San Diego County (Re-settled)

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

Wow really nice update dude! I really like seeing traffic in City Journals makes that city have a real touch! Great job!!

[davidhogan 1]

San Diego County Page 4

 

http://img101.exs.cx/img101/3592/page4-sm.jpg width=600 border=0>

[davidhogan 1]

Miramar/San Diego International Airport Celebrates Completion of Cargo Facilities!

 

 

Shown above is the mixed commercial/industrial parks that are located north of the passenger terminal, west of the runway.  This entire park is fed by the one avenue shown, which passes under the airport (quite a construction project in itself) and up to Miramar Rd in the Miramar section of the city.  It's currently being called Bussiness Park Blvd, but the city council hasn't actually approved that name yet.

 

 

Between CA-52 and the airport on the south side there's a good amount of mixed use zoning.  Other than the airplanes flying over though, residents for the most part like the conveniences of nearby jobs, stores (including Wegman's!), and community services.  Medium density is planned for within valley near CA-52, since the building's height will still be below the level of the runways.

 

As a sidenote, the airport I built here was actually somewhat inspired by on proposal for MCAS Miramar, the only problem was the diagonal runways. So it's basically just on the same area (which now is next to a landfill) as where the real Miramar International may someday go.  If only it was this easy to build an airport in real life...

 

Dave

[flanig407 0]

I like this CJ. Model of realism. I like how you chose to go with a very large map and have developed it realistically. Kudos on a job well done!

[davidhogan 1]

Encinitas Re-visited

 

 

The northern half of Encinitas, a very prude bedroom community that somehow has a Hooter's on the main avenue through the northern half of town.  (They just shut down a bar/restaurant named Showgirls this week IRL because of NIMBY issues.)  Encinitas is also, in real life, a town that incorporated about 1980 just to make sure the region's freeway network couldn't be completed.  Again, NIMBY.

 

 

And the southern part of town, including a park featuring the new Encintas Central Library.  Encinitas has become the commercial center for the North County so far, leading to the significant amounts of rowhouses and apartments shown above.

 

Dave

[flanig407 0]

Looks good. Region pop.?

[davidhogan 1]

 

There's not too much of an update here, just some infill through Miramar/Mira Mesa, and Mission Valley along I-15 from I-8 to I-5.  Oh, and some in north county.  And a little in Ocean Beach.  And Mission Beach.

 

Well, it doesn't feel like I got that much done. 

 

Dave

[GingerBlokey 30]

I really love this soooo realistic

Ducks for all

[newy2 0]

wow alot has happened since the last time i visited your cj david, well done

 Your airport looks great as well as to your cities. Encinitas looks very nice and green too, great work again

Nice regional view, i hope mine will look similar to that one day

 

 

[panthersimcity4 162]

awesome!

[dudyconstructor 46]

Looks nice! and nice water color! i will keep watching this CJ a little more

[davidhogan 1]

as a thank you to everyone who's commented:

 

Leucadia

(It's North of Encinitas)

 

 

One of two new areas built today.  It's bascially all urban sprawl, segmented by avenues to create a bunch of sectors.  Here's one.

 

 

Here's the other new neighborhood built today.  Thought you might like to see some new construction, thanks again for the comments everyone.

 

Dave

[ChicAgo333 2]

woah, that regional is incredible, i just...droool

 

awesome work

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

Nice city! Love the parks you put around the houses makes it feel so real.. makes me want to walk my dog in these areas!! Great job!

[flanig407 0]

I like how you use open grass areas to add realism and then even take the time to plant the trees over the grass. Looks good man.

[davidhogan 1]

I-5 Reconstruction in Del Mar Heights

 

 

So you've driven through Del Mar Heights recently and wondered what's with all the construction?  Maybe you got detoured off I-5 and had to use local roads in the middle of the night?  Well, with the completion of Del Mar Heights Country Club & Estates Del Mar's surface streets were becoming a nightmare to enter I-5.  To compensate, a large part of I-5 is being elevated, with new roads running below and several new ramps being constructed.

