San Diego County (Re-settled)

[davidhogan 1]

Re-Constructing San Diego Bay

 

 

A local developer may have pulled a practical joke on the residents of two new towers that were part of recent efforts to improve delapidated buildings.  See if you can spot the two duplicate buildings on opposite sides of the bridge.  (I tried to keep it easy.) 

 

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

San Diego County Page 7

 

http://img132.exs.cx/img132/9951/sdc22mp.jpg width=600 border=0>

[dudyconstructor 46]

Woah! your pop sure got a huge boost! looks very astonishing!

[cammo2003 20]

niiice work. I've had a look at some of the journal and I'm impressed.

I particularly like the region image above. Keep up the good work!

[exgamer07 0]

How is it that your sims can get to work without much use of mass transit?

[bobinator 0]

I think i looked this journal awhile back but its much improved!! 1 question. what's up with all the little islands on the coast just northwest of the main part of town?

Anyway, great job!!!

[davidhogan 1]

One of the mods I'm using is a 10x commute speed mod, that i modified so the walking speeds weren't so high that nobody would drive, and did a few other tweaks to make busses slower (so that only $ sims use them, even though this region has 0 bus stops), and I use a healthy amount of avenues and freeways (generally similar to what San Diego really has) that allows for a lot of cars.  The capacities for all the networks was modified to allow for more realistic traffic counts.  (Like, most avenues here hit a F classification at about 10,000 cars/hr, so for an Avenue in the game I made the capacity 7500, since congestion starts to affect speeds at about a D rating.

 

I try to keep congestion to a minimum, but there's some areas I just can't help it seems.

 

The islands near I-5 south of Mount Soledad are part of Mission Bay.  These islands (in real life) were created as part of a dredging project in the 1950's to allow better water flow through the bay.  This in turn helped to reduce pollution, and created some great parklands for people to use.  The project didn't work out as well as it was planned, so most of the islands have remained as parking lots and open spce.  The only major business (other than a few resort hotels) in real life is Sea World.  If anyone wants to BAT it, I'll put it right in the right spot. 

 

In my San Diego County after I had started developing those areas, I decided I wanted to leave a bit of open space.  I may actually remove some housing and add more open spaces, but I wouldn't quote me on that. 

 

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

National City On the Map

 

 

In Southwest National City the South Bay Blvd neighborhood is quickly becoming San Diego's Second Downtown.  High-density residential, office towers, and some local neighborhood shops give the area it's own separate charm - and considering the suburbs are only about 1/2 to 1/3 grown out, you can be sure it will keep growing up.

 

 

And from over the Pacific you can see parts of the National City Naval Station, the NC Marina, the waterfront with it's high-wealth condos, and on the far side of I-5, San Diego County's first proper Mosque.

 

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

How Has San Diego Grown?

 

 

There's a little Photoshop trick there: I overlaid a recent shot of Downtown with an old night shot.  Hopefully you can see the ghosts of the new buildings over what was there.

 

It's weird seeing how my city has grown, and once I put this together I figured I'd share it with everyone.

 

Dave

[UCSBClassics53 0]

Which lot did you use for all that green space on the map? I'm talking about places like Mount Soledad Natural Park and Balboa Park..
thanks...

[davidhogan 1]

 

Date:11/21/2004 1:46:02 AM
Author:UCSBClassics53

Which lot did you use for all that green space on the map? I'm talking about places like Mount Soledad Natural Park and Balboa Park..
thanks...

quote>

Those are actually just open green spaces placed ad nasuem with god mode trees (usually) lightly sprinkled over them.  It takes a bit of time, but also creates the total YIMBY effect that a park like that has for $$$ residents.

It's also a nice way to make sure I don't accidentally build into parks, rather than just leaving them unzoned which usually results in some accidental growth within parks.

Dave

[zoe 0]

it looks really cool!!

[dudyconstructor 46]

nice job david, looks very cool, nice downtown screenshot

[UCSBClassics53 0]

I'd like to make a suggestion in that you should also build the new CA 11 that will run from the I-905/CA 125 interchange eastward to a new Port of Entry.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist11/facts/11.pdf

[picard102 0]

Might be a little shallow for that carrier there.

[threeswept 12]

Wow...San Diego looks great...and, greener than it actually is. I love it!

[davidhogan 1]

Date:11/22/2004 5:29:05 AM
Author:UCSBClassics53

I'd like to make a suggestion in that you should also build the new CA 11 that will run from the I-905/CA 125 interchange eastward to a new Port of Entry.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist11/facts/11.pdf

quote>

I've actually been planning on it, the last freeway map is mostly a concept of about where I'm thinking they'll go.  Much like I added the 615 freeway near I-5/I-15 and the 296, I'm sure there's others that just due to SC4's traffic engine will be needed, or maybe they'll just come as adjustments to the planned roads.    I even have a sign ready. 

As for my aircraft carrier, I've been trying to keep the Naval bases where there really is ship access in the bay - you'd be really surprised by how easily they seem to move the carriers out there. 

And, a few quick shots to show the suburban areas I've been working in eastern National City.

The South Bay Parkway (CA-54) as it runs towards I-805 in southeast National City.  This whole area is an upper-middle class grid, framed by CA-54, I-5, and I-805.

Part of the reason for such rapid growth is the convenient locations of grocery stores, restaurants, and hotels with conference centers.

