Critique my regional plan! (An overview)

[waybig 35]

I'm on the verge of starting a new region, but I've never planned one out before starting. So, I figured this time I'd try something a little different. This post is just an overview of what I've planned so far. The real nitty gritty stuff will come later. For now though, I've decided that this region will be centered around Chesapeake, a city I'm envisioning spreading across four large tiles and divided into quadrants, like a certain capital city.

Here is a map of the region:

Basic city plans ordered by target population:

Chesapeake 2M

NE - 750k, seat of government, grand buildings, museums, embassies, “central park” and waterfront park, plazas and mall, $$$ residential and office, top 5 university, mostly midrise, high-rises at NE intersection with Potomac and at SW “Four Corners” region

SE - 650k, $$$ residential and retail predominant, $$ along border with SW, some $$-$$$ office, waterfront park, top 5 university, mostly low and midrise with exception of NW “Four Corners” region

SW - 350k, industrial, seaport, $ residential predominant, $$ along borders with NW, SE and Suffolk, mostly $ retail, densest at NE corner (“Four Corners” region) which will form an exclave of $$$ affluence

NW - 250k, solid $$-$$$, more suburban feel, higher density (edge city-ish) in SE corner (“Four Corners” region) south and east of James Creek

Winchester 550k, mid-sized city, small fairly dense downtown transitioning rapidly to medium and then suburban density

Passamore 300k, highly populated $$-$$$ suburb, denser along border with NE-Ch and at southeast intersection with Sandy Springs (high-rises), transitioning to suburban density to N and W, high concentration of I-HT

Reston 250k, highly populated $$-$$$ suburb, well-planned, denser near southeast border with NE-Ch, high concentration of I-HT

Hopewell 200k, old small town on grid, fast growing $$ suburban from Winchester to north and Passamore to south

Calverton 120k, old small town on grid, new rapidly-sprawling $$ suburban

Sandy Springs 100k, chic $$$ suburban, denser toward Potomac & Chesapeake and at SW intersection with Passamore (high-rises), island preserves

Suffolk 90k, denser near border with SW-Ch, blue-collar/industrial, $-$$ toward SW transitioning to solid $$ with pockets of $$$ heading south and east

Brookville 90k, rapidly growing suburb of Winchester, developed along eastern border with Winchester and southeastern border with Wills Creek

Kecoughtan 85k, $$ sprawl, extension of highly desirable Reston, high concentration of I-HT

Tuckahoe 80k, denser near border with SE-Ch, $$ in west transitioning to $$$ heading east

Poquoson 80k, old small town on grid, new rapidly-sprawling $$ suburban, $$$ at river

Potomac 50k, 200k jobs, edge city, dense cluster of high-rises at NW corner

Calvertville 40k, rapid growth, $$$ suburban along river, typical $$ suburban sprawl transitioning into rural w/ (horse) farms to west, growing I-HT presence

Wills Creek 40k, $$ suburban along southeast border with Reston, eastern border with Hopewell and northeast border with Brookville, transitioning into rural to W

Susquehanna 40k, $$-$$$ suburban, developed along southern border with Sandy Springs and along western border with Hopewell up to about Plum Creek (body of water "cutting" into Susquehanna), transitioning to rural to N and E

Bloomfield 30k, $$ suburban along western border with Winchester, rural to S and E

Weyland 15k, rural, agricultural, burgeoning suburb w/ I-HT in south

Nansemond 10k, rural, agricultural

(Very) Basic overview of interstate system (please excuse the crudeness ) The white line is to be a major road.

So let me know what you think! Got questions? What makes sense? What doesn’t? What can be improved? What should be removed or altered? Looking for any and all ideas! Thanks!

[fatschmo 6]

jeez bro u really went all out i wish i cuold plan like this

[memedoug85 36]

Any great city owes its greatness to correct planning - Good work

[jacksunny 741]

My only suggestion is to expand the interstate further into Chesapeake as it is the most populated and you will probably run into traffic problems.

[waybig 35]

Distracted by life (and the SC2013 announcement!) I am just now getting around to starting this project. As it becomes more and more clear that this type of region wont even be possible in the next SimCity, I decided that I might as well do it with SC4. Looking at the plan after the passing of six months, I feel there are some things I'd change, but I'd still like to get some more opinions from other forumers. Get as critical as you want!

