Tarkusian Cities (Update 107-08/23/2020-West Chemeketa Reconfig, Part 1)

[rhwfanatic221]

I'm going to have to stick w/my guns be cliche' and say... "This stuff is awesome yet again Tarkus" But putting all sarcasm aside truly love your presentation and the way you have your roadways built. Probably the one person tht I closely am inspired by to build as realistic as possible regions. Oh and another cliche' "Keep it up" 

In case I've put in too many sarcastic comments in tht above one, I really do hope you keep doing your really nice work on the region of Tarkusian Cities.

[wallasey]

Top updates there, liking the gentrification of the new routes once they have been constructed. A nice touch.

Well done.

[Tarkus]

Hi everyone-

Well, back with another update--Chemeketa has obtained the funds to continue the 52nd Avenue Widening Project, so we'll be headed out there.

But first, replies:

Robin (rooker1): Hey, no worries, my friend--I'm a good sport.   Thanks for the kind words on the update--there will be more roadgeekery in the next few updates, but I'll see if I can find little ways to make them interesting for the less road-oriented folks as well.

Jon (bakerton): Thanks for the kind words on the extension projects--glad they proved interesting and relatable for you!

Raymie (Tracker): Thanks for the compliments on the update!  I've actually probably been using SAM 7 a little less recently, in part due to the lack of NWM intersections, though that'll be my next project to finish up after this NAM release cycle.   As far as my terrain goes, I'm actually using c.p./cycledogg's original Columbus Terrain Mod, which, oddly, is tricky to track down.  One of these days I'll get back to desert terrain . . . I have a new region I've started with it, which I'll probably show here before too long. 

rhwfanatic221: Thank you for the very kind words and encouragement--cliche or not, I appreciate it.   I'm really glad Tarkusian Cities has proved inspirational for you as well!

wallasey: Thanks--I'm really glad you enjoyed the updates and seeing the sprucing up of the areas.  You'll see a fair bit more of that sort of stuff with these latest projects.



Before I get really into things, I thought I'd share a little something--an updated full map of the Chemeketa Region.  If you look down in southeast Chemeketa, near the railroad tracks and Ashcroft Street, you'll find our 1200th poster has been honored with a new road.

52nd Avenue NE Corridor Widening Project-Phase 2 (Mosby to Scarlet)

The purpose of this project is to continue the improvements to 52nd Avenue NE in the Sorenson Creek area of North Chemeketa to facilitate faster and safer travel.  As with Phase 1, which improved 52nd Avenue NE from Mosby Road to Halpert Road, the reconstructed roadway will consist of 6 travel lanes, with a raised, landscaped median and turn lanes at major intersections.  As part of the project, other improvements will be made to the roadways in the vicinity of 52nd Avenue, including an extension of Scarlet Street NE south to Sorenson Creek, reconfiguration of the 52nd/Sorenson Street NE intersection, and the construction of a new connector between the Scarlet Street extension and Sorenson Street.

In order to better facilitate the construction of the new lanes while minimizing disruption, 52nd Avenue's existing 4 lanes have been narrowed, with a temporary 35mph construction speed limit in effect.  This is at the intersection of Rankine Lane and 52nd (facing east).  Left turns off 52nd have been proven a bit . . . interesting due to the temporary lane configuration, and Public Works has advised those heading east on 52nd to instead make a right and use the Rankine/Dallas Roundabout as a turnaround, while westbound motorists have been advised to use Aldrin Drive.



This is at the bridge over Sorenson Creek on 52nd (facing east)--the bridge will need to be reconstructed to accommodate the wider roadway.  Crews have caused 52nd to "squiggle" so that they can better facilitate the widening.



This is the existing intersection at 52nd and Scarlet, the west end of the project (facing east).  Scarlet will be extended to the south from this intersection.  The original plans involved extending Sorenson Street northward to connect with the disconnected segment with the same name, running from Eriksen to 71st, but in order to have optimal traffic signal spacing, and to avoid the sensitive wetlands on Sorenson Creek between 52nd and Eriksen Drive NE, it was decided that an alternate plan was necessary.



Work on the extension has begun (facing east).



This is the intersection of 52nd and Sorenson with construction in progress (facing east).  Sorenson's access to 52nd will be converted into a RIRO (right-in, right-out) setup, with a new connector road being constructed between Sorenson and the Scarlet extension to facilitate left-turning traffic.



