Entry no.45 - The Transfer pt.1
Hey guys it's been long time since the last update, a very very long time actually... Hard to believe it's been almost two years since the last entry and tbh, at one point I wasn't sure if there would ever be another one. But after a long gaming and internet hiatus the SC4 itch came back and it came back hard a couple months ago and I've been diligently working towards updating the CJ ever since.
So without further ado welcome to
Today's entry will cover another one of the regions signature interchanges - the south crossing of highways 702 & 705 colloquially known as The Transfer and the areas immediately surround it. The interchange is the primary focus however this update will also features mmp's landscapes and some urban elements.
Pretoria has 13 major highway interchanges, 6 of which are considered signature interchanges known for their sprawling and complex designs. The 702 is by far the most important transportation link in the entire region so it's no surprise that the largest interchanges involve it. Meanwhile the 705 is more of a coastal highway largely passing through industrial areas, it's most important section is when it loops back around and meets the 702 a second time further north in the downtown core of the region. *Fun fact; The 705 crosses highways 700 & 702 twice!*
Recently updated map of the highway system, color coded based on total lanes. More of the system lies further north but this covers about 75% of the region.
Elevated/non-elevated system map;
The Transfer is one of 3 major highway interchanges within the city of Calgon itself, the first of which was shown entry 44, that being the Five Points Interchange. While the 5 points is the largest of the three interchange in the city and in fact the largest by size in the entire region, the Transfer is no slouch size-wise and is actually another 5-way interchange though not between three highways but rather two highways and roundabout junction of several avenues. While it may not be the biggest, tallest or most efficient design it's arguably the most unique interchange in the region even more so than looper junction and you remember how weird that one was right? (If not see here)
This interchanges unusual design can be directly attributed to the physical characteristics of the area. It's boxed in by two large bodies of water, the Cisco Bay Bridge and several rail lines. Highway 702 has to rise up high enough over Cisco bay in order to have sufficient clearance for ocean going ships to pass underneath it into the port of Calgon and other points further East down the Trueno River. Because of this highways 702 & 705 cannot interchange directly and a mini connector highway is used instead to connect the two, you'll see what I mean in just a moment. It's further complicated by having a roadway, pedestrian/biking pathway and a creek all passing through the center of the interchange. Admittedly there are some safety concerns with this interchange but overall I'm quite satisfied with the results, this is just about as compact I could make it without sacrificing too much in the way of safety & realism.
Statistical comparison to the other major interchanges;
Here's a city map of the interchange, this should give you an idea of what's in store for you below. The west side of the interchange is 300m from east to west and 500m north to south and the eastern portion extends out another 400m by 200m. It takes about about 875 square spaces in-game equal to about 225,000 sq/m which is comparable in size to real world intercity interchanges.
That's actually not the correct way of seeing the interchange on a map as north should be pointing towards the top but is actually pointing to the left side of the map. However I've always viewed the West side as the 'bottom' of the interchange and the east side as the top. Below is the "correct" orientation, but I think you'll agree it just feels more natural to look at it the first way.
This type of indirect connection between interchanges is sometimes seen at locations where two highways meet near a tall bridge. A few IRL examples in the spoiler below;
Montreal
Germany
Philly
New Jersey
Walkthrough
We'll start our journey heading eastbound on the 705 approaching the junction in the area highlighted in red below;
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The small neighbourhood of Portos is just to the south of the interchange. There is no onramp to the 705 or 702 to connect this neighbourhood to the rest of the city which is why Lunasaida Drive was to be built through the interchange to provide access to the people that would live here.
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Next we enter into the "Trichange" which could very well be a small self-contianed interchange on it's own.
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Super zoomed views of the pedestrian bridge
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Lastly we have a pano of this section of the interchange
Next we'll switch things up and approach The Transfer from the 702 heading northbound, the area highlighted in red below.
