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It has been awhile since I've made any kind of entry. A few new things have occurred since then:
I was able to switch to a new country area to map in exchange for forfeiting my previous zone for a larger server-wide project. A fresh start was welcomed.
I am seriously considering revamping my highway numbering system - sort of. If you look at my live map, yes some numbers have been assigned. Aside from the 1-10 and 1xx routes already there, ALL routes will be renumbered.
- I'm keeping the 1-10 and 1xx series routes kind of the same - radiating from the Capitol and/or branching off another radial.
- The 1xx routes will always be tolled motorways unless otherwise stated. These will branch off the parent 1-9 route and will roughly parallel the parent non-tolled route. Interchanges will be further spaced apart (rural) or large and complicated (urban). These interchanges will often (though not always) include "sweeping" flyovers and complex designs. All tolls are collected electronically via transponder or bill-by-plate. Many tolls are set at higher per mile rates than what would be normal to many in order to accommodate the massive infrastructure investments and maintenance for both the toll roads, as well as other roads and transit infrastructure. You will see the longest viaducts, bridges, and tunnels in the nation along these roadways (though some longer structures/tunnels can be found along other road types, and many are also tolled along those segments). Roads numbered 100, 110, 120, 130, etc are planned to be outer bypass/orbitals. (100 is the Capitol Outer Orbital/Bypass). Spur motorways (111-119, 121-129, 131-139, and ect) will branch off from the parent 10x (101, 102, etc.) and be called 111, 112 (for the 101) and the like. These may loosely parallel the corresponding 1x, 2x, etc. route but this is not required. All toll motorways will either bypass a city, terminate into the parent motorroad at one end of (or not far into) the city and pick back up on the other side, or tunnel under the city (if the parent motor-road doesn't already do so and/or it is a relatively small urban area). Smaller towns are always bypassed.
- Routes 1-10 will be the "Trunk Route" network and will have a mixture of grade separated and at-grade segments. Primarily, however, the majority of these Trunk roads will be grade separated with more closely spaced interchanges, many with lower-quality ramp designs. They will eventually be given the "Motor-road" flag. In the capitol region, many segments are either elevated or (preferably) tunneled. These would classify as the "Free" alternatives to the Tolled Motorway network, although longer bridges and tunnels (except the longer tunnels found within urban areas) are often tolled. There will also be spurs off the trunk network beginning with the "parent" ones place road (1-9); thus 11-19 from the 1, 20-29 from the 2, and ect. It is likely these roads will cross and go "out of zone". 10 will not have any spur routes as it is a relatively short trunk road connecting the Capitol and the coastal area. All 1-99 roads enter larger urban areas as motor-roads - oftentimes being bridged, tunneled, or buffered by parkland. As for towns and villages, these roads will always bypass these as a grade-separated bypass or, at the most, Right-in-right-out (RIRO) or roundabouts at major junctions.
- Though I've assigned 2xx/3xx series roadways already, these will also change. 2xx will be assigned to "Primary" roadways that are motorway-like. Eventually I'll give these the "Motor-road" flag. Initial thoughts lead me to have these branch off from the 1-9 trunk network, but I want to think of what to do for roads crossing the trunk roads - do I assign a new number or keep it as is? Or do I take the approach of "Lower number S and E and Higher numbers N and W? These always bypass towns and villages, often with roundabout junctions, "all turns from right lane" a-la New Jersey, or some low-grade grade separation (sharp RIRO).
- The 3xx roadways will be strictly Primary roadways and will have a mix of grade separation and level crossings. The numbering scheme is otherwise up in the air for now.
- Road network numbering aside from the 1-10 and 1xx series roads poses a challenge within the Capitol Region as the urbanized area takes up a massive footprint (though a lot of parkland and other "green space" is either extant or has yet to be placed).
- 4xx and 5xx roadways will be higher-grade tertiary roads. Grade separation does occur along these roadways, but primary intersection types will be either roundabout or traditional crossroads. In the Capitol region and other "State" capitals will often have these roads as grade-separated cars-only "Parkways" with sharp curves on ramps (even RIRO in places), short ramp lengths, low-clearance overpasses and tunnels, and often adjacent to residential areas and/or parkland. Think Robert Moses' Parkway System in NYC - without all the controversy (hopefully). Frontage roads likely accompany such roads to provide local access.
- 6xx and 7xx roadways will be lower-grade tertiary roads. Grade separation is rare along these roads, but can occur.
- 8xx and 9xx roadways - hmmm - haven't figured this one out yet. Most likely will be assigned to some roadways marked as "Unclassified" and mainly found within urban areas (like the Capitol region). These will repeat within every urban area. Some 8xx roads may be classified outside urban areas for several miles or if it connects to another nearby town/village/city or a major attractor (Port, Airport, etc.).
- I'm keeping the 1-10 and 1xx series routes kind of the same - radiating from the Capitol and/or branching off another radial.
Other interesting tidbits to share: *CORRECTION TO THE TEXTUAL CONTENT OF THIS STATEMENT: I suck at designing airports, really. So the Image import plug-in has been a lifesaver in this regard. I can pull layouts from Google Maps, import, resize as needed, and then use this as a basis for designing airports. Thank you to the developer of this plugin.
- Although I initially set the Capitol area as a massive gridiron street layout (with 400ft by 400ft square blocks) with some non-grid elements, I've found that while I can keep things somewhat realistic, it can get very boring lol. So, I wanted to keep things interesting... and I did in the form of ProbableTrain's Procedural City Generator. Tweaking some settings and the zoom level has (and will continue) to enable me to save an SVG of a randomly generated street network where I can import as a layer (like stuff from Google via the aforementioned plugin). Things have just gotten more fun. As this generator is random-seeded, this does not mimic real-world environments.
- I will say that having a dummy 400x400 ft grid (or some variation of this - maybe 200x400 or 150x400) is still useful so I can adjust the imported image to a "realistic" size and the resulting tracing will remain realistic.
More to come...hopefully sooner rather than later....