Raised ground highway over avenue

[Coyote Seven 6]

I'm really sorry if this has been covered before, but my search fu seems to be quite weak today!

In my city, I've got a lot of raised highway in my downtown area, which lowers to a sunken highway as it moves out to the immediate suburbs. While it's quite functional this way, I really don't like the look of all that grass and columns underneath a raised highway in such a dense urban area. I've tried to obscure it a little with sound barriers, but I think it still looks pretty dinky.

I had the idea that I could raise the land up and use ground highway instead. Pretty much the inverse of how I made the sunken highways! But I've been running into snags so far. My very first problem that I have to address are all the avenues that run under the freeway. It's a bit too cramped to use tunnels, I think. I'm not sure if I can raise the land high enough to cause small bridges to form to go over the avenues! And I haven't even figured out how I would place on and off ramps this way, yet.

It's kind of a cramped space I have to work in. The freeways are inside long strips of otherwise empty land that is only 4 tiles wide. That's enough for the freeway and sound barriers, though as I said I think that looks kind of ugly.

There's gonna be other problems I'm sure. Namely with the freeway interchanges and the suspension bridges over a huge river. But I figure I'll ask for help there later. Right now I just want know if what I'm trying to do with all those avenues running under the freeway is possible!

Thanks!

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

This is where the NAM would come into play, though I honestly don't like MHW, but some of its on-slope pieces are currently more superior than RHW's own stuff. (I'll show an example momentarily.)

Alternatively, you can put "stuff" under your elevated networks using The downside is that it works best on level ground.

Example using what's called the T On-slope piece:

  Edited September 23, 2012 by Ganaram Inukshuk  

[Coyote Seven 6]

You just made me realize that I should perhaps update my copy of NAM, haha. I shall do so today. Thank you!

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

When you update the NAM be sure to get the current Hotfix as well.

[Coyote Seven 6]

OK, how does this look?

I wish I could pretty up the slopes under the freeway, though I must admit this looks way better to me than the normal raised highway did!

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

A bit primitive compared to today's standards, but it'll work.

[Coyote Seven 6]

A bit primitive compared to today's standards, but it'll work.

Oh? I'm all ears! Or eyes, rather...

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

Well, most users these days would use RHW instead, but given your obvious constraint on space, I wouldn't recommend it for your current setup.

And don't get the impression that RHW is too big, because it's actually the other way around: MHW (the stuff you're using) is too small. I'm guessing you haven't yet, but the option is there... If you're willing to try.

If not, then I can only blame it on your space constraints, which is fine...

  Edited September 24, 2012 by Ganaram Inukshuk  

[Coyote Seven 6]

No, it really was the constraints I had on space! You see I started this city a very long time ago and now I'm determined to finish it.

But, now that I see your particular example, I'm wondering if I want to just start all over again. Ungh, man... decisions!

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

... How about you just continue what you finished first before considering anything like what I had above...?

  Edited September 24, 2012 by Ganaram Inukshuk  

[Coyote Seven 6]

Yup yup, I've already made a backup before I made the modification I showed here. Right now I'm trying to figure out how I can rework the city's entire freeway system to use RHW, without destroying too much of what I've already built around them.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Why not just pick a new tile or even a new region, and start a new city with RHW? The present city looks OK, if a little jammed, and working with RHW opens a whole new vista of possibilities plus a major exercise in civil engineering.

[Coyote Seven 6]

I've been trying to figure out just how you do this sort of thing with RHW, but so far I remain clueless.

I've tried searching for tutorials on this, but again... weak search-fu. :(

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

RHW Interchange Guide. Perhaps that link should be made more apparent here, simply because it's off-site.

From a developmental standpoint, there are things in development that can make the process of making even a simple diamond interchange even easier, and even more compact, but for now, that's really the best setup that can be done, or at least the best setup for my given example.

I can give you an "ingredients list" for what I used if you wanna try replicating it:

- RHW-4 Ground-to-Elevated On-Slope ON and OFF

- MIS Ground-to-Elevated L2 On-Slope ON and OFF

- MIS Ground-to-Elevated L2 ON and OFF

- RHW-4 Type A1 Ramp

[Coyote Seven 6]

Thank you! I shall pore over this. Though what's stumping me right now is just how do you get this RHW to run off a slope and over an avenue!

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

Thank you! I shall pore over this. Though what's stumping me right now is just how do you get this RHW to run off a slope and over an avenue!

On-slope pieces. Oh, and the "stubs" at the ends of each piece are draggable.

[Coyote Seven 6]

On-slope pieces. Oh, and the "stubs" at the ends of each piece are draggable.

Your help has been totally awesome. I really appreciate it.

[Coyote Seven 6]

OK! I think I've gotten RHW over avenue down, now...

Besides the overpasses, I also attempted a bridge. I originally made an MHW bridge; but besides not being able to choose a suspension bridge for some reason, the transition from that to RHW looked incredibly stupid. So I deleted that and made an avenue bridge. The transition from that to RHW looks a heck of a lot better!

Now I must figure out onramps and offramps...