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Entry no.19 - Transportation & Places of Interest in Lindin City pt.2
TakemeThere posted a City Journal entry in Pretoria Metropolitan Area
This will likely be the final entry from the Middle East borough of Pretoria. To mark the occasion I've completed a street map of this area which covers 21sq/km. Due to the size of the map I had to split it into two images. However it seems the top portion doesn't always show. Silly imgur, doesn't know what it wants to do from one moment to the next. In any case the image for the bottom 2/3rd's of the map is working and is the more important section of the borough. At first the city borders were irregular but it came off a little too confusing having them all over the place in addition to the irregular borough borders. So I simplified them to follow the actual in game city borders. And concluding the tour of LC, City overview: A - Highway 709/705(Comerica Parkway) Interchange B - Lealand Sewage Treatment Plant C - ICR Rail Tunnel Entrance D - Comerica Parkway/Astel Rd. Interchange E - Rockcut(neighborhood) F - Kalahari 'Peak G - Rail Tunnels and Junctions H - Downtown LC I - Earl Reyes memorial park J - Highway 700/West Way & East Way Interchange K - Fastraxx Lindin City Station L - Livingstone gated community M - Spaghetti Junction N - Hillsboro TS P - Lincoln(neighborhood) P - Highway 707/Trafalgar Rd Interchange ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G - Rail Tunnels and Junctions Which tunnel goes where and is used by whom is covered in entry 17. But I still have a few pano shots of them I want to show; In case anyone was wondering, those diagonal tunnel are indeed functional H - Downtown LC LC was one of the first cities established in Pretoria and the second city that I started working on after Cisco Bay. The earliest snapshot I have of it dates back to Aug 2005. Every year or two I'd come back to freshen up the city and modernize the transportation system. Original build-out(circa 2005) Many years later And today Historically the downtown core was built up during the first population boom in the late 20's/early 30's, leaving little space for future development. During the recession of the 90's some buildings fell into ruin. Once the region emerged from the recession some of these buildings were demolished to make way for new highrises but most were preserved due to heritage considerations. The area boxed in by the freeway and several rail lines is actually the densest development in the Middle East borough with 8000 residents and 6000 jobs. This translates to a population density of approx. 30,000 per sq/km.The city does not have height limit, however most of the downtown core was developed in the 1930's. Today these buildings are designated heritage structures, meaning they cannot be torn down to make way for newer(and likely taller) buildings. There have been a few parking lots which have been developed, including the cities new tallest. List of the 10 tallest buildings in Lindin City Closers ups were already seen in Entry 16. But here are the aerial and mosaic shots of the area. Wider versions of the mosaic shots from entry 18. J - Highway 700/West Way & East Way Interchange The interchange between the cities main thoroughfare and the cities busiest highway, the 700. A look at local traffic patterns of the interchange K - Fastraxx Lindin City Station Just denoting the location of the station on the aireal map, Rail transit in LC has already been discussed in Entry 17. I - Earl Reyes memorial park Directly across McDowell Drive from the Livingstone gated community is the Earl Reyes memorial park, 14 acres of pristine green space in the heart of the city. Posthumously named after the major who served an incredible 5 terms during the boom years of the 1920's & 30's Mr. Reyes is widely considered to be the most popular major in the history of any city in Pretoria. Obviously the man must of been a great leader to get re-elected 4 times in a row. Closer view of the park. The building in the lower right hand corner is the tallest in the city("The Turn"). L - Livingstone gated community Nothing like a little income inequality. While not mansions by any stretch of the imagination, things like complete home automation & geothermal heating are standard. The community features cobblestone roads, 10 foot stone walls and 24-7 security at a gate house. All of which means the prices are not for the faint of heart as a house here will costs more than twice as much as the going rate in any of LC's other neighborhoods. But buyer beware, you may have to put up with a a little noise from time to time. Despite years of protest, the Livingstone home owners association has been so far unsuccessful in their righteous fight to indefinitely ground the air ambulance service flown out of nearby LC Memorial Hospital. One Livingstone homeowner claimed it was so bad he felt like he was in the middle of a war zone. When pressed upon which specific war zone he was comparing the noise to, he promptly declared the interview over. And once again for the second straight year, three homeowners claimed that traffic levels were at an unacceptable "medium" level and demanded action from the mayors office. Seems like there's a little trouble in middle class paradise. M - Spaghetti Junction Extensively detailed in Entry 13. About the only thing I didn't show in that entry were