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Entry no.49 - Highway 704 Extension
TakemeThere posted a City Journal entry in Pretoria Metropolitan Area
This update marks a return to the original concept I had for the CJ all those years ago: functional transportation improvements. You see Houston, we have a problem... While my region's highway network is already quite extensive, it turns out my constituents think much like Americans—you can never build enough freeways to satisfy them! In Pretoria, one of these issues exists in the Middle East Borough, where Lindin City is located. Overview of the Problem Below is a regional overview of the all the highways and interchanges seen so far. The main goal of the highway network is to efficiently funnel rush hour traffic to and from the Central Pretoria(where the Central Business District/CBD is located) from each of three boroughs; The North Point, Middle East(M.E.) and South Shore - Only the latter two are relevant in this location. Traffic from the South Shore and Middle East Boroughs have three options to cross the large bay and river standing between them and Central Pretoria. These 3 options collectively provide 16 lanes of highway traffic. IRL, a single free-flowing highway lane is estimated to allow a little over 2,000 vehicles per hour(a range of 1,800 to 2,400 vehicles to pass per hour) this gives us a capacity of around 16,000 vehicles per hour, per direction in total. However, it's important to note that once congestion reaches 100% or more capacity decreases to around 1,500 vehicles per hour. In the overview above the westernmost crossing is the six-lane Cisco Bay Bridge, connecting Dresden and Calgon via Highway 702. Built in 1964, this bridge is always at 100% capacity and often higher approaching 110% to 120% during rush hours. When free-flowing, about 7,000 vehicles per hour can use the bridge in the peak direction. But when congestion exceeds 100% traffic starts to slow down reducing capacity to around 5,000 vehicles per hour and causing hour-long delays. It experiences this severe congestion because this bridge carries about 90% of the traffic from Dresden and the South Shore. In terms of real-world equivalents, it's comparable to the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge or the George Washington Bridge in terms of regional importance. Next we have the six-lane Sky Bridge, which crosses the narrowest part of Cisco Bay via Highway 700. The current cable-stayed bridge, built in 1989, replaced a cantilever bridge built in 1937. Before Highway 704 was built and connected to Spaghetti Junction, this bridge operated at about 85% capacity with a traffic flow of about 5,500 vehicles per hour per direction, while handling about 70% of the traffic from the Middle East Borough and the remaining 10% of the traffic from Dresden and the South Shore. Lastly, the easternmost highway crossing is the four-lane Higgs Boson Bridge-what can I say, I like science! This bridge carries the eastern stub of Highway 705 over the Trueno River and rarely operates at over 50% capacity, averaging between 1,500–2,000 vehicles per hour in the peak direction. This low capacity factor is due to a major constraint: the eastern stub of Highway 705 lacks a direct interchange connection with Highway 700 in LC. Instead, it funnels traffic directly into the downtown area, which is perfect if that's your destination but not so much for drivers who want to go beyond there. These drivers must navigate multiple intersections and a low-capacity single-lane on-ramp that feeds traffic onto the northbound 700. Unfortunately no practical solution exists to fix this problem, an interchange at this location is prohibited since it's located in a dense neighborhood and would require the demolition of a large number of buildings to accommodate. While I do love my highways, that's a non-starter. This route is however also still useful for people who traveling through LC to connect with the western section of Highway 705 and heading to work in the large industries of Baycole(e.g. The Apotex Refinery). This lack of a direct connection between the 705 and 700 wasn’t a huge problem since this traffic would not detour onto the 705 but instead just continue down the 709 and connect to the 700 in Cisco Bay instead and from there cross the Sky Bridge on its way north to Central Pretoria(path 1 on the street map below). However, the situation worsened after Highway 704 was built, which is ironic since that highway was constructed to alleviate congestion, though on a different part of the highway network—in the 700/707 joint section. The 704 provided a congestion-free alternative to the CBD and even though this was a much longer route for people travelling from the South Shore to get to the CBD, it was still a often a quicker alternative to being stuck on the perpetually crammed Cisco Bay Bridge. This increased the proportion of South Shore using the Sky Bridge from 10% to 25%, which brought that bridge's capacity to 100%. The solution was simple - create an alternative connection to highway 700 & 704 from the 709 so as to take advantage of the spare capacity(about 2,000-2,500 vehicles per hour/direction) available on the underutilized bridge located there and divert traffic away from the route over the Sky Bridge. This new section of highway would