This is the point where the connector road will meet Sorenson Street at a roundabout (facing east).



Construction on the roundabout and connector (all facing east):









Here's the other end of the connector, ready to be connected into the extended Scarlet Street (facing east).  Full access will remain at the 52nd/Sorenson intersection until the Scarlet Street project is complete.



Work continuing on the Scarlet extension (facing east):









Because of the difficulties of staging the construction of the widened Sorenson Creek bridge on 52nd Avenue, Public Works has had to close the busy thoroughfare--a controversial decision for sure.  We'll be back next time to see the aftermath.



-Alex

[rooker1]

but I'll see if I can find little ways to make them interesting for the less road-oriented folks as well.

Hmmmmm.....not sure if I'm insulted or grateful. 

Nice update indeed.
I have really started to try and use more of the NAM features lately in my city and following your MD has helped me out a lot.  So thank you and maybe I can become a little "Road Geekyer".  Is that a word?   How about Road Savvy, now that sounds nice.

Always a pleasure.
Robin 

[supremec]

Always fabulous updates   

[Ramona Brie]

Awesome as always. Nice to see the squiggle in the MAVE-4. That's another minor good feature to have in NWM 2.0.

How many SC4 tiles does Chemeketa incorporate?

[Exla357]

Really good stuff here as always! Can't wait for NAM 30!

-Alex

[art128]

Great stuff there Alex! Your road network is still the best out there! Also I love the second picture, it looks quite good with the little pond and the busy road.

[bat]

Fantastic pictures of your roads there! Looking forward to more...

[sim_link]

As with Phase 1, which improved 52nd Avenue NE from Mosby Road to Halpert Road, the reconstructed roadway will consist of 6 travel lanes, with a raised, landscaped median and turn lanes at major intersections. 

I look forward to seeing that raised median. I recently experimented with doing that with one of my RHW highways (though mine was on the side of the highway acting as a sound barrier... )

Keep up the road-geekery, always interesting to see!

-simlink

[ps2owner]

Looks Great!
Sorry If I missed somewhere that you said it, but where did you get those construction lots?
(there are 62 pages after all)
NM, I found them.

[Ramona Brie]

Hate to post again, but...this was a picture released about two and a half months ago. That building looks awfully familiar...is this 52nd and Scarlet AFTER construction? (Tarkus's image)



There seems to be a color correction issue between old and new pieces here.

[noahclem]

I was visiting to track down your road map tutorial (for creating a vector-based image of my restaurant logo for a sign actually) and took the opportunity to catch up on your work. Looking very nice as always of course      I'm really enjoying your increasing tendency to use roundabouts and enjoy the organic layout of your networks with FA, diagonal, wide-radius, gradual slopes, etc. Looking forward to more 

[ps2owner]

For anyone who was wondering where the construction sites are, i'll be helpful and post a link:
http://kurier.simcityplaza.de/details.php?file=51
Site is in German, but its pretty easy to navigate, even without a translator, at least for me.
(My language is English)

[ivo_su]

I will  be very interesting to see  the use of networks shitokite RHW and NWM in the downtown of some of your more urban regions.  Otherwise I like a chicane MAVE-4 that you  showed us, but I do not know if I'm wrong but  I do not remember to have seen somewhere NMAVE-4. The good news is that soon I will be able to use it personally.

You have PM
- Ivo

[rhwfanatic221]

I can't wait to use the AVE 6 w/the Tuleps and all... great work on tht. Btw I had come across a separate forum about new stoplight gantries you had been working on... any way those will be out before, or after the NAM release?

[Tarkus]

Hi everyone-

First off, my apologies to all my loyal readers here for the lack of updates and the "roaring silence" here (to borrow from Manfred Mann's Earth Band).  Between the usual case of Fall Real-Life Syndrome (RLS) and the fact that my SC4 focus has been pretty much entirely consumed with NAM projects (first, NAM 30/RHW 5.0/NWM 2.0/etc.; now "Project 0E"), I haven't really had the time/energy to update Tarkusian Cities, and I've been evaluating where to go from here with it.