The 702 enters the city from the Cisco Bay bridge bringing with it traffic from Dresden & the South Shore district of Pretoria. The bridge itself is a 5,408ft long 6-lane suspension bridge, the longest single span is 3,546ft. When built in 1951 the bridge was the longest in the world but is currently the 17th longest on planet Azura. Though it is still by far the longest and the most important bridge in Pretoria. In 1979 Gideon St. was extended and a small two-span single lane suspension bridge was built to give the residents of Portos another means of reaching other parts of the city as Lunasaida Dr. was often congested and occasionally blocked due to accidents.
Views of the two bridges;
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A small park is squeezed into the space between the highways
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The path extends further north along a bridge transversing the entire interchange just to the west of Lunasaida Drive. Originally an elevated LTR line was proposed to run through here which would've connected a couple of waterfront neighbourhoods to downtown Calgon. The project was initially approved and construction begun in earnest until the 2012 elections. There the Neoconservative party swept into power booting out the big spending Five-Unions party and this project was one of several public transportation projects that were immediately terminated, all deemed a horrid waste of taxpayer funds. To be fair a 3-stop 850 million dollar line to serve a population catchment of little more than 30,000 is hard to justify. Though the idea might be revisited in the future should the Five-Unions return to power 
. Still 120 million dollars had already been spent on preliminary work including the shell of the first station of the line which we'll see shortly.
However Lunasaida Dr. had always been a rather dangerous road to use for pedestrians and cyclists to use and so the space formerly allocated to the LRT line was instead used to build this bridges which connects directly to a nearby subway station located just to the north of the interchange. The bridge passes over some marshy floodland which connects to Dawson's Creek along its way.
This section has the only potential weaving zone in the interchange - and area where traffic from two separate entry lanes may want to change into the other. In order to prevent this there are restrictions in place. Vehicles entering into the transfer road from the left(in the image directly below) are not allowed to change lanes as indicated by the solid white line and in fact there is no need for them to do so because they can get to every route via the lane they are in. Only vehicles entering from the right would need to change lanes in order to access two of the routes.
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Alright lets jump right into the very heart of the interchange highlighted in the area below. Hold on to your hats! things are about to get complicated ![:]](https://community.simtropolis.com/assets/emoticons/default_16.gif ":]"){kind=small}
Closeups
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Zooming out a bit, give you a bit more sense of the bigger picture...
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A little further north beyond this point we reach the northern portal of the 'transfer road' which connects 3 avenues allowing local traffic to connect to the 702 & 705 and the interchanges signature...
Though personally I prefer this angle 
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Here is the aforementioned shell of the cancelled elevated LRT project. A commercial building that the station was built into was finished and the station itself was repurposed as the starting point of the pedestrian bridge. Escalators and elevators had already been fitting into the station and remain operational so that one can use either or to reach ground level.
Which brings me to the last section I wanted to show in this entry, the shoreline of Crater Lake;
The interchange takes up most of the space between highway 702 & the shore of Crater Lake, which you guessed it was created by a giant meteor impact(approximately 42 million years ago). There'll be more about Crater Lake in a future entry so for now I'll just show you some images of what the area looks like. Here we can see the transition from highways & urban areas to a wood lot and the shoreline.
The shoreline of Crater Lake is almost entirely rocky though a small beach was created in this spot by importing sand. The main section of the beach and area's beyond will be shown in a later update.
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A wooded area next to the shoreline was preserved, sim can go for casuals stroll along the paths here which continue halfway around the Lake. 
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South of here the shoreline transitions to a rocky outcrop.
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*Edit Ah yes I really should throw in a pano of what I've shown so far, here it is;
And with that this entry is concluded, I hope you enjoyed viewing this update as much as I enjoyed making it.
There's still a lot more to see in there area around the interchange, including the eastern portion of the interchange and how everything all fits in together plus a few other neat little features and surprises I have in store, luckily you won't have to wait two years for the next entry 
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