[Linoa06 1,374]

Hmm, it sounds rather fair. I'd love to see railroads though! I tend to NOT plan my cities in the long term to give them that chaotic feeling, though. Typically I begin my regions with tons of cute farmlands and small cities and they grow up together. However as far as it goes, it sounds all fair. Be careful in general that you don't get eternal commuting loops, though. ^^

[likk9922 1]

I agree with the former. You might have some traffic problems in the inner parts of the city with that design. I'd suggesting completing those highways that taper off into loops.

You could probably get some avenues going that would solve the problem, though. Ultimately it looks like good terraforming and a solid design!

[waybig 35]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I hear what you're all saying about the freeways. The way I imagined it in my mind was that the freeways were all originally going to connect and form a sort of grid system of interstates, but due to a Freeway Revolt, all construction was halted, leaving Chesapeake with the above incomplete freeway system. Major mass transit systems will be implemented in the region, so I'm hoping that traffic won't get too bad.

I am really curious, though, about how to best avoid the eternal commuter problem!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Build your "interstate" system as a tree and avoid any return loops that cross three or more city tiles. Think of it literally as a tree with trunk and branches. No branches are allowed to come back to the trunk.

[eggman111 8]

Hi,

I like the idea of planning it out! I just started doing this for a small region that I'm starting.

I think you have a good overall plan. There are a couple of freeways that I think could be optimized.

The freeway crossing the river should be a bit further north so it crosses the large island. That way you can better develop it (think Mercer Island in Seattle).

The two freeways that parallel each other seem a bit close to each other. Moving the east one toward the ocean seems like a better bet to me.

See the picture for my suggestions. Freeways I think you should remove are crossed out in black, and freeways that I think you should add are in red.

Of course, it's your city, so feel free to dismiss my ideas!

[Zodicus 34]

I personally would do it like so:

The red ones are major interstate systems coming into the region. Notice how the main one comes down from the south and goes into a loop around your planned CBD.

Blue Roads are secondary freeways. Theyre job is to link outlying area's of the region to the interstates which are your main arteries.

Purple roads are Spur lines. They will take traffic from the freeways and provide are short, direct route into your CBD. These routes over time will be clogged with traffic especially as your CBD grows in density. Plan for widening projects along these routes, use mass transit to aleviate some pressure from the freeway and use HOV lanes.

The fat yellow one is more of a secondary loop around the CBD. I would envision this as going all the way up to RHW10 but with 3 continuous through traffic lanes with the other 2 being used for accel / decel lanes. It's traffic can also use the interstate loop it intersects with to cut through the CBD and shave time off their travel times.

The outer white box represents the outer most loop of your city basically seperating the heavy ubanized area from suburbia.

The grey box represents the secondary freeway loop around the outskirts of your CBD. This will give you plenty of travel options to the surrounding area as well as the interior of the CBD.

The Black box represents the core of the freeway system. Using a combination ot the interstate and secondary loop around the CBD you essentially create another loop around you government buildings other highly traffices area's in the core of the downtown. Think directional T or trumpet interchanges to control and route the flow of traffic where you want it to go. Funnel that traffic onto the interior loops instead of sending them down the other loops or surface streets. Even with main avenues going through town you want to keep as much traffic off them as possible to improve commute time. Remember, funneling traffic and planning for congestion in the long term is one of the big keys to bulding any major region.

Good luck with it!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Both have possibilities of the eternal commuter loop. TREE structure is necessary to totally avoid this bug.

[Zodicus 34]

I didn't reealize the eternal commuter was that big of a problem. I thought it was just a few hundred of them - which I can deal with - You guys make it seem like it is a much bigger problem than that. Maybe I need to rethink my regional plan. But, it's hard, being a trucker by trade I have been around the united states and seen well built and poorly built metropolitan transport systems, The best ones always incorporate loops with spurs going into the CBD to take some load off the loops and main surface streets.

In any case it is a very good idea in the real world but maybe with the problem of the eternal commuter it may not be such a good idea in SC4.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The problem is that the commuter loop just loads the roads and the commuters just go round and round. Soon you have more people on your roads than Sims in the city.

[jacksunny 741]

Something like this would work: