! It looks really cool - it is a good way of making use of existing infrastructure while adding some new portions to it.

[packersfan 666]

Great interchange! I'm jealous, I can't wait until can start building such interesting interchanges.

[grstudios 188]

Very good Bluemoose! I sure love your interchanges. What kind of trees do you use at the surroundings of the intchg?

[kj3400 178]

Verynice interchange there. And I'm liking the jughandle. You don't see too many of those in cjs. Very original.

[rewright 804]

Nice work on the highways and interchanges. I haven't mastered RHW yet.

[bluemoose 223]

Replies!

nathanthemayor: Thanks! Thats why the highway has a special truck climbing lane. I can't stand trucks slowing down every time theres a hill.

sim_link: Thank you! Thats the way they do it in real life, so adding and changing old stuff is one way to get a realistic effect.

packersfan: Thanks! I can't wait to see what you come up with for the RHW! Im sure it will be awesome.

grstudios: Thank you! Those are Girafe's Oaks

kj3400: Thanks! Jughandles aren't used often, but I personally think they add a realistic touch, and that they are rather efficient (in real life, because in SC4, the sims won't use them right!)

rewright: Thanks! It takes a while to get acquainted with the RHW.

Region View!

As you'll see, Ive made some major alterations to the southwest to accommodate a port and a costal plain, as well as the city of Van Meer, which you can locate on the map of Westramine.

An unaltered image:

A Map of where we've been and what we've seen:

Enjoy!

[packersfan 666]

Nice region view!

[bluemoose 223]

Hey, packersfan! Thanks for dropping by.

Just a small teaser today!

Unfortunately, I have been unable to work with SC4 lately because of RL stuff (all good, though). I am starting to feel like Sunderland is stuck again, so I'll probably start Van Meer next, but I really want to show you guys Downtown and Central Sunderland before that.

But here is a teaser of Topsham, the brownstone neighborhood on the top of the plateau to the immediate west of downtown. Theres not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on up here, but hopefully a future update will cover this area.

Thanks for stopping by!

[rewright 804]

I like the back allies. They really add to an urban environment like this.

[bluemoose 223]

Hello All!

Rewright: Thank you! I am going with a Northeast US theme for this city, so Alleys are an essential part.

Topsham

Topsham is a section of Sunderland directly west of the Center and Downtown, across the River.

First, an overview to situate yourselves (the outlined portion is Topsham):

In the west of Topsham are single family houses that work up to rowhomes, walkups and even row apartments, but the area around Madison High School is calm, peaceful and affluent:

Some Mixed Development and Roth Grammar (K-8 gr) School overlook the Aanmeer on the tops of the bluffs:

To Continue East on Highmount Blvd, We come to Hepburn St, and a housing project with the best views of and in Sunderland City:

An Office Park was recently built in an abandoned block north on Hepburn St:

The Church of the Ascension overlooks Downtown and the centerline of the Nave aligns with the center of 4th St, Which tunnels under the church and surfaces in the next image:

Here is where 4th St surfaces and interfaces with Hepburn and Telmont. Also Pictured is Telmont Grammar (again, K-8 gr) School.

Northwest on Telmont/4th brings you to the business district of Old Topsham. Here, stores, shops and restaurants line Nicholls Ave, the Western Extension of W 9th St.There is a complex Intersection and partial (to North and from South only) access to the Crosstown parkway, the massive tunnel under the Topsham plateau.

That's All Folks!I tried to label the streets to better acquaint you with Sunderland and the relationships between the buildings and neighborhoods.Thanks for visiting!

  Edited December 26, 2011 by bluemoose  

[Simbourgeois 139]

Nice update! I particularly like the tunnel under the Ascencion Church

[emperordaniel 1,281]

Great work on it all!

[rewright 804]

I like to see tunnels also, and you have some nice custom content as well. There were some ploppable stores with a floor or two above called small shops ploppables and large shops ploppables which would look great along the avenues in your city. Trouble is they will not work on my computer now. Don't know why, but you might want to give them a try.

Dick

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Cool Transit layout

[bluemoose 223]

Thank You everyone for the comments!

Well, anyways, I know I've been gone a while *sniffle, so here are a few pics of Warsaw.