Dave

[colbysohl 0]

Wow! cool stores you got there.

[jay_allen1978 0]

looks really good, just a quick question though. I do not see a mass transit system. san diego uses it alot, not to mention they have almost completed an extension on their trolley system. Is there going to be one soon?...otherwise...great work!!! im impressed

[davidhogan 1]

 

Date:11/22/2004 2:10:48 PM
Author:jay_allen1978

looks really good, just a quick question though. I do not see a mass transit system. san diego uses it alot, not to mention they have almost completed an extension on their trolley system. Is there going to be one soon?...otherwise...great work!!! im impressed

quote>

In San Diego County, probably there won't be a trolley system ever.  The real SD Trolley is based on existing track, that was already in place while the city grew around it.  Though some parts (like the Mission Valley extension) use new track, for the most part the current and expected system will be routings planned over a century ago.

What I do have is a subway that I started adding once downtown just got too tall.  It runs basically from Lindbergh Field (the airport near downtown), to Barrio Logan at the moment.  It's one loop for the Harbor Island/Airport neighborhoods, a second loop for downtown (which has slowly grown into 4 concentric loops, which is almost a grid by now).  There's then a third loop in Barrio Logan, and a separate subway loop in Northeast Coronado.

So why the subway loops?  They feed the ferrys, which although they don't show up in the region census views, are all over the bay.  I didn't want car/passenger ferrys, since those would just bypass the bridge then, so they're passenger only fed by subway loops.  I'll try to get some subway maps together for SD soon, I can't believe I haven't posted any by now.

As far as the trolley, would I like to add one?  Yes.  Will I?  Probably not, since it's really just too much work to go through even every city from Downtown to the border, clear a path, make stations, and try to line it up with the cities above and below it without messing up traffic flow on the road networks as a result.  I could see the subway extending as a single line parallel to I-5 maybe, but really the traffic is good enough as is that it'd really just be a way to raise taxes without helping my Sims enough. 

Dave

[jay_allen1978 0]

ok. fair point...thank you.

[davidhogan 1]

Miramar Continues to Grow

 

 

Miramar has continued to grow, so much to the point there's another WalMart just 2 miles west of here.  (Right near I-805.)  This WalMart is now scheduled to be removed, and several developers have expressed interest, but no finalized decisions have been made.

 

Most of the houses shown above were recently grown, except those on the far sides of the avenues, and at the immediate bottom of the shot.  If I'd gotten a before picture, this would have been a nice example of infill.  D'oh.

 

 

This post was edited to add the after shot - the WalMart is gone, replaced by CostCo and the Miramar Executive Hotel & Conference Center.

 

Dave

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

nice!  you make it look real as possible and you suuuuuuuure do!

[davidhogan 1]

Mira Mesa's Traffic Just Can't Be Stopped

 

 

Here we are facing southeast at the north end of the Black Mountain Bypass.  This freeway-graded road was built to take traffic out of the neighborhood to its west.  The existing avenue was so congested people would take any other route avaiable to reach the job centers in southeast Mira Mesa.

 

 

An overview of the Black Mountain Bypass, showing where it took over Black Mountain Rd, and where it took over the path of Hillary Blvd.

 

 

A close up of the intersection of Black Mountain Rd and Hillary Blvd.  The names have all remained the same.  (The freeway portions are Black Mountain Rd, and Hillary Freeway, and also named the Black Moutain Bypass in it's entirety.)

 

 

The southern end of the BMB in SE Mira Mesa.  Here you can see the offices and retail locations that all the residents of Mira Mesa are so eager to get to.

 

 

And we go north a few miles to northwest Rancho Bernardo, along I-15.  These terraced houses start at only $600,000 for a cozy lot with a freeway view.

 

Dave

[fenton56 0]

Cool region , Your highway em is awsome what mad you to be so creative with your highway system and your city buliding stlyes. Keep up those good post I love them.

[Mikeaut1 261]

Cool. How do you get that many people on the highways?

[davidhogan 1]

San Diego Expands Throughout County

 

 

This shot is of southwest Miramar, near the I-805/CA-52 junction.  The inset shot shows how the neighborhood is situated between the two freeways.  Again, the freeways have been roughly modeled from San Diego's historical and current freeway plans, modified as needed for SC4's traffic simulator.  (There's a lot more entrances/exits, to help get the usage higher.)

 

 

Near the coast, the downtown area that I've labelled Torrey Pines, west of I-5.  The golf course is currently under construction north of here.

 

 

And some of the upper-middle class houses near I-5.  This community has grown into quite a wealthy one, which is appropriate given the proximity to the beach.  Growth is also occuring all the way out to east county, but that's another post.

 

Dave

[bobinator 0]

Date:10/30/2004 7:18:02 PM
Author:davidhogan

Downtown Keeps Growing Up

quote>

Do you know were you downloaded that nice tall green building next to the summit. I would really like to have it but can't find were it is.

 

[dudyconstructor 46]

WOahhhhhhh!!!!!!!! nice CJ!! looks great! your screenshots are very nice, good job

[davidhogan 1]

Torrey Pines Golf Course

 

 

So I put a golf course in the same area as the real Torrey Pines course, cause, well...  I could.  And that's it.

 

 

South of it there's plenty of low density housing, and many jobs dotting the main roads.  Oh, and bobinator, I think that's the Washington Tower by PDA, if we mean the same one.

 

Dave