Breezy Point, East New York: SimCity 4 tips and tricks (NAM36)

Airport Tunnel Coverage on KSIM Radio

I've plopped my Radio Station already, just one of the advantages of Ctrl+X  you don't deserve it , a simple cheat with no download required.  My radio staff know that I have an extremely liberal attitude with regard to free speech, so they even feel at ease poking fun at me, when they feel like it.  That's okay, I know my advisors always have my back.

While there are no sim residents in Breezy Point yet, the radio program is on the public record, and neighbouring regions can receive the telecast from our tower already.

This is Chenglei Sim, on KSIM radio, 1420 point 5, your place to be.  Joining us in the studio today, we have Jamil Herd, transportation advisor to the mayor of Breezy Point.  As a KSIM radio exclusive, we are unveiling the plans for the new Breezy Point airport tunnel, which is almost ready to start construction.

Chenglei:  Good morning, Jamil.  It's good to have you on the show.

Jamil:  Good morning, Chenglei.  Always a pleasure to be here.

Chenglei:  We've been watching the rapid infrastructure works across the southern half of Breezy Point with great amazement.  Two elementary schools, a hospital, a high school, and two ferry wharves, and even this radio station.  All this reminds me of a movie, ummm ...

Jamil:  "If you build it they will come"?

Chenglei:  That's the one!

Jamil:  That was Kevin Costner, in the Field of Dreams.

Chenglei:  Loved that movie.  Anyway, now we've had news that our good mayor is building an airport tunnel, but we don't even have an airport!  Is she jumping the gun this time?

Jamil:  Not at all.  We already have approvals for building the new public-use airport from the Federal Aviation Administration, and have pre-approved pending registration for public-use with the New York State Department of Transportation.  Although we have all the plans and approvals in place already, it will be perhaps 10 years before construction on the airport goes into full swing.  These things take time.

Chenglei:  So Jamil, why doesn't she wait until after the airport is built.  This project is as big as that brand new hospital, and will be just as empty as the hospital, too, unless we have some sims moving to Breezy Point soon!

Jamil:  With the technology and equipment we have on hand already, for our infrastructure works in progress, it will be cheaper and easier to build the airport tunnel now, before the airport is even built.  Given the tricky geology of Breezy Point, this approach gives us options to produce a better quality, highway grade tunnel with a speed limit of 150km/h.  If we wait until after the airport is already built, FLUPs underpass technology will only guarantee a maximum vehicle speed of 75km/h.  Though it seems like a huge investment to do it now, it's an investment in the future prosperity of all Breezy Point sims.

Chenglei:  Wow, that's fast!  Is 150km/h even legal in New York state?

Jamil:  It is now.  We have the NAM36 pre-approvals for that tunnel speed rating already.

Chenglei:  So, Jamil, if we build it, will they come?

Jamil:  There are many planned cities in the USA now.  They've become very popular in China, too.  When they are done right, they enable excellent growth prospects and superior lifestyle, because they are planned, rather than just sprawling organically.  Best of all, their transport infrastructure is top notch, with careful consideration for future growth and expansion.

Chenglei:  How can our Mayor be so confident?  She's been spending enormous sums of money on all these projects!

Jamil:  She is, as always, supremely confident.  She's even out beyond the city limits talking with the construction engineers right now, as we speak, to ensure the best possible results.

Chenglei:  There are all sorts of rumours flying around about where she got the money.  Is there any truth to the gossip that she's got underworld connections?

Jamil:  Our good mayor has made no secret of the fact that she's developing Breezy Point as a major tourist destination.  I presume she has some big investors lined up from large tourism and transport consortiums, and venture capital, too.

Chenglei:  Do you have any names for us?

Jamil:  None that I'm privy to, no.

Chenglei:  Will all this massive spending be worthwhile, Jamil?

Jamil:  From my perspective, as transportation advisor, it's not just worthwhile, it's absolutely brilliant.  Be assured, they will come.  There are literally over a hundred planned communities and planned cities in the USA,.  One particularly notable example, Nocatee, in Florida, is the second fastest growing community in the nation.  This planned city approach is a good model and process for city building, Chenglei.

Chenglei:  Thanks for coming in, Jamil.

Jamil:  Glad to do it, Chenglei.

Airport tunnel, with full instructions, coming soon!  

 

EDIT:  I just tried a test using a FLUPs underpass.  Not only is a FLUPs one way road underpass (OWR-2) half the speed limit of a Maxis vanilla Highway tunnel (MHW), the FLUPs too, have the same limitation of not being able to be built under an airport that is already built.  If you like the idea of doing highway tunnels, make sure you get them done before you have anything built across the tunnel route!

Breezy Point - Airport Tunnel Construction and Ingredients List

Okay, the moment you've all been waiting for, during the long process of construction, that do-or-die moment when you know the highway tunnel works ... or it doesn't.  If this gets the green light, then your construction workers will be able to walk through the tunnel for the first time.

Good news for Breezy Point, it worked!  I knew it would, as I've overseen hundreds of tunnel projects before.  Gosh, I love tunnels!  See our green light, using the Maxis vanilla Ground Level Highway (L0 MHW) tool, in the Breezy Point screenshot above.  No road traffic yet, but the next steps are all routine road connections and terrain levelling.

We're through.  

Highway Tunnel Ingredients

There's only one NAM feature used in the construction here, the "Raiser Piece (10m)", from the  Diggers  menu item in Roads menu.  It's optional, as I've used terraforming to do the same thing hundreds of times in the vanilla SimCity 4 Rush Hour, but this piece makes the first stage of construction SO MUCH simpler.

( thank you NAM Team!!! )  

On a six point scale of difficulty, this airport tunnel construction process rates as Intermediate.  There's no complicated pieces or tricky manoeuvres, but the overall process has many steps and some of the steps are not immediately obvious to the uninitiated.

Beginner ► Intermediate ► Advanced ► Difficult ► Sophisticated ► Expert

Here follows the ingredients list:

1. Raiser Piece (12m) – Select the  Diggers  menu item in Roads menu, then press Tab four times to get the right piece for Maxis vanilla tunnel construction.  There is a similar technique for a tunnel with a lowered ramp reminiscent of the FLUPs look, but that's a more complicated technique, and the difference is only cosmetic.  At Breezy Point, we only have an elevation of 2½ metres above sea level, so a lowered highway ramp technique won't even work on this city tile.  Unlike FLUPs, vanilla SimCity 4 tunnel entrances have to be above sea level.
    
2. Streets (Alt+R) – Yes, the humble Street, as a 1x1 plop, or as a longer street perpendicular (and orthogonal) to the hill's slope, is the premier tool for terrain raising, lowering, and levelling, since the game's inception.
    
3. Dezone (V) – Is the quickest, easiest and safest tool for street removal after we've done our raising or levelling.  Dezone (V) has an advantage over Bulldoze (B), in that it only affects streets, zones and growables.  One false move with the Bulldoze tool can wreak absolute havoc with highway transport systems!  Trust me, I've been there!  
    
4. Ground Level Highways – This is the tunnel building tool, and with a speed limit of 150km/h, it's the most powerful tunnel building tool in the game, even with all the work done by the NAM team.  Sim commuters absolutely ADORE a super-fast tunnel!
    
5. Avenues (Ctrl+R) – Maxis vanilla Avenues (AVE-4) supply the transition piece needed from the Ground Level Highway (L0 MHW) to the RCI enabled suburban transit network, both Maxis vanilla roads and the NWM pieces.
    
6. Bus Stop (Ctrl+Shift+R) – Totally optional, but these pieces are too useful to neglect.  Bus stops are an alternative transition piece from the highway to roads and streets (and other RCI enabled suburban transit networks).  Bus stops can even be used to convert highway bus users to pedestrians using an adjacent Pedmall.  Being new to the NAM's Real Highways (RHW), I haven't done that yet, but I'm so looking forward to doing it.  Long experience on sophisticated vanilla SimCity 4 Rush Hour transport networks and Maxis Highways (MHW) tells me it will work.
    
7. One Way Roads – Another vanilla Maxis feature that is incredibly useful.  While not directly related to the tunnel itself, it's the cheapest and easiest way to distribute large numbers of commuters to and from the tunnel highway entrance and exit.  At a speed rating of 75km/h, full RCI access, and a 50% higher vehicle capacity than a Maxis vanilla Avenue (AVE-4), it's noticeably better than the 50km/h Avenues, and cheaper, too!
   
   STOP PRESS!  I just discovered that Maxis vanilla One Way Roads (OWR-2) can be used as a transition piece directly to the Maxis vanilla Ground Level Highway (L0 MHW), completely replacing the Avenue (AVE-4) transition piece.   Does anyone know, is this a hidden feature of the NAM, or was this in the vanilla SimCity 4 Rush Hour game all along ... and I just never noticed!!!  

Exciting stuff.  I've even built cross-city tunnels before, using the same technique.  Just be warned that Sims don't like to double back on their route.  When planning for a cross-city tunnel, or any tunnel, make sure that it facilitates a fairly direct line of access from home to work.

If you think about it, us humans don't like to double back on our traffic routes, either!  

Detailed instructions for all you budding tunnel builders, coming soon in the comments below!