Thanks to a viewer's hint, Springvalley's pedestrian overpasses are replaced with underpasses dug to -9 m with the landscaping tool. They're hidden, more direct, and only work with vanilla paths. A rail link goes straight to the cargo airport, Madison Park gets a new quarter that steps down from small high-rises, and an American football stadium arrives with a tailgate parking lot, a park and a tourism district. The parking lot mod no longer works, but the first match ends in a win.
What happens in this episode
I did some testing off camera first, and it works. One important detail: these underpasses only work with the vanilla pedestrian paths or bicycle paths, not with park paths. After the shoreline park in Episode 33, every pedestrian overpass goes, and paths go under the highway instead.
How it was built
Going under the highway
At the on and off ramp, I delete the overpasses and rebuild the link below ground. With the landscaping and disasters tool I dig to -9 m, run the path under the highway, and come back to ground level. The first one looked simple, and people started reorganising their routes right away. In some cities, much of the downtown pedestrian network is underground, and I’m curious to explore more of that one day. I hardly ever find highway overpasses beautiful enough to justify them. Two underpasses now connect the southern and northern parks, and a gazebo moves to make room.
Replacing the UFO
My first build left a structure that looked like a UFO. It goes too, replaced with an underground link. The exits aren’t pretty, so I hide them, but they’re common where I live. A viewer reminded me of this option, and I’m grateful. Hidden paths are so much nicer than obnoxious overpasses.
Students and the airport
The college still lacks students at 64% attractiveness, so I try universal education and tuition settings. Another viewer asked whether my cargo airport was vanilla. It is. A passenger airport will come later. With the Network Multitool I smooth a ridiculous slope and add a rail link straight to the cargo airport. Changing roads always brings traffic lights back, so I removed them again.
A Madison Park quarter
Birch Sector, Rosewood Land and the oil industry can wait. A new grid joins Madison Park: one centre with a few small high-rises (the policies keep them modest), stepping down to small offices and low-density homes. It gets a fire station, police, a school and a park squeezed in without Anarchy. In Cities: Skylines II you’ll get an intersection when you click in the middle of a road; here you place each one. The city hits 70,000. Some businesses lack educated workers, so another school goes in. I’m taking it slow with this city on purpose. It makes the challenges easier to work through.
A football stadium
The varsity sports set offers stadiums, and an American football stadium fits in the centre with a good highway connection. In American tradition, it gets a huge parking lot for tailgating: barbecues and meeting friends before the game. I set ticket prices and security and watch match day. Sadly the parking lot mod no longer works: cars drive through instead of parking. The stadium still filled up, around 750 people left at once, and the green team won.
Hotels and a park
Next to the stadium, a tourism district gets hotels, cafés, souvenir shops and nightclubs. Orchard Grounds is a new park with side gates and restrooms. I’m getting more freestyle with each build, breaking up rules and grids.
Video chapters
- 00:00Overpasses out, underpasses in
- 04:27Underground cities and a park link
- 08:30Connecting park to park
- 13:04Replacing the UFO overpass
- 17:12Not enough students
- 21:30A rail link to the cargo airport
- 25:37A new Madison Park quarter
- 29:53Services and a gentle skyline
- 34:12Missing educated workers
- 39:21Planning a football stadium
- 43:59Match day and tailgate parking
- 52:46A win, hotels and a stadium park
- 1:01:56Recap
Clicking a chapter starts the video above at that point.
FAQ
How do you build a pedestrian underpass under a highway?
Use vanilla pedestrian paths, not park paths. Dig the path down to about -9 m with the landscaping tool, run it under the highway, then bring it back up to ground level on the other side.
Why do businesses complain about not enough educated workers?
The nearby workforce is less educated than the jobs need. Add schools and high schools, or lower university tuition to attract students.
Does the Parking Lot Roads mod still work?
In this episode many cars drove through the lot instead of parking. After the 2023 game updates it no longer behaved reliably for me.