Exactly 11 years ago, on November 16th, 2005 . . .
. . . the highway revolution began, with the release of RHW Version 0.12.
16 NAM versions later, the revolution continues.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported, encouraged, and helped develop the project over these years--here's to 11 more.
Now, to answer some feedback:
The aliasing makes the curbing appear less than attractive, but a lot of stuff like this looks a lot better in the game than it does in static images.
Having automata stop partway under a viaduct overpass will be very cool to see. Also, I feel like a one-sided SPUI is significantly less efficient than a standard SPUI. I mean, at that point doesn't it basically devolve into a half-diamond? I mean, I guess there's only one light for the interchange, but I imagine the advantages are significantly less since through traffic on the unaffected side continues as normal anyways in most one-sided diamonds (so only 30% more efficient at best?)
Oh, question: Does this FlexSPUI standard support wealthification as all the other new FLEX pieces do? I don't remember if the current ones do or not (never zoned or placed stuff next to them).
Hopefully, the addition of the overhangs above helps the impression of the curbing. There are some limitations on the way the signals work--in part because we're still using Maxis models, which have additional quirks due to being ATC/AVP-based rather than S3D-based, and due to the rather simplistic way the game handles stop points. I kind of had to fudge it a bit by having the stop point be a little bit early, to prevent the overhead RHW traffic from also coming to a dead stop.
With the half-SPUI in Kirkland, I suspect a large part of the reason for that design was the presence of other signalized intersections nearby. The surface street just to the west of the interchange actually has turn lanes that go directly into the southbound ramp for I-405, so they only have to go through one signal.
As far as wealthification goes, partially. I'm likely going to have to bake in sidewalks onto the triangle splitter between the left and right turn lanes on the ramps, because that tile is landlocked and can't pick up wealthing.
What would really honestly be cool is to see a half SPUIs for One Way roads (2/3/4/5). I see use for it then for one way roads particularly in downtown areas.
Regardless, thank for the explanation Alex. I did look like barriers but after another look, it does look like gutter curbs. I vote to do away with them, that is my vote. I like RHW as there is not sidewalk or curbs. AVEs on the other hand, the side walk is useful.
The main advantage of the SPUI is that it simplifies signal phasing, but signals on One-Way Roads can be easily programmed to create a "green wave", so there's likely not much (if any) gain to putting a SPUI (or half-SPUI) on one. I've certainly never seen or heard of one. Probably the closest thing out there would be a volleyball interchange, and there's already support for those.
The curbs will likely remain to some extent, but it's possible the length to which they extend may be shortened.
-Alex
