michaelsjewel

ok - here's the west dodge expressway edit ..... this is modeled somewhat (almost the same - but not quite) to the actual exit on dodge/680..... in the same city is the 580/680 interchange..... and westroads mall - those will be included in this picture update.... ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ IMAGE 1>>> up close view of exit - facing east.... 680 being the freeway - dodge being the road going over it - IMAGE 2>>> same view - zoomed out - as you can see on the bottom of the image - the bridges next to dodge are the express-lanes - which head out to the dodge freeway in the last image.... (the bridges in real life are partially above dodge - but those pieces aren't available - so this will do) IMAGE 3>>> now facing south..... IMAGE 4>>>> this is the 580/680 interchange i came up with..... 580 will end @ 680 in my version of omaha (since 580 doesn't exist in real life - but was planned !)..... originally - i had planned for a regular end - with nothing to go past...however - i decided with the lack of exits on 680 (going left to right here) , i decided to make secondary lanes in the exit itself...... so to go forward to this avenue from the 580 - it requires going around it like a bypass would..... not the smartest exit - but this way - the traffic coming off of 580 wouldn't be so ....fast traveling and provide safer driving for the avenue on the other side.... IMAGE 5>>>> this one is on dodge - it's the WESTROADS EXIT..... which goes under dodge.... - it's a series of loops on avenues..... it's somewhat like the real thing - westroads being on the right (north) of this image..... this image is viewing west (top) IMAGE 6>>>> more of the dodge/680 exit.... diff view.... facing west IMAGE 7>>>> dodge/680 exit...facing north.... IMAGE 8>>>> here's an interesting but very much like the original exit.... (facing north) this is where the express lanes above dodge merge to go into an actual freeway (left)..... and dodge - wraps around it to merge into it.... the actual merge of the two bridges are very much like the actual expressway..... that would be the end of the expresslanes as they enter the actual west dodge expressway..... (120th & dodge is the light underneath the bridges.....in this image) thanks very much - .....no development of living in this city/part of region yet as well - haven't gotten out this far yet - but i figured i'd share the biggest exit project i've done to date..... most confusing - most realistic..... and i'm actually happy with the result..... comments!!!!

well this is a great opportunity.... it shows that they truly feel the importance of this site's presence in the community...... however, - i'm not sure if they'll change much if we mention anything just because well....they plan on releasing the game in only a few months...... that's nto much time to do all of our requests...but it's nice we'll be heard... thank you and good luck on your fantastic trip!

Originally posted by: Helborne Your city streets are so, how do you say... AWESOME. Just looking at them makes me want to get in a Mclaren F1 and just race through your city all night long.quote> just wait till you see the west dodge/680 expressway exit i just made the other day - even though development wont be out there for awhile.....i thought i would get the pain-staking task of doing it now...... due to city rectangle limitations..... i had to cut old mill....from the plan....and i wasn't willing to redo the whole exit after noticing that - i'll post this later without development so u get a better view of dodge - ....... it's pretty much an expressway to the west...

Originally posted by: clonedclone87 wow omaha has sure grown up!!!! great idea im planning a similar one but with omaha expanding on the iowa side north to 680quote> i plan for council bluffs to go all the way yet too up there - just haven't gotten that far yet - today - i've done mainly road routes out by west dodge - finished the I-580 corridor to its end @ 680....so yah..... mainly roads today...more to come later - don't forget to post yours!!!

Here's the night-time scape of the downtown region..... 7 images - hope you like Image 1>>> This is the leavenworth/st. mary's merge again - but at night time - this was the last update to the downtown area. Image 2>>>> lots of downtown shown here - council bluffs @ bottom - omaha(nebraska) side @ the top.... Image 3 >>> Here's downtown - with the I-480 corridor on the left side.... IMAGE 4>>> more cram filled downtown - @ night... Image 5>>> riverfront again - different angle Image 6>>> where the current highrises in omaha are.... i particularly like the shapes of the some of the buildings i put here - esp. up close @ night..... Image 7>>> and the last one on this update..... location is unknown in downtown - however - i found this one to be interesting because of the ORAGNE lighted building.... THE NITRON CENTER (i believe) I've actually had this building downloaded for quite some time. It was one of the first ploppable but yet jobs fulfilled in this building. I've never seen it at night b/c i normally build constantly - so night time is hard for me to see - but it's really quite pretty... i'm hoping you all like this so far - there wasn't any comments on my last update so i suppose i'm boring you all lol.... anyhow - i really liked the downtown @ night imagery - and thought i'd share it with u till next update..... take care - michaelsjewel