Much as there's been a trend toward gaps between updates (or spurts of updates) here, there's been large gaps between NAM releases as well lately--the timespan between the last 3 releases has been 9 months on average, and it's prompted discussions within the team in terms of how we develop, package and release things.  That discussion has resulted in a few changes going forward with NAM Version 31, including scrapping the so-called "modular NAM" paradigm (Core + Essentials + Components/Separate Download Plugins) we've had since 2007, in favor of a "monolithic NAM" paradigm (Core only, with Components absorbed into the Core, meaning that instead of downloading the RHW, NWM, HSRP, etc., you'll be checking a box for it in the NAM installer). This shift in thinking was largely the result of trying to "go with the grain" of our typical tendencies, and based on watching download stats, user comments and technical support cases.  We're all quite curious to see how it works out, and we're hoping it solves a lot of recurring developmental process and tech support issues we've been facing over the past 4 years.

This process has gotten me thinking about Tarkusian Cities again, particularly in light of the fact that I've had folks asking what was going on with it.  I've been taking into consideration my anticipated RL over the coming year or so, plus NAM development, the nature how my creative process typically runs here with Tarkusian Cities (which, despite a more "regular" first half of 2011, is generally pretty sporadic), and trends in user feedback.

My process of assembling updates can, at times, prove quite laborious, particularly with the planning of my various projects, the mapmaking process, sorting through the (typically massive) array of pictures I generate over the course of gameplay to find the ones that best encapsulate my concept for the update, and, in many cases, developing new NAM items for use in my cities (which has led to quite a features you now know and love, though it was also the downfall of my first MD/CJ attempt, Argentum, which was much too predicated on that side of things). 

In looking over my typical pattern of updates, and the datestamps on the sets of images in my Albums subfolders, it's very common that I do things in intense spurts.  Typically, there will be a period of 1-2 weeks where there's 3-5 updates (I've never done more than 5 updates in a month), followed by a lull of anywhere from a couple weeks to (at longest) 5 months.  Occasionally, as happened in 2010 (a year which only saw 5 updates total), there will be isolated updates separated by lulls.  With the exception of images generated for NAM development purposes, my game image folders follow a similar pattern.

I've also gotten the impression, both from what I've heard from readers and from noting view and reply statistics, that the mindset people take into Tarkusian Cities is not the traditional "read-and-reply" approach most take into MDs/CJs.  Rather, it's "view-absorb-respond", with folks typically re-reading through updates (even during "active" periods when new updates are being added), and the responses tend to spill out beyond typical replies and into other spheres in the community, including readers' own MDs/CJs, NAM development threads, Show Us threads, etc.  I don't think TC has quite achieved the status of a "meta-MD/CJ" like my good friend David (dedgren) has created with Three Rivers Region, but I've gotten the feeling TC is something different than a traditional city showcase--what exactly it is, I'm not sure.

Particularly because of one non-traditional aspect of it--the timespan between updates--I've at times wondered if I'd be able to really continue TC and continue to do it proper justice.  But in keeping with the "going with the grain" idea, and trying to make that grain a bit less perplexingly enigmatic to those following it, I think I've been able to come up with some idea as to what TC should look like going forward.  And just as in the case of the NAM, it involves "going with the grain".  Namely, it seems like acknowledging the spurt-and-lull pattern is really the most feasible and natural way to continue Tarkusian Cities. 

The way I'm envisioning this is with a gradual update-assembly process, followed by an intensive posting cycle consisting of several updates over a couple week span, detailing various projects (and sometimes including non-project "tour updates", which sometimes offer a nice change of pace) separated by a planned 2-to-4-month lull, and letting the reader absorb and respond.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this, and thank you for indulging my wall-of-text musings and your continued support of Tarkusian Cities over the years.  I do have some new stuff to share (as part of one of these "intensive cycles") forthcoming, including the conclusion of the 52nd Avenue project in Chemeketa.

-Alex

[ivo_su]

What is this "Project 0E" - I have read  in several places for him  but he has no more detail to meet them.

- Ivo

[vinlabsc3k]

Alex, I read TC and other MD/CJ to view the creativity of the owner and sometimes to find new ideas , so I don't mind how you organize your MD/CJ but don't abandon it.

[jdenm8]

What is this "Project 0E" - I have read  in several places for him  but he has no more detail to meet them.

Project 0E is a ground-up rebuild of nearly all of the RHW (Except puzzle pieces). More information can be found in the RHW thread.