designated as a southward extension of the 704 and turned Spaghetti Junction into a 5-way interchange; The best and most cost-effective path was determined to be along the red dotted path seen on the local street map below. The land through which is entirely undeveloped resulting in very few NIMBY concerns and makes use of the existing highway bridge and interchange between the 705 & 709. An alternative and slightly more direct route along the purple dotted path was also considered, but this would require the construction of a new river crossing, new interchange and required some expropriation & demolition in Mayfield, all for very minimal time savings at a much higher cost- thus it was declined. Synopsis from above; 1 - The long route that most traffic currently takes and has resulted in congestion on the 700 over the Sky Bridge and through LC due to increased traffic flow from Dresden(purple arrow) to the 704 2 - The short but less preferred route because it's such a go through Downtown LC (exactly where the #2 is on the map). Having so many extra cars cutting through the downtown area also creates an unsafe enjoinment for road users and pedestrians alike, a situation the current major of LC promised to rectify. Hence why he had no objects over building an entirely new stretch of highway in another part of the city. 3&4 - Additionally some traffic from the 709 also began to spill out onto local 2-lane streets and roads in an attempt to seek out alternative and less congested routes, which were never meant to be main thoroughfares. Overview of the Project Here's the end result beginning with an overhead shot of the entire extension and a high zoom shot of the area around northern entry point 2. We'll follow that with by a series of close ups at various angles where the 704 branches off from Spaghetti Junction The 707 turns north-east here with the NB lanes running under the 704, while the 704 continues eastward before curving south 5. A 550-foot tall structure called the LC Hillsboro-Roads Transmission Tower overlooks the junction While making this update realized I never released the updated HD-version of this particular BAT with the others a few years back. So for those of you who would like your own citizens to worriedly question; "just what is that thing really being used for...?" here is the updated version of this dark and nefarious looking hi-tech tower, heheh... 😁 Junctions in motion 8. 9. Tall sound walls are used to reduced the noise pollution coming off of the highway so that the residents of the Neighborhood of Rockcut can get some sleep If you're wondering what that high-tech looking lot at the top of the last couple of images is, that would be the Hillsboro TS (Transmission Substation) which was originally featured all the way back in entry number 2! The substation and local area has undergone some changes since it was last seen on the CJ 12. 13. Moving on to the Duluth Road interchange which passes diagonally underneath. An embankment was built up on both sides of the road so that it stayed open while the highway was built Further back we can see how dramatically the highway curves southward as it moves through the neighborhood of Rockcut 16. These next couple of shot might be my favorite because of the "open" feel to them 18. Messing with the angles a bit 20. 21. 22. 23. Back to some normal angle closeups, with an mmp focus 25. 26. 27. Emerging from a tunnel underneath the 704 is the Fastraxx ME commuter train line. Previously I had this tunnel continue under the river in a tunnel but then I thought wouldn't it look do much more interesting to have it pop out here and go over it instead? 29. 30. That little single piece road tile I left there is the last remaining remnant of a road bridge over the river that previously existed in this spot 32. 33. Playing with the angles again 35. 36. 37. Moving on to the next portion, overhead high zoom shot of the entire southern section of the extension I think seeing the automata in motion really helps to get an idea of the changes in the elevation grade of the highway quite well. Straight down; Looking North Further back Even further back still "World's smallest interchange" merger of the 704 extension and the 705 stub, might need to upgrade this mini-interchange in the future if demand warrants it The Lealand Sewage Treatment Plant is tucked in this little corner of the city as well Taking a look down the river towards the rail bridge 45. 46. The "Butterfly interchange" between the 704/705 and 709 48. 49. Concluding the entry I some long & wide pano shots; South East view North West view The completion of the new extension was indeed a success and reduced the congestion over the Sky Bridge by transferring about 1500 to 2000 vehicles per hour in the peak direction to the bridge in LC instead. But who can say how long this will last for before the effects of urban sprawl rear their ugly head again. This will likely be the last time I work on this city, a final few parting city-wide shots 53. 54. Sayonara L.C. it's been fun 👋- 7 Comments
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Entry no.48 - The Movement Episode
TakemeThere posted a City Journal entry in Pretoria Metropolitan Area