the traffic patterns of the interchange. N - Hillsboro TS Previously covered in Entry 2. Though its appearance has changed a little since then. Following the great 2009 Southwestern Corsica Blackout Crisis(Corsica is the state Pretoria is located in), the station underwent an extensive modernization program. The blackout was caused when a lighting strike hit the facility which caused most of the 250kv circuits trip. Many of older transformers and circuits at the station were in excess of 40 years old and approaching the end of their life span. They have all since been replaced with newer equipment to increase system reliability and total power flow. Basically, I tired to made it look even more high tech. Old New And of course the obligatory mosaic shots P - Lincoln(neighborhood) Outside of the downtown area, Lincoln is the oldest community in LC. More or less, its just your typical suburban community. Many residents here are still bitter about how several blocks of housing were demolished to make way for highway 704 and the expansion of spaghetti junction. P - Highway 707/Trafalgar Rd Interchange As with the other interchanges, this one has been revised multiple times over the years. Conversion 1 Conversion 2 It's still lacking in proper acceleration ramps, but that's because they unfortunately don't exist for diagonal RHW's. One last picture for the road, a cross border merger between the two mmp covered 'peaks' of Lindin City & Cisco Bay; And that concludes the tour of LC and the cities of the Middle East. Thanks for viewing! Here's some teasers of my next city, Dresden; Been a while since my last update because of the reboot. Going to take a turn southward from the Middle East area to the South Shore borough. Here's a small preview of the next city, Dresden(noted below in red); Dresden is primarily industrial. There are some very large industrial facilities located here including the regions primary/largest power plant. To serve those industries many rails lines and spurs run through the city. I'm in the process of converting the highway interchanges from maxis to RHW. The city has 6 local interchange and one major interchange, which is perhaps the most unusual one in the region. A new city also means new releases from the ToS Project. Which is probably what I'll take care of in the next update- 8 Comments
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Entry no.17 - Transportation & Places of Interest in Lindin City pt.1
TakemeThere posted a City Journal entry in Pretoria Metropolitan Area
This entry will deal with the transportation network and locations of interest around LC. Lindin City Street Map Transportation Highway System LC is served by no less then five! highways(700-series - interchange access only). In numerical order these are; Highways 700(6 to 8 lanes), 704(6 lanes), 705(4 lanes), 707(4 lanes) & 709(4 lanes). There are two highway interchanges in the city, the massive and sprawling Spaghetti Junction and a smaller interchange between highways 705 & 709. In addition there are 3 other interchanges in the city. Passenger Service The city is served by a Fastraxx commuter train station on the L and ME lines. There is no physical connection for trains between the lines here(there is a highspeed connection in the next city) but the stations are built next to each other allowing for passengers to interchanging between lines. The L line features all day commuter train service operating every 15 minutes in both directions. While the ME line is only served by commuter trains during the peak period - morning and afternoon rush hours, Hallmark trains, the name of the inter-regional train service(the equivalent to Amtrak) in the nation of Albion, makes frequent stops over the course of the day at the ME line station. The station, though small, is somewhat of a mini transportation hub since it serves as a crossroads for multiple transit lines and highways. Approx. 4,200 passengers use the station on both lines during the peak period, which amounts to a healthy 14.0% mode share of all traffic during the rush hour period. As with neighboring Cisco Bay, the these rail lines slice right through a downtown area on a long viaduct(s). 3,470ft(1,055m) for the ME line and 3,207ft (978m) for the L line Which makes them the second & third longest rail viaducts in the region. Though if you include rail bridges and bridges connecting to viaducts they are only forth & fifth, ICR's Guardians Gate Bridge & subsequent viaduct in neighboring Cisco Bay is third at 3,927ft (1,197m) long. The ME line enters into the 1.4km long Delhi Tunnel which takes the line underneath the community of Rockcut, Drogo Peak and the Trueno river before reemerging above ground in the city of Mayfield. Meanwhile the L line then enters into the 1.8km long San Halo Tunnel which takes the line underneath Kalahari Peak and then Cisco Bay before reemerging above ground in the City of Cisco Bay. Freight service Of the regions two major freight companies only one of them still has mainline(s) in city. ICR's(InterContinental Railway) Lakeridge subdivision(railway specific term for a mainline corridor) runs west to south and passes through Kalahari Peak through the D.Lison tunnel. While the ICR's Omaha sub. branches off northeast fromt Casanova Jct. located at mile 3.5 of the Lakeridge sub, which is just west of the aforementioned tunnel. Both lines are double tracked, signalized, fully