Table A1.03.6

Learn about Ground Level Highways in SimCity 4, their cost-effectiveness, limitations, and intersection challenges compared to other road types.

Ground Level Highways in SimCity 4 are a cost-effective option for transportation infrastructure. Unlike their elevated counterparts, they are cheaper to build and maintain. However, they present a significant challenge: roads and streets cannot be built underneath them, necessitating the construction of overpasses to allow traffic to cross. These overpasses also serve as entry and exit points to the highway, with side onramps allowing traffic to join parallel roads and reverse direction on the overpass. Ground Level Highways feature three lanes, but changing lanes can be problematic.

A major drawback of highways, including ground level ones, is their intersection design. While roads and avenues allow for turning and U-turns at intersections, highways require complex and space-consuming structures like T junctions and Cloverleaf interchanges. Cloverleafs are particularly inefficient, consuming vast amounts of valuable real estate that could otherwise be used for economic development, and are also expensive to maintain. T junctions, while less expansive than Cloverleafs, still require significant space where one highway meets another perpendicularly. The limited lane management on highways further complicates traffic flow compared to other road types.