Originally posted by: crazyyaya Really? I didn't think civilization was going to last that long. lol.quote> oh come on!!!! lol

SOME UPDATES..... here's a new development in downtown.... IMAGE 1>>>>> this is the merging of 2 one ways..... St. Mary's (heading to bottom)..... and leavenworth (heading towards top)....... when they merge going west (bottom)...they form one avenue - leavenworth. I particularly like how this merging worked as it looks smooth at an angle.... so therefore i made a park so that way tall towers could not obstruct the view. however - this area will become very dense due to extreme demands of commercial in downtown and not enough room to fill it. IMAGE 2>>>>> this is the updated regional view of the omaha metro - as you can see - more streets by far have been laid out to the west and to the south of the downtown area.... most of the actual development is in the south O / I-80/480 interchange..... area. IMAGE 3>>>>> here's the names of the cities in the region thus far - many unworked on - however - ignore that i called CARTER LAKE - crescent .....apparently when naming i goofed and forgot the name.....i always see the lake and think crescent....so yah..... and IMAGE 4 >>>>> transportation view of region......

current problem..... i've never usually used roads or avenues to connect to the next city..... and in this one i have...however - i've noticed that no one will use the freeway (highways) if you do this...... so......... many connections between the cities will be removed to just a few avenues..... and whatever interstate runs through them.... i've worked on the I-80/480/75 interchange area in south omaha just south of downtown - pictures to come later....

the sad thing is i think NEW YORK has much older bridges..... in dyer need of repair..... from what i remember hearing awhile ago.... i think the death count is 7 or more - but they said probably will be much higher....

all of the buildings were found on the STEX...... on this site.... however - i do not know the names off the top of my head.... the one in yellow i think is ONE LIBERTY PLAZA....found in philadelphia.....

image 5 on the downtown category - u will see the 3 tannish (same) buildings in a triangle - which is the council bluffs side - i believe at least one actually did come up - on its own......(growable)....... most likely the one on the riverfront.....

most of them were ploppable....... but i can't seem to plop enough .lol...... it seems like they want more and more jobs....there's over 1 million commercial jobs in the downtown city - and housing demand is lower than what it used to be b/c outside cities are coming in to work.... however - some of the buildings u will find in the other surrounding cities - i zone for commercial - and sometimes the ones i downloaded do pop up - so it's a mixture..... as for what your'e seeing - mostly ploppable - took a long time doing it too - my main concern is there isn't enough building choices to go around.... due to such high demand of commercial jobs - i'm trying to figure out where to put a new downtown .....well - where in downtown to put the new skyscrapers - im thinking to the north - since the south part is all.....residential... as for the intersections..... this is the first city/region i've attempted this. it takes a lot of editing to get it just right sometimes..... but it is pretty..... even if it takes up way more space - some intersections i have left alone - however.....

