New Mexico Discussion Thread

[nautofon]

I do agree about US highway 60 between Vaughn and Socorro still being sorely missed.

With the gap in US-60 AND the gap in US-70 AND the gap in US-285, south-eastern New Mexico is more difficult to reach than most other parts of the world. It looks like SCS decided not to complete US-70, and I don't think there's enough space to complete US-285. But a more direct link between Vaughn and Socorro should absolutely be possible—even though the route might not be totally realistic in Socorro due to scale.

(I should add that this older post suggested NM-219 as a possible alternative. Much less work for SCS than US-60 (or US-70) and still a substantial improvement over the status quo. "Slam dunk" sounds about right for that one.)

[MrDrCold]

it makes more sense to add US-285 from I-40 at Clines Corner. there no good point to using NM-219 its so short.
and their is room to add US-60 from I-25 to Hwy 285. it's not that close to Albuquerque or Socorro but 285 is easier to map since its in a mostly flat area no mountains.
now i don't think US-70 fits with its mountain areas too close to US-380 in game scale

[etsuco05]

now i don't think US-70 fits with its mountain areas too close to US-380 in game scale

I agree that there isn't enough room for 70 to fit in the game scale due to the mountains around the Ruidoso area which 70 goes directly through. It is quite a nice drive IRL though.

[nautofon]

@MrDrCold Actually, the good point for NM-219 is made in that older post I linked to above.

As for the 285: Where, exactly, would you position Clines Corner on the ATS map? Given that the Manzanita Mts. stretch right up to the rest area at the US-84/NM-219 exit, that would certainly be a very tight fit. Probably impossible, but you're welcome to show a design that proves me wrong.

I guess I could ask you the same question about exit 175 (for US-60) on I-25. In the current ATS world, exits 220 and 150 are right next to each other, with only the Rio Grande crossing between them. Again: Maybe possible to fit something in between, but I doubt it. You would likely have to move Socorro further south in its entirety, which I don't think is gonna happen. What would certainly be possible, though, is to hook up the 60 somewhere near the Rail Export in Socorro or the NAMIQ south of the airport. Neiher is quite realistic, but it'd still be a good gameplay improvement.

Is that improvement worth it if you could just add NM-219? Well..., SCS be the judge of that.

Look, I do want all of these US routes, but at 1:20 and within the current game world, only so much can be done. So all I'm saying is that IMHO something more is needed to better connect SE New Mexico.

Perhaps Texas will eventually be that something?

[IamTheOne]

As for the 285: Where, exactly, would you position Clines Corner on the ATS map? Given that the Manzanita Mts. stretch right up to the rest area at the US-84/NM-219 exit, that would certainly be a very tight fit. Probably impossible, but you're welcome to show a design that proves me wrong.

I guess I could ask you the same question about exit 175 (for US-60) on I-25. In the current ATS world, exits 220 and 150 are right next to each other, with only the Rio Grande crossing between them. Again: Maybe possible to fit something in between, but I doubt it. You would likely have to move Socorro further south in its entirety, which I don't think is gonna happen. What would certainly be possible, though, is to hook up the 60 somewhere near the Rail Export in Socorro or the NAMIQ south of the airport. Neiher is quite realistic, but it'd still be a good gameplay improvement.

Is that improvement worth it if you could just add NM-219? Well..., SCS be the judge of that.

Look, I do want all of these US routes, but at 1:20 and within the current game world, only so much can be done. So all I'm saying is that IMHO something more is needed to better connect SE New Mexico.

Perhaps Texas will eventually be that something?

No offence, but I think that you are over complicating things. The game is already at a 1:20 scale, so of course road placement is not perfect- the devs try their best to make it as accurate as possible, but again it is far from perfect.

In regards to Clives Corner and the intersection between Interstate 40 and Highway 285, the road can be placed midway between Albuquerque (did I spell it wrong?) and the scenic town of Vaughn, and then later extended up north to Santa Fe. And in regards to Highway 60, the placement doesn't have to be perfect. Just place it near the northern part of Socorro. Again, the road placement doesn't have to be 100% accurate.

[MrDrCold]

@nautofon You right bout 60 never noticed that ABQ went so far south in game. SCS has gotten better planning and laying out major cities since NM. also looking at SCS map and real life.
SCS could cheat from the NAMIQ having it become NM-47 and connect it to US-60 back to Vaughn also where the NAMIQ is in ABQ. there no Cement plant there IRL. The NAMIQ should be off I-40 at NM-337 (Exit 175) by the in-game music road (Exit 167 in-game) the music road connects with NM-337 IRL. IRL there is a GCC plant that looks like the NAMIQ in-game.

remember this is just a opinion from a New Mexican.

[rbsanford]

I think some artistic liberty would be necessary for the US 60/I-25 connection. I was thinking that E150, at the north end of Socorro, could be turned into a diamond interchange, with the 60 continuing east from there. It wouldn't be 100% realistic, but it seems like it would be an easier change, and would preserve Albuquerque.

[nautofon]

A connection to the airport via NM-47 sounds good to me, so does hooking up US-60 to exit 150 from the East.
Either should work well enough!

[IamTheOne]

I don't think that we're going to get an update to New Mexico's road network for another couple of years, which is rather frustrating and unfortunate. SCS has the habit of releasing road updates in the months after release, and New Mexico got it with US Highways 84 and 550. Texas will not bring forward any new updates to the gaps in New Mexico's road network, we're just going to have to live with it.

The only hope is that the team that is doing the base-game redo, will later move on to patching up the road networks in DLC states. That won't happen for another couple of years, and at this rate, it'll be 6-7 years before we see an update to New Mexico's road network.

[flight50]

6-7 years is too distant. I probably won't take that long. The team doing California is small but it will grow as they said on the stream. California at the most could take 2 years. By that time, there should be a full rebuild team in place. They will move to Nevada. Its a simple state and could take only a year for a full team. Then Arizona. It doesn't need a 100% rebuild so that speeds things up but lets just say a year there as well. Then I think the rebuild team can work on all the paid dlc's for a couple of years. So I'd guess 4-5 years. If the rebuild team grows to about the same size team as a map team, a rebuild for any dlc that is not named Texas can come in a calendar year. Once that team catches up to the paid dlc's, they can start up a new state and join the new build efforts.