Challenge 1

[Rayden]

I'm not much of a story teller, so, I'll have to stick with my images. Here is the first image request for this challenge, the region view with Route 10 starting on tile A and extending to east crossing the river and going under the hills. The rail line a little south, crosses de river as well towards east near the south boarder and enters tile B. Both road and rail caries on towards east to tile C, and while the rail keeps straight ahead near the south border, the road follows the river and crosses the Rockcreek Hills underneath by a tunel and enters tile C. Here, while Route 10 follows the hills contour line, the rail goes south to tile F and crosses the Riverborough. Route 10 enters tile K and turns south to tile L where it crosses the river and enters tile M. The rail line after crossing Riverborough, turns east on tile I and enters tile M where it carries on towards east until it leaves to SimNation. Route 10 after entering tile M, crosses Riverfair Creek and leaves to Sim Nation by the south border after overpassing the rail line.



And here is Tile B (Rockcreek Valley) on View 1

[mrbisonm]

Now that you posted your pictures, you are not allowed to change anything anymore. We made copies and judge the originals only.

We also will not make any comments in this thread besides the judging once it is finished by Wednesday next week, but we will make useful and friendly comments in your regular thread of GRV. Points will be given 3 to 4 days after the challenge is finished and will be posted in the Pointage Sheet.
Also your points only together with an explanation and comments why we gave you these points, will be posted here at the end of this challenge.

We would like to see a picture of tile A in Mayormode and in view 1 please. Thanks.

mrb/lynncanox

[Rayden]

I knew you were going to ask for a view of Tile A, that's why I had that image ready to go. And for you to see what can't be seen, I'm posting another one zoomed. Click images as I kept their original size and only posted the respective thumbnails.

 

I guess you might have another question after comparing the first image of the challenge, and those above. 

[mrbisonm]

Thank You, no more questions, we saw what we wanted to see.

mrb

[Rayden]

Thank You, no more questions, we saw what we wanted to see.

mrb

Ah OK, I though you wanted to know what's that bellow the access to the northern bridge (road one), that only appears on the traffic view. 

[mattb325]

Those bridges are great - what slope mod are you using?

[Rayden]

Those bridges are great - what slope mod are you using?

NHP_Ennedi_SlopeMod (Mount620) - I think it's the light version of it. It's a bit tricky to use on slopes, I actually would prefer a even lighter version of it. I have to talk to Ennedi about it. But with patient it brings good results.

[soulchaser]

I like challenges so I work with the hardest one. Your bridges look pretty good, though. maybe I should have changed my decission before posting 

[Rayden]

I like challenges so I work with the hardest one. Your bridges look pretty good, though. maybe I should have changed my decission before posting 

The problem with the hardest one is to build winding roads on slopes, it almost flattens the terrain. Before using Ennedi's I used one from Jeronij quite good for slopes, can't remember now which was.

[Rayden]

I know I cannot change the images, nor I am intending to, but, I believe I can add a little report to go along with it and perpahs run for an extra point

Here it goes:

The Governor of Bordertown GRV II, MrBisomn order Mayor Rayden to develop a major route to cross the whole region. The Mayor and his advisors came up with a project called Route 10 or BGRV2RR.

The Bordertown GRV II Road/Rail (BGRV2RR) is a potential new transportation route running generally in an east-west direction along the north side of the Grand River, from Plaincreek Bridge to Riverfair Creek south of the Grand River. It would provide an efficient new route for commuters and travelers wishing to access the borders and ferries, and would provide a connection with the costal areas. It would also improve access to industrial developments including Mount Harborhurst Industrial Park, Point Sealand Docks , and Waterwell industrial area.
Proposed as a main route with an 90km/hour speed limit, the BGRV2R, also known as Route 10 would redirect regional traffic away from residential roads, improving the quality of life in neighbouring communities.
Rumours say that it would eventually be upgraded in the near future to a major highway serving the whole Bordertown Grand River Valley II.
Along with this project, a main railway line was built to help decongesting the traffic on the industrial areas, as of dispatching goods from the farming communities.

Cost Estimate

A preliminary design cost estimate for the full scope BGRV2RR  has been prepared utilizing the cost estimating methodology proven to be effective on previous projects. The methodology is all inclusive of construction, land, engineering and project management costs.
Appropriate contingencies for these items are also included. The estimate does not include interest during construction (IDC) as no delivery schedule has been advanced and does not include environmental study costs to migrate to a freeway.

The overall BGRV2RR cost can be summarized in simoleons as follows:

Estimate to complete: $23.000.000
Costs expended to date by the Province of BGRV II, the city of Rockcreek Valley and others: $2.014.094
Total BGRV2RR cost: $25.000.000

[mrbisonm]

First of all let us congratulate You. You have made it through the first Mayor's test.
On the picture below, circles with letters will indicate what was important
in your region for this challenge. If we say we don't like or we like, it doesn't mean that it's the same for others. We are judging to our lknowledge and what would be the most logical thing to do in our opinion, remember this.