One of the most fascinating parts of a city is its downtown region..... and i've gone no light direction at that.... some parts mimic the real thing - others - fantasy/futuristic.... the creek/lake u see in some of these images do exists...... the lake - conagra lake park (name?)...... and the creek is what connects to it in the center of the GENE LEAHY MALL - which is omaha's park (central park imitation)...... one ways run rampant in this region - but because 2 lanes for a one way isn't realistic for any one way that i've ever seen - i've doubled - or sometimes tripled that bandwidth.... enough with the general talk - on with the imagery - image 1>>>>>> overlook of conagra park/ gene leahy mall.... along the missouri river riverfront. Image 2 >>>>> close up view of gene leahy mall..... Image 3 >>>>> close of view of conagra park..... the fountain is much larger in real life - but this will have to do.... Image 4>>>> overview again - more to right.... 480 bridge on way bottom right corner... Image 5 >>>>> very large overview of downtown..... 480 crosses the river..... heart of downtown is on right half of image - council bluffs ia is on bottom 1/3 of image - on the other side of the river.... on the left - housing /commercial mix..... - the bttm left corner - on the omaha side (north side of river this image)..... is where the old market stood..... but due to buildings decaying.... they have been replaced.... Image 6>>>> this is the 480/N 75/ 580 interchange.... 580 again - never built - however they did make lanes for it - just they go nowhere.... however currently in real life under reconstruction - i think 580 would've actually been smart - even if it ripped through a rich neighborhood in midtown known as dundee - or quite frankly could've diverged a little to the north of that area and been fine.... i've included 580 for traffic purposes to be more smooth.... the exit.... as good as i can get it to be most realistic.... but limitations.... i used one ways. i like the complexity of it - it's ugly and beautiful at the same time - and i've used plenty of open grass areas to make it pretty.... Image 7>>>>> this is where the current heart of downtown is.... the tallest building here - in the middle - is the panpacific building i downloaded. what stands in its place in real life is the ONE FIRST NATIONAL TOWER.... which is the tallest currently in omaha - but because that isn't made for BAT - this will do..... Image 8>>>>>> this is on the council bluffs side of the river..... an avenue with added one ways.... to actually make this work with the one ways to go the next city - i use the roundabout - and add avenues for extra bandwidth - more of these are found along the dodge street corridor heading out way west - which i've done already - just haven't developed....you'll see them way down the road - literally........... as dodge increases to 6 lanes either direction!!!!!!! Image 9 & 10>>>>> this is douglas - splitting off of dodge to turn into one ways....going into downtown..... douglas going right - dodge heading left - once they merge to the left - it becomes dodge only..... the funny thing is - in real life - dodge is the busiest street in town - including douglas - and in the game....turns out the same way....coincidentally.... i did just have 2 one ways (4 lanes) going across 480 into downtown.....but traffic got pretty bad - so i increased by 2 lanes - and it's still - as you can see.....quite busy image 10 is the bridge going over 480 for douglas..... Image 11>>>>> updated view of douglas/dodge - just with new buildings..... and it seems traffic has found a diff. route - but still a busy street nonetheless Image 12>>>> here's 480 more to the south than douglas/dodge..... this would be leavenworth (south bridges) and st. mary's (north bridges)..... both merge to the left to form leavenworth. Image 13>>>>> heading from south to north..... Douglas - dodge - 480(south and east freeways) /580 (left freeway) /75 (north freeway) interchanges..... that is it for today....... lots of photos updated..... the region is slowly growing - downtown will eventually be filled up soon - however - i may begin other cities around it - before that to make downtown a stronger community....

here..... i present to you the area known as EAST MIDTOWN....just east of downtown omaha..... because it located off of dodge and 580 that head into downtown - it explodes with development..... IMAGE>>>>> As you can see - there are many high rises near the left side of the city - b/c downtown is on the other side.... 580(never built) is the freeway on the lower part of the image... the next set will be the largest of updates..... DOWNTOWN.....

ok...here's update 2 with tons more photos...mainly detail oriented...... FIRST SET.... North O, Carter Lake.... Carter Lake IA is on the side of the missouri river that omaha is, which makes no sense why the state lines jump to meet the lake - which will be in photos later...... but due to carter lakes poor tax base, omaha annexes the town and it's now part of omaha..... (at least in my future version)..... these photos are along the North Freeway (Us hwy 75 freeway) ....heading north out of downtown .... the actual freeway now has little exits.... but with omaha ever improving the North O district, high capacity exits had to be imposed..... i give you two..... IMAGE 1 >>>> here is exit 1 - first exit in this city outside of downtown..... with increased traffic flow, more lanes needed to be added to increase capacity. so one lanes have been added.... 4 lanes go in either direction - but 2 do merge off towards this exit to increase access to the freeway as well.... IMAGE 2 >>>>> this is a play on play exit..... farther north than the previous exit..... because it is close to the exit of the sorrenson (sp?) expressway - its exit size was truncated..... using the nam's roundabouts...i was able to do this beautifully.... that's it for this set....

