How to Build Bridges in SimCity 3000 (MAXIS)

Greetings, Mayor! There are a few tricks you ought to know about building bridges. As your Transportation Advisor, I count myself an expert.

First off, you make a bridge by dragging across water with the road or highway tool. Make sure to give your new bridge plenty of room for construction. Often my construction crews will have to modify the terrain at the water’s edge, so that the bridge can go in flat. If there are any buildings or other stuff close by, my crews will refuse to build until you demolish them. You may have to do some terrain modifying yourself, as well. I’ll talk about that later, but let’s start with basics.

You need to start at least five tiles back from the water when you’re making a road -- four, if you’re building a highway. Don’t be confused if the drop-shadow goes red when you drag out onto the water, that’s just to let you know you can’t build a bridge only halfway across. Oh, and don’t bother trying to make a diagonal bridge, either. My construction crews are pretty clever, but they haven’t figured that one out yet.

Keep dragging to the other side, and then drag another five tiles onto the land. If my crews think there’s a good chance of the bridge getting built, the shadow will turn blue. That’s when to release the mouse.

We’ll tell you how much of a hit the bridge will make on the city treasury, and let you decide whether to go ahead or not.

If everything is on the level, a nice new bridge will appear across the gap. What kind of bridge depends on how wide the span.

When I say “on the level,” I mean it, because that’s where it gets a little tricky. My crews have trouble building where the angle of the tiles at the edge of the water is too steep on either side. Safest is to build your bridge pretty close to the water’s surface -- if either side is more than three steep tiles higher than the water’s surface, the construction boss will try to blow you off with a complaint about not wanting to damage the surrounding buildings. Even if there aren’t any buildings -- go figure. It helps to have straight, parallel shores on either side, too. For all these reasons, you may want to fiddle with raising, lowering or leveling the terrain at the water’s edge before you try crossing it with a bridge.

Another thing my crews balk at is building a bridge over surface water on flat ground. Maybe they’re just trying to save the city money, figuring it’s a waste to build a bridge over a puddle. If you really want to make a surface-water bridge, use “lower terrain” to carve out a stream. Drop your surface water onto the stream bed, and then we’ll be happy to put a bridge over it for you.

Happy bridge-building! Oh, and if you decide to use the Washington, D.C., terrain for your city -- make sure you build a bridge to the 21st century. That’s one I really want to see.