Sprainbrook, Pennsylvania

[treras93]

from that angle it looks pretty sweet. maybe it just has to grow on me?

[Dac150]

Originally Posted by treras93

from that angle it looks pretty sweet. maybe it just has to grow on me?

I think that's how it is with this bridge. When I saw it in real life for the first time, I was so-so about it. But after passing it by everyday for a week, it grew on me. I'll leave it for a couple weeks, and as the city matures we'll see how it looks then.

[Patrick]

FINALLY a new city! The bridges look great, although I think you should ditch the Suspension part on the Sprainbrook crossing, its just a tad too much.

[Peter]

As far as looks go, the appearance is awesome! The flags are a nice touch! I just don't believe this bridge would work realistically. I am skeptical about whether a bridge like this would work at all in real life.

I am no engineer, but based on what I do know, technically that is not a truss bridge because none of those frames have trusses.

In your bridge, the steel in the frames are just vertical and do not form any triangles.
I would alter them to have a triangular pattern such as "/\/\/\" then add support under the deck where the steel frames' curves intersect and form "V"

[Aleks]

Idk, I like the idea. You just need to make the suspension part curved instead of connecting straight to the roadway. If you made it connected straight to the roadway, then that would be Arched & Cable Stayed, not Arch & Suspension. The roadway should be a little thicker to hold the weight of the cars but other than that I like it. I wish Islas Marias had rivers so I could make bridges.

[Dac150]

Originally Posted by Peter

I am no engineer, but based on what I do know, technically that is not a truss bridge because none of those frames have trusses.
In your bridge, the steel in the frames are just vertical and do not form any triangles.
I would alter them to have a triangular pattern such as "/\/\/\" then add support under the deck where the steel frames' curves intersect and form "V"

Thank you Peter, I appreciate it.

I'm not sure either if that is really a truss bridge, perhaps a canvas? Anyway, I added some more support underneath the bridge to make it appear more realistic. Hopefully that'll bring it together more, but I'm still considering doing away with the suspension part. I also added some ship guides off the bridge anchors to add some more realism (similar to what you did in Otahita).

Thanks for the feedback, you too Patrick.

[Dac150]

Originally Posted by Aleks0o01

Idk, I like the idea. You just need to make the suspension part curved instead of connecting straight to the roadway. If you made it connected straight to the roadway, then that would be Arched & Cable Stayed, not Arch & Suspension.

You're right, it does seem more like a cable-stayed than a suspension. Maybe I created a whole new concept. I actually tried the curved option before the straight, but found the straight looked better.

I don't know, I'm really torn on whether to scrap the suspension/cable-stayed, or just keep it as it is.

[Aleks]

I say keep it. Make the towers a little thinner on the sides, add thickness to the roadway, and make the cable from the top of the towers to the roadway thinner. Maybe instead of having one large cable from the towers to the road you can replace it with 5 or 6 thin cables.

[Dac150]

^^^^ I just added a few bells and whistles to the bridge, so we'll see how it looks tomorrow. I might also thin the cables a bit, as well as the tower.

I'm calling it a night though. I'll have something for you guys tomorrow morning, and then that'll be it until Wednesday.

[Dac150]

Well, it appears that image-shack is having some problems right now, so I guess the update will have to wait for later.

[Dac150]

Nevermind, I got it to work.

Anyway, I just wanted to show you guys a few modifications I made to the bridge. Hopefully it'll look better, but give me your opinions on it.

Here's just an opening shot: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Alright, in this picture you can see I added two things. One is the ship dividers. These are there for the purpose of guiding ships/boats through the proper area (and to prevent the possibility of accidents).

I also added two support pillars in-between the arch sections of the bridge. These of course add extra support to the bridge.


In this shot you can see I added a series of truss supports on the bottom portion of the deck. In reality, these help with not only support, but with wind reduction on the deck.


Here is one last shot looking directly at the bridge from the left-side. (Excuse the unfinished portion of the Sprainbrook Prkwy).


So what do you think? Any better?

[Dac150]

I got some work done on the Armstong Expressway and the Sprainbrook Tunnel (Armostrong side). I also finished the the Sprainbrook Parkway. This'll all be included on Wednesday's update.

Now off to homework for the rest of the day...

[Austin55]

hmm,I cant wait to see some buildings

on the bridge,the new additions look alot better. but the arches + single tower seem to oppose each other. Maybe it would look neat if you made another tower atleast? and a single,large arch spanning the whole route?

It looks OK,though. it wouldent be to bad if you left it like it is.

[treras93]

Well.. that does make it look better but for me it still doesn't look good together

[Patrick]

The bridge is way to low for ship, to sections of it rise for ships?

[Scruffy]

Im guessing you grew up around Westchester.

I like the bridge. Maybe shore up the bottom of the suspension tower? It seems really vulnerable to ships. But the mixture of the two bridges is interesting. i say keep it. Its the first landmark

[Aleks]

Yeah, it is a little low. It'd be cool if the sections connected to the tower rose up like a draw-bridge.

[Peter]

It is certainly more realistic now with support in the right places.

Patrick (edit: and others) brought up a good point, the bridge does appear low for big cargo ships.

Also, i think the red and grey steel do not go too well together, at least not in that way. I have a suggestion though, perhaps you could make all the steel frames grey but all the suspension parts red, or swap that around and see which looks better. It's just something about the red X in the middle of the grey that doesn't appeal to me, but overall, I still really like the appearance of the whole bridge. The flags are really nice, very American! so definately keep them.

[Dac150]

Wow, this is great, thank you for all the comments everyone. I appreciate it!

austin- Thank you! I might just add another tower to create a draw-bridge effect down the road. It's a good idea.
treras- Yeah, I still have mixed feelings about it also, but we'll see where some modifications take it.
Patrick- There are actually no ships of a tanker size allowed on the Housatonic River. The river is located in inland Pennsylvania and doesn't even connect to the ocean. The bridge height is of practical size to allow small boats pass through.
Scruffy- I was actually born in Jersey, but I see what you're saying. That is a good idea though for the bottom of the bridge.
Alek- The draw-bridge effect would be cool, and I'm actually thinking of doing it for another bridge.
Peter- I never really cared for the coloring of the bridge either, but just threw it together at the time. I plan on changing it down the road.

Thank you again everyone for all the comments, they're appreciated.

Expect the next update on Wednesday, followed by one on Friday.

[Aleks]

Sounds good. IF no ships go through here then maybe you can make them go through the Taconic(?) river. Is that the other river?