Originally posted by: Sim_Air hmm.. i can't see any pictures...you are using JPEG right?quote> yes.... jpg. format..... i dunno maybe my website server was down when u decided to look?

the city area is in beginning stages and i'm slowly building it one step at a time..... just a reminder - this isn't realistic as i called this the future Omaha metro..... what i want it to be..... the interstates that are real are pretty similar...the region is mr. beer's i believe..... so the map is similar...but some creeks are where they shouldn't be i've noticed..... i've taken into account the fact of one ways and how i can make avenues as many lanes as i want to with them...hence why dodge street (more detailed imagery later) will explode as it goes west..... i plan to do an elevated expressway(sorta over dodge) out by 680...(not shown) just like the west dodge expressway....express lanes are.... but that is a far distance from now - this is mainly downtown area.... mr. beers is pretty close to the real thing - i'm major metropolis happy so i do tons of avenues...etc.... however - i'm trying to stick to real interchanges...at least the major ones.....(interstate) and i'm not sure how to use ANT b/c i've tried and they went the other way...even following directions - so i'm dealing with what i can do.... there will be more updates later.... and definitely more filled in ...thanks for the comments guys.....

I live in Omaha, NE and currently they're finishing up a project called the WEST DODGE EXPRESSWAY.... it's a link to the current expressway out west of the interstate 680.... at least the express lanes.... 3 lanes going either direction on top of the 3 lanes in either direction of the current dodge road underneath of it.... here's an image of it at night - wesbound lanes (bridge is open) - but the eastbound isn't.... currently it is open ...just not in image. here's an image in downtown Omaha, where the 480 interchange with the north freeway are coming up.... the intersection is now under reconstruction to increase bandwidth and to change standards of the interchange .... i believe the left turn exits will be removed since they were designed in the 50's? i will have more later ....

Originally posted by: jplumbley Do you guys actually realize how much work it takes to make an interchange? Months of work, just for one intersection. It would be better if you guys actually tried to learn how to do some of the work yourselves rather than post pictures of what you would like. I almost guarentee you that thing like this will never get done, its too much effort and not only one person can do it by themselves. We have way too few members who actually know how to do this work and each one of us has our own projects in which we would like to see finished first. Good luck with this keeping posting pictures so that noone will get to work on this.quote> as much as i'd like to say...i understand your point....some things do get through.... perhaps somwhere they should make tutorials on how to make the stuff so instead of B****ing about the lack of developers.... we could add more..... i have always wanted to make interchanges, but i have no clue what sizes - etc..... i have the programs...just don't know how...

one of the reasons i believe that they don't feel they can really..... make simcity better is because well....this site keeps on making it better with all of us contributing with new mods and lots... i mean, look @ the nam! - without it - road networks aren't as great..... It would be hard for EA to pull off something even better in a way..... and keep us amazed - it would be long in the making - but considering they only spent what - 1.5 years on this one - and they take what - 5-10 years in between releases....doesn't seem so bad. i will still buy simcity societies....but will always probably end up playing simcity 4 - i just love making cities that are HUGE..lol i think they should release a simcity 5 after this - .....to keep the franchise going and yet still appeal to some of the classical gamers.

Originally posted by: JanYpe since my post was locked in the thread i started...here it is again...have no clue why it was locked! - my guess is based on the person that replied.... quote>Then go back to your locked thread and read Voar Tok's post from before he closed the thread. It's all spelled out for you there. quote> from what it says, he doesn't wanna see a person question another person's loyalty or that crap.... however.... i didn't do any of that - it was the person that replied.... why not just remove the replied message? i know how to read - and it doesnt' clearly state why other than that - it isn't fair to me period!

since my post was locked in the thread i started...here it is again...have no clue why it was locked! - my guess is based on the person that replied....

yah - i want to know to if there's a TUTORIAL on how to BAT interchanges and make them work for the game - maybe i can put some to life eventually if my frustration doesn't overwhelm me ...lol

the site mentions the I-29 and HWY 77 for sioux city iowa as being an example of a volleyball interchange - it IS NOTHING OF THE SORT! - try driving it - it has no intersections..... it's a typical freeway interchange.... and calling it stupid - for some reason - it seems to work - so how is that stupid?