grade separated from road traffic(in Lindin city) and quite busy as they're ICR's main corridors through the Pretoria region. A new tunnel was recently built under Kalahari Peak in 2009(the Lakeridge-Omaha connecting track) to fully connect the junction in all directions. The Fastraxx and ICR line tunnels do not intersect. ICR's line passing below the L line. The old route of ICR's mainline, now called the Lakeridge Spur, is still in place. This is the line branches off on the east side of the tunnel and goes under the Trueno river in the Las Plagus tunnel - you wouldn't want to walk through that tunnel without some biohazard protection gear . ICR uses this line to interchange freight traffic with the GWR and to access the port of Isuzu in Cisco Bay. As discussed in entry 8 GWR's(Great Western Railway) old mainline, the Midland sub.used to run east to west across the northern part of the city. This rail corridor was GWR's primary north-south rail line through the region for almost 100 years - from the time it was constructed in 1858 until the completion of Vandenburg tunnel under Cisco Bay in 1956. Afterwards the line become superfluous and was abandon. The right-of-way was quickly bought by the PRGA(Pretoria Regional Governing Authority i.e. the government) in 1957. The government promptly ripped up the tracks and used the rail right-of-way to build a portion of highway 707 the following year. Today most of the right of way is occupied by Spaghetti Junction. The line went through a 2,663ft (812m) long tunnel before emerging in Gravhenhurt east of Lindin City and crossing the Trueno river on the Rustaway bridge seen in this image from entry 12 The western tunnel entrance, seen below, was sealed up about 15 years ago when the region underwent a highway modernization program - i.e when I switched to the RHW. The east side was only sealed up last year as it was increasingly frequented by urban explores. Through the tunnel itself largely remains intact. That concludes the transportation brief of the city. Now for a closer look at the places of interest in LC. City overview: A - Highway 709/705(Comerica Parkway) Interchange B - Lealand Sewage Treatment Plant C - ICR Rail Tunnel Entrance D - Comerica Parkway/Astel Rd. Interchange E - Rockcut(neighborhood) F - Kalahari 'Peak' G - Multiple Rail Tunnels H - Downtown I - Earl Reyes memorial park J - Highway 700/West Way & East Way Interchange K - Fastraxx Lindin City Station L - Livingstone gated community M - Spaghetti Junction N - Hillsboro TS P - Lincoln(neighborhood) P - Highway 707/Trafalgar Rd Interchange A - Highway 709/705(Comerica Parkway) Interchange The smaller of the two major highway interchange in the city. The original 705-709 interchange was built in 1961-63, this interchange connected the downtown area of Lindin City to the rest of the Middle East borough via the eastern stub section of highway 705, later renamed the Comerica Parkway as it was built on land originally occupied by the now defunct Comerica Rail line. This is the first version of the interchange, made back in 2006. Just a weed bit dangerous to use eh? The issues with it were quite obvious. All 3 ramps merging onto highway 709 had no acceleration lanes once so ever. Users were forced to merge on as quickly as possible from the ramps off the 705. Reconstruction of the interchange necessitated the demolition of all previously built bridges and ramps. This would require staged construction. One bridge was demolished at a time, north followed by south, and traffic in both directions would share the remaining bridge. Construction was further complicated by the Hardac Hydro corridor which ran directly over the interchange. All of which pushed construction costs upward. All secondary ramps(local access) were removed to increase safety and to simplify the interchange for users, while the primary ramps were all rebuilt. Initially I tried to rebuild the 705-709 interchange small enough to keep most of the surrounding development in place. But the ramps could connect coming off the bridge Building RHW interchanges in relatively small spaces is like putting a puzzle together. Which makes it all the more satisfying when it finally does come together. The highway had to be shifted a couple of spaces away from the river to get everything to fit and by that point there was no space left for any development behind the interchange. Which was no big loss, it looked much cleaner and realistic this way. The current configuration mosaic of the area, from entry 2 Interchange rank of the "BIG 9" Size in terms of total space - 8 of 9 Size in terms of ramps - (4) tied 8 of 9 Size in terms of entry lanes - (12) tied 8 of 9 Overall its the second smallest of the big 9 interchanges ahead of only the 700/709 interchange in Cisco Bay seen in Entry 9. The evolution of the freeway interchange The highway bridge over the Trueno river is called the Higg's Boson bridge. The original spans were built in 1962-63 but by 2001 it had severely deteriorated and was in need of major rehabilitation or outright replacement. It was decided that the bridge would be replaced with a new and more durable span. The cost would be greater up front but much less over time considering rehabilitation would just be delaying the inevitable. The northern(WB) span was replaced first. During construction EB & WB traffic were routed onto the southern bridge each using one lane. After