 

The costs for this are being offset by some small biotech firms that have moved into town, as well as the condos near the golf course. 

 

The open green spaces, as seen above, are not done only for cosmetic reasons, but also so I don't forget something is a park and zone in it.  (Residents lost the old Coleman Memorial Park to industry in to one such tragic incident.)

 

Dave

[flanig407 0]

Date: 10/22/2004 1:08:42 PM
Author: davidhogan

The open green spaces, as seen above, are not done only for cosmetic reasons, but also so I don't forget something is a park and zone in it. (Residents lost the old Coleman Memorial Park to industry in to one such tragic incident.)

Dave

quote>


Good Deal!

[davidhogan 1]

Now that I'm thinking about it, there's even more reasons I use so many open green spaces:

 

They look good on the transit map

They look good on the satellite map

They raise land values

They make me work harder to balance the budget

They eat up pollution

They don't mess up hillsides, and they make the hillside look more lush, like San Diego's hillsides really do.

 

And generally I treat them as reserved land that I won't bulldoze through to add zones - sometimes roads/civic buildings, but I try to avoid it cause...  Well, I like parks. 

 

I'm thinking of trying some cut and cover projects for I-15, like the real one has through the recently build 40th Street Alignment.  (I-15 ended at I-8, then became CA-15, which was a freeway called Ward Blvd connected to 40th street, which at the south end picked up CA-15 again as Wabash (it was at one time Wabash Blvd, but that was too much apparantly, so it became Wabash.)  Wabash ran down to the I-5 end of the current CA-15.  Because of left interchanges at CA-94, CA-15 is still not interstate past I-8 though.

 

So there's the San Diego Roadgeek bit of info for the week.

 

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

Solana Beach

(Or, I already had these pictures edited and forgot to post them in that last update.)

 

 

The new pier at Solana Beach.  These condos were just constructed, and the local streets all upgraded to roads to handle all the new traffic.  The pier has become a popular tourist destination in San Diego County.

 

 

And a little further north we see the beach and some more of the recently built condos along Seabreeze Ln.  Many local homeowners were not only paid for the land these condos are on, but were also given a free condo to keep the complaints to a minimum.

 

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

The Freeways of Miramar

 

 

So, what happened here?  Well, quite simply, too many freeways led to avenues being bumper to bumper.  The old 163 ends into I-15 here, as well as now CA-52 heads across (shown), and the high density of industrial jobs to the north just created more traffic problems than I could have imagined.

 

To make things more interesting, Kearney Villa Rd really is a freeway-class road, with full on-ramps.  It's the old US 395, and was part of  the routing of I-15 before CalTrans decided to build it right in the 1980's.  No frontage roads in real life, that was just something I wanted to do.

 

Miramar way ends into the southern segment of I-15 (where it meets with CA-163) just east of this picture.  It basically just serves to connect I-15, CA-163, and Kearney Villa Road to relieve traffic from CA-52.

 

Once again, SimCity 4 made me build something the real way to manage traffic - go figure.

 

Dave

[flanig407 0]

I like how you explain your highway layouts. It seems the depths of you interest in realism and city layout compares to mine. Where did you get those authentic California state road numbers/icons? Also, will you give us an example of a beltway park?

[davidhogan 1]

The highway signs were generated with ShieldsUp! , then edited with Photoshop to have a transparent background so they just float over the freeway.  All my freeway desinations so far are either the real designation of a similar route, or an open number (CA-296 and CA-308/I-308 are both unassigned.)

 

San Diego really has no good beltway parks - Balboa Park was designed to be similar to central park, with the cultural center added because of the proximity to the city when it was hosting the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition. 