Last time I showcased the 3D CAM in the City of Cisco Bay, this time around it's neighbor Lindin City takes the spotlight. Unlike CB Lindin City has undergone some notable changes, but I won't be covering that today because the central theme of this entry is movement; First some still shots of city from new angles. Here's downtown Lindin City with the Mount Royal transmitter overlooking it 3 4 4 5 5 6 7 8 Perspective view of the city Skyline Moving to the largest object in the city, the infamous Spaghetti Junction. Here's a 360 drone view of the interchange from various unique angles 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Now lets get to the Action! Spaghetti Junction is now a fully functional 5-way interchange, more on that later. The 3D CAM really brings out the best in NAM interchanges, especially since they are true 3d models and don't deform no matter which angle you view them at 23 I particularly love the way highways look from lower angle vantage angles like this one, this is my favorite shot of the set; Straight down views also work very well for NAM highways, Looking directly East Now Westward, Zoomed up, On to the next city over, part of the Spaghetti junction interchange spills over into the town of Evermore as well And finally looking back East again. Next time we'll check out a major new development in the city, have one last look at Dresden and then move on to new areas of the region, chow for now!- 11 Comments
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Entry no.46 - The Transfer pt.2
TakemeThere posted a City Journal entry in Pretoria Metropolitan Area
Welcome Back to the Transfer. The highlight of this entry is the animation scenes but I left those for last as there's still a few other interesting things around the interchange that I'd like to show first. Originally I had planned to only have one entry on The Transfer but combined that would've been nearly 100 images which imo is probably a little excessive for a CJ entry, unless of course your name is Korver and your doing an end of the year special, definitely one of the few occasions we're it's completely justified. Continuing from where I left off last time we'll start by taking a look at the northern portion of The Transfer (exiting via the 702 northbound) followed by the area in the north east quadrant, the two highlight sections in the map below; Walkthrough con't The 702 continues northward through Calgon to the 5 points interchange and then onto Central Pretoria from here. The other noteworthy piece of infrastructure in this area is the dual tunnel entrance of the Fastraxx L(Loop) & SS(South Shore) commuter rail lines. This tunnel runs directly under the interchange and then Cisco Bay itself before re-emerging some 4 km south in the city of Dresden. 2 Zooming in closer on the tunnel entrance 3 4 Moving south east from here the area transitions from commercial development to the Industrial on the east side of the 702. 6 A tall telecommunication mast(631ft/192m) of a fairly common design looms over the area. There are several telecom towers located throughout Calgon, three of which are significantly taller. I was hoping to place a new design here alas I'm still working on getting 3ds max to render properly again. 8 Traffic cams are placed high up on the tower so as to keep an eye on current traffic conditions in and around the Transfer. A closeup view of the 702 as seen from the tower; That brings us to the final section of the interchange, the Eastern portal. The 705 continues eastward from here to the city of Baycole(entry's 37 to 42). South from the industrial lot on the north east corner of the interchange we come across Dawson's Creek which passes under the Great Western Railway's Portland subdivision and the NB702 to WB705 ramp twice before continuing west and passing underneath the 702 itself. Closeups 12 13 14 15 16 Also located here is the Whirlwind Monument, which was meant to be located at the Whirlwind Interchange which is also in Calgon but they ran out of available land over there and since the contractors were already paid to build it they just built it here instead hoping no one would notice and as a result to this day most citizens have no idea what relational it holds to anything But they do appreciate seeing the colorful & well manicured flowers when driving by 18 19 The Eastern most portion of the interchange Southeast of the interchange is industrial area B and the port of Calgon which will be seen in a future entry, bit of a teaser of the start of the area; Night Shots Next up I have some evening & night images to show from various areas of the interchange. Lighting is absolutely essential in a interchange with as many curves as this. Nobody wants to end up the creek or pond, safe to say that would ruin one's day. 2 evening shots; 23 And the night images; 25 26 27 28 29 Functionality Proof-of-concept, none of the ramps are eye-candy the entire interchange is fully functional; G1 Mosaics We've finally arrived to what is normally my favorite part, the wide angle pano shots. 