the northern span was completed, EB & WB traffic were routed onto the new span until the southern one was completed. Aside from the two railway viaducts, It is the longest bridge in LC. Bridge stat Waterbody - Trueno river Type - Box Girder Built in - 2001-04 Design Life - 100 years Roadway - Highway 705 Total Length - 2x 735ft (224m) Longest Span - 2x 498ft (152m) Clearance - 110ft (33.7m) Average daily traffic - 38,100 (2014) Cost - $115 million (2014 dollars) B - Lealand Sewage Treatment Plant Lealand STP is one of two fudge factories that deal with all the s*** coming from the people of the Middle East borough. It's the slightly larger of the two and has the capacity to deal with 150,000 people's worth of crap. The plant has 3 large sewage digester tanks, the third tank was added in 1981 increasing the plant's capacity by 50%. There is a single(multi-flue) 220ft(67m) tall smokestack on site built to vent gases from the incineration of a small amount of bio sludge. However new pollution regulations have come into effect requiring either advanced scrubber technology and/or a taller stack. Considering the small amount of sludge that was incinerated it wasn't worth the cost to implement either measure. Thus all bio sludge incineration actives have ceased and the stack is currently only used to vent some very foul odors. Thankfully the area is largely industrial in nature. C & D - ICR Rail Tunnel Entrance and the Comerica Parkway(highway 705)/Astel Rd. Interchange As seen in the last entry this is a diagonal rail tunnel entrance, specifically for ICR's Lakeridge sub eastern entrance to the D.Lison tunnel. Meanwhile the interchange connects the neighborhood of Rockcut and a nearby industrial area with the Comerica Parkway(highway 705). The original version of the 705/Astal Rd interchange Much like the 705/709 interchange, it was in dire need of modernization. Today's configuration B&A mosaics E - Rockcut(neighborhood) Rockcut is the last community to be built in LC. As its namesake would lead one to believe, the area was flatten out to make way for development over time. The community started off as little more than a single road with a small number of houses in the 1940's. It has expanded dramatically in the post-recession period. I'll stop here for now and complete the tour of LC in the next entry. Thanks for dropping by! Area covered so far Closeups of the riverbank can be seen in [url=http://community.simtropolis.com/journal/5253/entry-25468-entry-no2-hillsboro-ts-transmission-substation/]Entry 2- 6 Comments
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Teaser(s) - The Power Plant & Street Map Work
TakemeThere posted a City Journal entry in Pretoria Metropolitan Area
Not the only power plant in the region, but the first one that comes to mind when people in the region mention anything about a power plant. Just a small section of it: Also a little over a month ago I started working on a street map for the region. Many years ago I had originally attempted to make a rail and street map using paint.net Needless to say the result was rather crude... First attempt at map making after completing the first couple of cities in the region back in 2006/07: Early Attempt at a rail map: That sure as heck won't cut it for what I had in mind now, creating a street map like this: After seeing the result others had gotten from using it I downloaded inkscape which is far more suitable to the task. There's a bit of a learning curve to using it but like all things with time it becomes almost intuitive. First thing is to take photos of the transportation network for each city and then edit and combine them all into a single image: Being careful to demolish all unrelated transportation builds/lots prior to taking each photo. Taking photos of each city in zone view is a helpful reference as well. The undeveloped parts of the region will be added to map in the future. I use the SC4 transportation map to draw out individual layers for each network. First come the avenues & roads. Then what's left are the highways, rail lines and streets. The highways & rail lines are relatively easy to tell apart allowing me to fill in the streets. The original SC4 transportation image can then be easily deleted revealing the underlying street grid (warning before you click on them, large images!): So far I've completed the individual layers for highways, avenues, roads & major rail lines: Work is almost done on city boundaries & shoreline and starting on highway interchanges & rail spurs. Yet to start working on subways, street/road/ave names, neighborhood names, elevation(possibly), pedestrian paths(possibly), designating; built-up areas, institutional areas, industrial areas, parks and cemeteries and lastly denoting schools, hospitals, police & fire stations, other services, recreational objects and landmarks. Hopefully this little tutorial was helpful to anyone considering making a map of their region and if anyone has any additionally tips by all means they would be appreciated. RE: Your Comments Kim Sunwoo Thanks! There's definitely going to be a lot more close ups, but sometimes I like building up interest slowly. ty for the advice as well. Though truth be told I'm a bit of a skyscraper geek so even though I know its something that's been overplayed in SC4 CJ's its still something that I thoroughly enjoy.- 3 Comments
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