A and B.  Good choice to cross the river here,
C. Good idea to have contoured the rails around the mountains.
D. Oh my, oh my, there goes a big part of the budget, a tunnel. While contouring the mountain was the best idea and even going right over the mountain would have been a wiser decision, but a tunnel just spoiled the budget, and what's worse, there's another one in tile B (E). That wasn't a good idea to start off with.
F. Good choice of crossing the Grand river in this area.
The rails are wonderful and easily earned 4 pts, but the roads didn't make it because of the tunnels. We gave you 6 points which is still quite good. Congratulations and good luck with the next challenge.

Nice story in the last post.

Lynn and Fred

[Rayden]

Just a small remark, as others already said, about tunnels. Although the costs are astronomically high compared to roads, nowaday, the safety is being put ahead of costs, because human death cannot be measured economically. Every year I drive to Andorra for snowbaording. There is this stretch of road from Lleida (Lérida) to Seu D'Urgel, just at the border to enter Andorra. This stretch of road all around the mountain and along a canyoned river, use to take around 2 to 3 hours, along windy and thin road. I wish I could have taken photos of that crazy road. The traffic is always high as that is the main road from the west and southwest part of Spain to go into Andorra. Every year, lots of car accidents use to happen, landslides and snowfalls also. The solution they found to prevent that was building tunnels. It was built, if I'm not mistaken  7 tunnels, in a 112 KM stretch of road. The 2 to 3 hours usually taken, the travel time was reduced in 50%. The traffic accidents were reduced in 60%.
That was the main reason I did the tunnels, safety and travel time. The other reason has to do with the plans I have for the region, which will greatly help my economy as Route 10 will be passing through 2 main cities and most of my Industry areas. I don't know how is in the US/Canada, but here in the south of Europe (Portugal, Spain and Italy), most of the industry is placed in the northern part of the countries.

And to ilustrate the tunnel criteria, here is a history taken from the Highway History of the U.S.D.T. (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/)

The Big Walker and East River Mountain Tunnels

By Rickie Longfellow

Motorists on Interstate 77, a major north/south highway, pass easily and quickly through the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel near Wytheville, Virginia, and East River Mountain Tunnel at Bluefield, West Virginia. The twin lane East River Mountain Tunnel is 5,400 feet long and the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel, also twin lanes, is more than 4,200 feet in length. Changing lanes is permitted in both tunnels.

Long shot of tunnel entrance.

East River Mountain Tunnel.

Travel, however, was not always so easy between the two states. Travel to the other side of Big Walker meant traveling the twisted, however scenic, Highway 52. On East River Mountain, travelers actually crossed over the mountain on a narrow road. Like many mountain roads, fog and winter snow sometimes contributed to the roads having to be closed. Elevation for both mountains is more than 3,000 feet. The logical solution was a tunnel through both mountains.

Construction of the Big Walker Tunnel and adjacent roadways took five years. It was opened in 1972 at the cost of $50,000,000. It made history at that time as the most expensive single project undertaken on a Virginia interstate system.

Groundbreaking for the East River Tunnel took place in 1969. The tunnel was completed in 1974 and at $40,000,000 carried the biggest price tag of any project done to date by the West Virginia Department of Highways. Because the tunnel connected the two states with the state line dividing nearly half the tunnel, Virginia shared in the expense.

Inside of tunnel featuring amber lights.

Inside of East River Mountain Tunnel.

The work was difficult, the TNT explosions were loud and the mud was deep. At East River Mountain, caves created sinkholes and sunk part of the tunnel two feet so that concrete had to be hauled in to correct the problem. More than 30,000 feet of lumber was also hauled in to support the tunnel.

Today thousands of motorists enjoy the safe drive through the tunnels. Closures for repairs in the tunnels are in 15-minute intervals to perform maintenance, air quality testing, as well as fire and safety upgrades to the ventilation system. Automatic sensing analyzes the amount of carbon monoxide and adjusts the ventilation system. Generators back up the power in case of a power failure. Traffic lights can slow or stop the traffic in case of accidents, and fire extinguishers and telephones are available inside the tunnels.

Although driving Highway 52 and climbing to a mountaintop brings scenic and exciting adventures, motorists on a time schedule enjoy the fruits of so many workers' labors by traveling through the Big Walker and the East River Mountain Tunnels.

I've coloured a few parts of the text, on green the pros, and on red the cons. The bold italic black text illustrates exactly the stretch of road between Lleida and Seu D'Urgel.

By no means is this to have my points reviewed, because they don't mean that much to me, I prefer the ludic side of this contest, but, to explain my point of view concerning this issue.

Cheers
Silvio