BUT... while most roads below highway and highway on-ramp do not override highways, a highway or on-ramp placed by the player WILL delete the National highway for that tile. National Roads are more susceptible, with anything greater than a dirt road overriding them.
I have reset entire maps because this bugs me to no end. When it's ALL free highway that I do not have to pay for, until suddenly, I make ONE misclick, leave, and now I can't undo it. I am not OCD by any means, but this still kills me inside when it happens. My fix is that I build the on-ramps without touching the National Highway, THEN I join them with a one-way road. This does not place a road (b/c one-way roads do not override highways or on ramps) and it gets the job done.
And I understand, you can't place national roads willy-nilly because those cost nothing to maintain, they'e the state's responsibility... but I REALLY want a quality-of-life feature, in which you have to fill out an "oops I messed up" form in-game to get the state to replace the highway, and after approval, it gets shut down for road work, then the national highways are reverted to their original state.
Also, National Highways should not be overidden by player-placed highways or on-ramps. National Highways should only be removed with the "remove" tool.
NATIONAL HIGHWAY REINSTATEMENT REQUEST FORM (Form 88-FU)
National Highway Authority
Reason for Request:☐ I deleted it on purpose, but I changed my mind
☐ I misclicked while placing an on-ramp
☐ I was zoomed out and accidentally nuked the road with a railway
☐ I don’t know, my cat walked across the screen
☐ Other: ___________________________
Mandatory Supplemental Information:(all fields required, regardless of relevance)
Number of bus routes operated from your primary bus depot: _______
Current number of elementary school students: _______
Police satisfaction rating (%): _______
Date of last virtual pothole inspection: _______
Have you sacrificed a donut to the Transport Minister today? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Do you promise not to do it again? ☐ Yes ☐ Probably ☐ I’ll try
Submission Fee:1,000T – Administrative Processing Fee
(Non-refundable, even if request is denied.)
Processing Time:2–5 in-game days, depending on how bored the National Highway Authority is.
During this time, the tile will be barricaded and unusable.
The purpose of the feature is to prevent accidental National Highway destruction, and when it does happen, give a balanced way to correct it that is NOT overpowered.
But wait- there's more!
Form 19-IC: National Highway Authority Interchange Request
Purpose:
Submit a custom-built interchange to the state for full ownership and maintenance — like free highway, with strings attached.
Interchange Submission Rules:
Must touch a pre-existing National Highway
Must be one contiguous structure no larger than 16x16 tiles
Must include at least one intersection touching a National Highway
No Avenues
Country roads and one-ways may connect, but only to ramps or each other
No daisy-chaining interchanges — 1-tile gap required
Cannot submit if no National Highway exists in the city
Cost Breakdown:
Cost Factor Amount
Flat Tile Fee 10,000T per tile
Road Costs 2.5× normal cost
Upkeep None (state-maintained!)
Construction Time 1 day per tile × # of tiles
Daily Random "Project Funding" Requests 10% chance, 1.0K–15.9K T
Interchange Limits:
To prevent abuse, each region has a District Budget for state-built interchanges:
Map Size Max Interchange Budget
Small 1 interchange
Medium 4 interchanges
Large 6 interchanges
Huge 8 interchanges
Giant 11 interchanges
Exceeding the limit triggers this message:
"The National Highway Authority regrets to inform you that your district has exhausted its interchange development quota. Any further spaghetti junctions must be self-funded."
Attempting to request an interchange in a city with no National Highways triggers this message:
"The National Highway Authority regrets to inform you that we do not love your district enough to give it a free highway."
I think these are both cool. balanced features that also get the state *slightly* more involved beyond flavor text on National Roads that were built and paid by the state. Makes the state slightly more active, and adds some nifty bureaucratically humorous stuff.
What do you think about Form 88-FU? ___
What do you think about Form 19-IC? ___