31 32 33 The north view was seen last entry, it's actually my least favorite angle. These angles are better imo; West Oval The East view And my personal favorite, the South view; This time the pano's are not the last section, because we have... Animations Figured I'd do something special for this entry. Still images are nice but they just don't quite do the Transfer the justice it deserves. And as intricate as some of my other interchanges are they don't feel quite as fluid as this one is when set in motion. I've spaced out the images a little bit so that you don't get too distracted by the following one. G2 G3 G4 G5 How about we play "Follow that train!" Gotta be quick or you'll lose it! That is unless your trying to follow the Infinity Train Not done yet Lights on Lights off G12 G13 G14 And with an even 50 still images/gif's that concludes this entry. Which image or gif did you like the best? And which of Pretoria's interchanges so far is your favorite? Vote or let me know in the comments below Quick Image links; 5 Points Looper Junction Spaghetti Junction The Transfer Might be a little premature to vote though because I still have at least two more huge interchange beasts to show, though this will be the last transportation/interchange focused update for a while. Next time on Pretoria we're going back to another one of my other favorites... that's right, we're going industrial! Following that there'll be landscaped and urban entries, thanks for dropping in!- 16 Comments
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Is it me or has the talent in the CJ section reached a new level lately? There's amazing stuff out there. Some notable journals that have inspired me recently are: Pretoria Metropolitan Area by takemethere, My SC4 CJ Scrapbook by Ln X, Vista Del Mar: Simcity 4 Artiste by gviper, The Jade Bight by Dreadnought, Nyhaven Lower Columbia (AIN) by woodb3kmaster, New SorGun by SimCoug, P.R. Crastina's Travels by Tariely, and a few others. I decided I need to up my game, so I started a new region. Here's what I'm working on, if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. After the first four shots of the new region are 11 of my "greatest misses." These are pictures I either forgot to add to an entry, there's something that bothers me about them, or I didn't want to make the entry too long and they didn't make the cut. Last are my favorite 5 shots from this CJ. Thanks for the comments everyone! US Route 101 Greatest Misses: The back of Kingdom Animalia Zoo & Aquarium (didn't make the cut) Puerto Anejo (I never finished this city and therefore didn't feature it in a CJ entry, here's a few good shots that came from it) Mosaic (this was actually in an entry but it was small, here's the full size mosaic) Kroger is unexpectedly closed the day before thanksgiving... Accident at the corner of Avocado Road and Spring Street in Playa Verde Downtown Playa Verde The Cal-State Green Beach Mafiosi (blue) vs. the UCPV Prospectors (gray) Via Verde Farmer's Market Open 7 days a week, 6:00 am - 4:00 pm Famous stalls include: Smokey Joe's Santa Maria Style BBQ King Tubby's King Crab Legs Oishi Sushi Pancho's Flautas Accident at the corner of Avocado and 19th Street, Playa Verde Best of Here are some of my favorite shots from this CJ Thanks everyone! One more favorite: (Click to enlarge, then click Full Size, then zoom in)
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Miscellaneous GIFs In-N-Out at the corner of California Blvd and B Street in south San Julio Hot air balloon rides on weekends in Rancho Añejo for $5 per person Mission Avenue at Los Padres Road, Pomegranate Heights Accident at the corner of Balboa and Verano Road in downtown Playa Verde Paseo Águila and Las Moras High School Heiwa Temple in San Julio Near the Port of Playa Verde 2 Eastland Grand Station in Playa Verde (that's the new BK by Ceafus88) Accident at the corner of Avocado Road and 8th Street The High Train over Clementine and Groove Street Puerto Añejo Pera Park in D'Anjou Valley The front entrance of Kingdom Animalia in Ten Billion Palms Surprise Volcano in Playa Verde Click to enlarge:
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This entry was inspired by the FOUR police chases in Two days on the news here in Southern California. The Playa Verde high speed pursuit below happened on May 24th 2015. It started at UC Playa Verde when a car exploded. Police think it is mafia related. A red '63 Mustang from the parking lot was later seen leaving the scene. Down the street in downtown Playa Verde, the red Mustang was spotted by an officer. Once the officer initiated the stop by turning on his lights and siren, the pursuit was on... The suspect entered the 246 freeway east. At this point of the pursuit, the PVPD air unit gets a visual as well as the local CBS Channel 12 news: KCOY, just as the suspect crosses the Ben Franklin Memorial Bridge into San Julio. Passing the Playa Verde Int. Airport, the pace accelerates with speeds exceeding 100 mph. After the suspect merges with the 101 south, he starts heading toward Carterville (the ghetto) With a last minute turn, he exits the freeway and turns left on Airport Way. Eastbound on Airport Way. Suspect then enters a residential area. With his erratic driving, the police lose him somewhere in the neighborhood along Martin Luther King Blvd. A collision! On Sia Road just west of Black Keys Boulevard. The suspect was seen fleeing the accident in the Saint Motel but then out the back door into Leftwood. Luckily, after a brief foot chase, the suspect was apprehended. He followed instructions and lay down in the middle of the street so officers could move in and arrest him. Map of the pursuit
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