Do Highways really need On-Ramps?
Matt Daniels (n9248086@henson.cc.wwu.edu) wrote: When I build highways, I no longer provide on-ramps, and the sims still travel on the highway. In fact, the traffic is often extremely dense on those highways that have no on-ramps.

Chris Weiss (six@emf.net) from Maxis wrote: That's sort of a false indicator. The problem is we only have one layer to indicate how heavy traffic is. If you've got a really busy road and plop a highway on top of it, the highway will show the same traffic as the busy road. Try using the query tool on a stretch of that particular highway that is not above any road and see what the results say.


ClubOpolis decided to find out the truth:


The highway above has no on-ramps and no roads passing underneath it and yet it still has a few cars on it. Incredible! You can't see them, but if you query it, you'll find 0 to 5 cars per minute.


The same highway this time with roads passing under it. Still no on-ramps. There is a large concentration of cars where the road passes underneath.


That same highway again, this time with on-ramps. TONS of cars!

The lesson to be learned here is don't believe everything you read. Sometimes you just have to figure stuff out on your own. A good example of this is the Phantom Water Pump. Some believe in it and some don't. Decide for yourself.

This Web Page was created by Patrick Coston July 22, 1995, Last updated April 4, 2006