 

The closest thing would either be Mission Trails Regional Park - it was the edge of the city when it was set aside so that there'd still be a natural area left there even if sprawl overtakes all sides.  Pe

[davidhogan 1]

Lake Hodges

(Or: I Took Too Many Screenshots & Didn't Want to Toss Them All)

 

 

The northern end of Lake Hodges, after completion of I-15 towards Escondido above it.  Thanks to SC4's lack of surface water, the lake is much lower than it really is.  Way to go Maxis.  The entire community north of the lake shown above grew after I-15 was built.

 

 

I-15's preferred routing took it right through the middle of the small town of Lake Hodges.  I didn't want to relocate 400 people from a small older town, so instead we worked out an agreement to build a tunnel under the town.  Nobody complained too much.

 

Dave

[flanig407 0]

I grew up near and in Buffalo, NY so I'll use Delaware Park as a better example. It was built on the edge of the city (at the time it was built) along a creek (already a scenic area) to help divide the city from the suburbs. (The park-like setting continues all the way along the 198 to the 190, through a college campus not marked on the map.) From maps I've seen Dallas has some parks that have a similar effect, giving a nice large open area for urban residents before you're too far away from the city. Usually when a city hits between 750,000 and 1 million people parks like that start growing up.

As a plus for the San Diego region, both in SC4 and real life, becuase of the terrain there's a good number of areas where developing them just doesn't make sense. SC4 doesn't project the hillsides that well, but I usually try to preserve any slope I can't easily build on as a park. This has led in real life (and something I copy in my region) to having big golf courses that cover a series of finger canyons to cover a whole hillside with open space, as well as reduce traffic demands on an otherwise congested area.

Dave


I grew up in the Orlando Metro area. It's hard to relate this area to other major metro areas outside of FL as Orlando isn't in a location that it gets alot of road traffic from other states passing through (unless their visiting attractions). For this reason, we don't have the I-400 circling our city, but state toll-highways (ex: FL-408, FL-417) that were built far too late, and don't really serve anyone up to 15-20 miles at times outside the Orlando city limit. They easily serve anyone outside those respective highways. For this reason, Orlando has a very large amount of traffic on regular roads (similar to the avenues of SC4). The Orlando Metro is one of those regions that only has about 20% of the total metro population residing within the central city limits. More than 80% of the 1.8 million people in the metro area live outside of Orlando.

Also, our terrain is uniquely flat. It's very hard to find even the smallest of hills in this area.


Just thought I'd give a little info on my hometown, hehe.

[dudyconstructor 46]

WOOW looks so great!! your freeways are so cool! nice job!

[davidhogan 1]

I-5 Reconstruction In Downtown Progresses

Before & After

 

State & Columbia Street Overpasses prior to re-construction of I-5 in Downtown. 

Before the work was completed I-5 was a ground highway with several one-way overpasses, but it led to not enough access to the freeway.  Planners realized new bi-directional exits could exist south of Harbor Dr if each one-way street received traffic from one direction only.

 

New State / Columbia exits and traffic circle passing under I-5. 

After the rebuilding there is much more access to the freeway through this part of downtown, as well as turn around facilities that merely replaced open green spaces.  Traffic circulation through the entire area around the construction has improved signifcantly since.  City planners are now researching what can be done to relieve the southern segments of I-5 now that downtown has grown to about 275,000 residents.

 

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

Rosecrans National Cemetery Dedicated

 

 

Rosecrans National Cemetery has been started, shown above.  The oldest parts of the cemetery have tree lined paths, but city engineers haven't finished all their work on the above area yet.  A second phase of the cemetery is planned on the top of the hill, and the third phase will eventually appear on the west side of the hill.

 

Dave

[flanig407 0]

Great eye-candy.

[davidhogan 1]

 

It's the first thing I made that anyone asked for, so here it is.  The Cemetery Creation Pack is now on the StEx, enjoy. 

 

Dave

[TheJerseyDevil73 13]

Hmm nice update. I may need that cemetary pack. Thanks for the idea buddy.