Monthly Challenge December 2014 - Complete The Interchange

[kschmidt 6,244]

I think I did too much terraforming for this challenge. My slope mod is not very forgiving (alvinheriadi smooth). It even considered the existing rail lines to be too steep so I had to avoid them at all costs. Was a fun challenge though.

I managed to fry my gaming pc the other day so I couldn't really beautify this properly as I did an emergency install on my work laptop, so I went with a bare version instead.

Step 1:

Originally I wanted to split the highway on the top into two routes down the mountain. Scrapped this idea as the western side of the range was horribly steep.

Step 2:

No terraforming? Have a bridge then!

Step 3:

Had to scrap the tunnel sadly. Going around the mountain instead. This is probably where I goofed up too much on the terraforming.

Step 4:

This side of the range was quite forgiving.

Step 5:

WE REALLY NEED RAIL-OVER-DIAGONAL-RHW!!

It looks kinda stupid when going below the tracks :/ I thought another bridge across the water (both right where the stubs are located, and just to cross a small patch of water looked stupid and unrealistic so I decided against it.

Step 6:

Connect everything up. The story I made up in my head goes like:

West is a large populous city. North and East are sleeper cities where people travel to WestCity to work. As the trafic between NorthCity and EastCity are low because there is nothing to do in either city we can do with MIS connections between these two.

Step 7:

Re-did the top. Imagine a small industrial area here, maybe some farms or thelike. This takes some of the trafic from EastCity so we don't need the RHW6 to go all the way down the mountain. (Honestly; it looked stupid with the tunnel further down the mountain). The lowered off- and onramps were just to make something a little different.

Final result:

Ta da!

Am I missing something ? There´s a RHW 4 South connecting highway ?

[rubberduck3y6 45]

I've finally finished my entry, so here it is (on the last day of the month!).

 

Overview of the city tile

 

Additional images

The whole interchange

 

Northern part

 

and the southern part

 

Zoom in on the center of the 3-level T-interchange

 

Local junctions so sims can use my lovely interchange!

 

 

 

and zoomed in

 

 

and from another angle

 

Motorway and lane leading to the old route down the mountain crossing the widened (originally STR) railrail

 

I really enjoyed making my entry and wish good luck to everyone else entering!

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

My official contest entry.

 

Notable features:

 - The RHW-8S and RHW-6S make up the west-east highway, whereas the RHW-4's make up the north-south highway.

 - The interchange consists of two three-way interchanges conjoined to each other. One is built using embankments, the other built using height transitions.

 - The highway going west-east splits into two and both halves of the highway travel in different directions.

 - The bridge was destroyed to make way for an identical bridge that's 15.5 meters higher than the original.

 - The embankment three-way interchange is a three-level interchange, while the height transition interchange is only two-level.

 - Most of the Single Track line was replaced with Double Track.

 

Main image:

 

 

Main interchange:

 

 

LOLOL Bay Bridge:

 

Diacritical Pass;

 

 

Video of the final interchange:

May take some time to view at the time of posting.

 

[Asser 78]

Am I missing something ? There´s a RHW 4 South connecting highway ?

Oh, ehm. oops. xD

[mayorplease 116]

Oh, ehm. oops. xD 

 

But, but the challenge was... ehm, you cant just delete... and the rules say that... ehm,...

Thats just, well, I don't know what else to say than:

 

GIVE THIS MAN THE TROPHY!

 

Happy new year Simtropolis! 

[rathefalcon 395]

My official entry:

More Images:

 

 

Welcome to Build Here! *EDIT: Photobucket was giving me some troubles so I moved the pictures to flickr. All should be good now!

 

The northeast corner of Build Here is an old forest that has been used for logging since the region was first settled. Now Interstate 85 runs through the forest, but logging has become less common in the region since cheaper wood has become available elsewhere.

 

I-85 runs under Bald Ridge, which spans the region of Monthly Challenge December 2014. It then runs down the side of the ridge and into the Build Here valley.

 

I-85 enters the valley and almost immediately intersects with I-285, a branch that runs south to the township of Regional Connection.

 

I-85 continues west on to Goldenrod Village, a suburban village with commuter rail access located just off of the highway. There, it bears northwest towards its junction with Route 3.

 

 

 

 

I-85 meets RT-3 (a state route) at a very expensive plate of spaghetti.

 

 

 

This one should definitely be viewed at full quality:

 

I-85 continues north to the President Barack Obama Tunnel, which travels underneath Build Here Bay. Before Mayor Please began construction of the Obama Tunnel, the Build Here Bay Bridge spanned the water, but it was demolished and its footprint was converted to a series of parks.

 

Let's take a look at RT-3. Heading west on RT-3 will take you to Regional Connection (not to be mistaken for Regional Connection, Regional Connection, Regional Connection, Regional Connection, or Regional Connection). Heading east will take you to Rodman's Hollow, a suburb of upper-middle class sims who commute to the west for work.

 

This one should definitely be viewed at full quality:

 

Before piping was installed, farms in the Build Here area were serviced by aqueducts. These aqueducts have since been repurposed to support a railroad.

 

 

Thanks for taking a tour of Build Here! I, on behalf of Mayor Please, would like to wish you a happy new year!

[kschmidt 6,244]

 

Oh, ehm. oops. xD 

 

But, but the challenge was... ehm, you cant just delete... and the rules say that... ehm,...

Thats just, well, I don't know what else to say than:

 

GIVE THIS MAN THE TROPHY!

 

Happy new year Simtropolis! 

 

Happy New year every one !

[Eclipticalstorm 30]

I don't have a lot to show, but I thought my efforts were worth sharing.  I was super late starting the challenge due to some technical difficulties on my end.  I think my slope mod (BigRedFish Tunnel and Slope Mod) was far more forgiving than others which played a critical role in my design strategy.  I opted to follow the natural contours of the mountains (as best I could) by cutting into the slope face and creating embankments.  I created tunnels when the slope became too unruly and tried to be cognizant of the experience of the driver as they moved through the breath taking vistas of this mountain pass. I really enjoyed this challenge and look forward to many more! 

 

 

Mountain Tunnels

 

 

Mountain Interchange

 

 

Valley Interchange

[Compdude787 916]

Shoot, I ran out of time. I was frantically trying to finish building my city, but now it's 2015... 

[Durfsurn 539]

As of this message I believe it will be January 1st, 2015 (almost?) everywhere. I am not running the competition or anything, I am just letting people know the competition is technically closed (if we are still following the rules most recently revised by Hamish).

 

Good luck to everyone!

-Billy

[Hamish 1,370]

Yes, that is correct. It should have now ticked over to 2015 for most people in the world, so this competition is now closed. In a few hours the voting thread will go up containing the entries, and sometime later in the day January's challenge will be posted ! Good luck everyone!

I'll leave this thread open if you want to chat about others entries, or about the challenge in general.

[Fatjuice 253]

Wow, all of these are so wonderful! Can't wait for the next challenge, just got back to SC4 ( again! ) I've been training for this months challenge!

[Pangonia98 2]

Haha y'all are having fun with that hill. I enjoyed making it, the slopes were pretty good for this challenge. (this isn't my official challenge entry...)

 

 

My god, that is pretty!

[MandelSoft 2,775]

I was too late to send in my official entry:

Shame, because I think this design really could've made a chance. I realised too late that the time was up.

Better luck next time...