Warsaw is a smallish town somewhere in the north/central area of Westramine. I haven't decided where yet, but a few candidates are:

1. A short ways south of York

2. Some ways Southwest of Umbria Heath

3. Somewhere far in the north

Link to the map of Westramine... If you have a suggestion for an alternate location, please leave one!

Anyways, on to the pictures:

And that's about it. Thanks for stopping by!! Don't forget to leave suggestions as to where Warsaw should be located. There should be at least one A(green)-Road running along the south edge of the Warsaw area, roughly E-W, and hopefully one running to the North, but the latter may be optional.

Thanks!

[wwetom1 831]

Warsaw Center looks good! I like that plaza at the top of the first picture.

[bluemoose 223]

Hello All!

I know I have been MIA for a long time, and I can't promise I'll be any more active. . .

But I have a picture to show you I haven't completely abandoned Sim City.

This is a new Region using the fantastic map of my Hometown, WIlliamsport, PA. The city is also loosely based on Williamsport. It is far from finished, but some pics will be ready soon. I'd really appreciate some advice on growing large expanses of Residential Areas as growth has stalled in the region at the moment. Thanks for stopping by!

[nathanthemayor 1,262]

Wow!Your new region looks fantastic!Can't wait to see some close-ups of it!

[simlink 1,098]

Love it! I really like watching development creep up to a mountainside like that.

[Charlie_Zane 963]

That region shot is great!

[bluemoose 223]

Replies:

nathanthemayor, sim_link, & City_Master: Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment!

The City of Wescester

Wescester is the new project I have been working on!

So today, I'd Like to show you the area of Near East Side. This neighborhood is located directly east of Downtown and is centrally located within the city limits. Near East Side is notorious for its odd-angled streets as it is located by a bend in the Susquehanna River.

Let's start off with an overview of Wescester's Road Map, highlighting Near East Side.

Next up is the sleepy neighborhood near Sheriden Park, a simple track and field.

*(Note that most N/S streets in central Wescester are tree names)

Near Sheriden Park is Central High School, the original public High School in Wescester, but now it is one of three in the City.

Just west of Central High is the north end of Susquehanna Univerisity's Main Campus.

The Center of Campus is wedged between Park Avenue and Chestnut Street.

An old Church near campus:

Brandon Park is the old city commons.

The odd street layout in this part of town make for a lot of multi-way intersections called squares.

Susquehanna Square is home to Wescester's tallest building, Grit Tower, the headquarters of the nationwide newspaper Grit. It marks the border between downtown and Near East Side. Susquehanna Square is also synonymous with the theatre district, though it is truly located in the blocks to the west of the square. Washington Boulevard, a major artery into the lower east of the city, also begins here.

This is Washington Square, the traditional East Edge of the Central Commercial District

Penn Square is located several blocks northeast of Washington Square and, along with Wilshire Square is an outlying business district. It is home to the Regional CocaCola HQ as well as some shopping and lofts.

Thanks for visiting Wescester!

[Hampi 54]

You have some great looking towns there! Love looks of your towns. Great work bluemoose!

The interchange in the first update on this page look really good to, I will have to practice a bit with real highways I think.

[jacksunny 741]

Those suburbs look really nice!

[Charlie_Zane 963]

The suburbs and parks look great! Very nice planning!

[simlink 1,098]

Looks really nice, love all the parkland and the schools. The downtown area looks sweet as well!

[Benedict 3,119]

Exciting new update - love the alleys and the use of FAR in some places.

[vivapanda 422]

I really like the odd street lay out!

[bluemoose 223]

Replies:

Hampi: Thank You! Rhw certainly takes a lot of practice to get right.

jacksunny, City_Master: Thank you! These suburbs are actually the main part of the city. Lots of cities in the NE US have low density

sim_link: Thanks for stopping by! Downtown is coming along nicely.

Benedict: Thanks! Even though the grid is prevalent in most of my cities, I like to change it up with some odd angles and different grid sizes.

vivapanda: I find cities with 100% grid boring, so I add some weird streets just for fun.

New Region Shot:

So I have finished treeing and rendering the region and added some highway bits here and there:

CLICK IT!

  Edited April 10, 2012 by bluemoose