Frontage Road Turnaround Ramps

[MUCTC 7]

Hey yall

I've been trying to make a proper interchange with frontage roads which includes the turnaround lane, allowing for only one exit ramp to serve all directions. It also makes for a very compact interchange.

Anyone who's ever been to El Paso or Pasadena TX has seen these—I assume they're all over the state. They're also underneath the Metropolitan Autoroute way up north in Montreal, Canada. I was trying to make it with RHW with fairly poor results has anyone attempted it?

[k50 427]

I've never seen that used, but you could probably make something like that with the FlexSPUI.

I might try that on one of my next CJ updates actually, it looks pretty interesting.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

... OWR Slip Lanes?

Scratch that; there isn't a piece for that, and no, it's not a SPUI.

  Edited May 26, 2012 by Ganaram DI  

[sillyror 0]

I'm from Austin, we have them all over the state. I found out 6 years ago that this is not common and was floored, it seems so simple. I can see how it could be difficult to replicate on the game here, but that would be an amazing feature, gl!

[MUCTC 7]

Ganaram DI,

They're like the slip lanes in your picture except they carry traffic in the opposite direction to the adjacent lane of the crossroad. i.e. they could not join the frontage road and the avenue, they join frontage-frontage.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

They're like the slip lanes in your picture except they carry traffic in the opposite direction to the adjacent lane of the crossroad. i.e. they could not join the frontage road and the avenue, they join frontage-frontage.

I know that, but as I said, there ain't a piece for it. The next best thing is to use the OWR-1 from the NMW, but,...

It ain't really stable... Unless you space it out...

  Edited May 26, 2012 by Ganaram DI  

[MUCTC 7]

aw well

I'll keep an eye out in case it shows up in an update some day.

[Cob92 360]

Yeah, I'd love to be able to build those ingame. They're one of the best features of TX freeways; makes it easy to flip around and go the other direction.

[Haljackey 17,302]

While I personally despise frontage roads, I always like a challenge.

Hope this concept inspires you!

Click for full size:

Mini-Mosaic

Basically do the set up as the map shows, but make your u-turn a 2-lane one-way road instead. Then Hook the two parallel two lane one-way roads to an 4-lane one-way road (part of the Network Widening Mod / NWM) for a short weave section before you split them back up.

Anyways hope this helps!

-Ryan (Haljackey)

  Edited May 26, 2012 by Haljackey  

[riiga 233]

I experimented with access/frontage roads a while back and this was what I came up with:

As for turnaround lanes, I tried this:

(The deconversion of MIS should not happen in the current version, this was using a NAM testing controller)

Hopefully there will be more inside exit/entrace pieces in a future NAM release, which would allow for full frontage road functionality.

[MUCTC 7]

Ryan and Riiga:

Those look pretty good! I am inspired. Although I do wish they were a little more compact. Nevertheless, I have the urge to pave!

  Edited May 26, 2012 by MUCTC  

[Wiimeiser 444]

Maybe we should make OWR-2 and OWR-3 MIS ramps?

[Haljackey 17,302]

As for turnaround lanes, I tried this:

You sir win at life. You also 1-up'ed my concept.

Maybe we should make OWR-2 and OWR-3 MIS ramps?

The beauty of the Modular Interchange System is you can transition one-way roads into the MIS ramps themselves. Saves a lot of work, and it functions perfectly.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

Maybe we should make OWR-2 and OWR-3 MIS ramps?

The beauty of the Modular Interchange System is you can transition one-way roads into the MIS ramps themselves. Saves a lot of work, and it functions perfectly.

Or perhaps a direct connection instead (which, in my opinion, is more visually fitting and arguably more compact): OWR-2 A/B/C1 ramps.

[Zodicus 34]

Leave it to Haljackey to come up with another great idea! I'm in Houston and a 48 state truck driver. This type of interchange is very common in Texas but extremely uncommon over the rest of the country.

[Cob92 360]

As for turnaround lanes, I tried this:

You sir win at life. You also 1-up'ed my concept.

Maybe we should make OWR-2 and OWR-3 MIS ramps?

The beauty of the Modular Interchange System is you can transition one-way roads into the MIS ramps themselves. Saves a lot of work, and it functions perfectly.

I think what he means is to have ramp interfaces for the OWR similar to what we've got for avenues. That's really the only way to do frontage roads properly anyway, since the whole point of a frontage road is to provide road access and RHW doesn't allow road access. Every time you use RHW for a frontage road, you've now got a section that is useless for stores, or homes, or anything else that needs a road.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

I think what he means is to have ramp interfaces for the OWR similar to what we've got for avenues.

...

Every time you use RHW for a frontage road, you've now got a section that is useless for stores, or homes, or anything else that needs a road.

Unless you're recreating Highway 401 and hey, that's what I said!!!

[Tarkus 6,932]

I think what he means is to have ramp interfaces for the OWR similar to what we've got for avenues.

That's actually been on the docket for awhile, mainly as the "Texas contingent" of the RHW userbase is pretty large. It's mostly been a matter of finding the best way to implement them. I think between the existence of the NWM and the advancements in modding techniques, the time is just about ripe for it. Just have to take care of the Project 57 stuff first.

-Tarkus