An updated version of this scenery package is included in my new Bay Area Bridges bundle, along with all my other previously released bridge scenery packages for the area and some other extras.
The Benicia–Martinez Bridge is a complex of three parallel bridges that span the Carquinez Strait between San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay, connecting the northern Bay Area cities of Benicia and Martinez. The bridges are, from west to east: a 1.2-mile steel deck-truss bridge carrying the southbound lanes of I-680 and a bike/pedestrian lane, opened in 1962; a 1.2-mile steel truss bridge with a vertical lift segment, carrying the Southern Pacific Railroad, which opened in 1928; and a 1.7-mile concrete bridge carrying the northbound lanes of I-680, which opened in 2007. The toll plaza, which has a rather neat curvilinear design (cool for a toll plaza, certainly), opened in 2007 with the then-new northbound bridge.
Features
- Detailed hand-modeled recreation of the three Benicia–Martinez Bridges, the toll plaza south of the bridge itself, and the I-680/I-780 interchange in Benicia, immediately north of the bridge complex.
- PBR materials used for most non-painted surfaces
- LOD models tuned to balance appearance and performance
- Collision meshes created for the three bridges
- Added night lights to the bridge (road lights as well as marine warning lights), customized and applied in Blender.
- Some terraforming and vegetation tweaks around the bridge ends, and some water exclusions to better show the docks, pipeways, and ships in the vicinity of the bridge.
New in update 2.0
- Numerous improvements to models and geometry, including highway signs and the guard rails on either side of the bike/pedestrian lane on the southbound bridge\
- Overhaul of materials/textures, adding roadway striping and using PBR materials for most unpainted surfaces
- Added simplified collision mesh for all three bridges.
- Replaced roadway lights which used MSFS-standard light objects with lights applied in Blender, hopefully reducing pop-in at range.
- Updates to water exclusion polygons
- Added POI/Landmark marker to World Map
Installation
Download the ZIP file and extract the "whitearcades-beniciabridge" folder to your Community folder:
For the Microsoft Store version: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_\LocalCache\Packages\Community
For the Steam version: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Community
Make sure to remove any previous version of the package first.
How To Donate
If you enjoy this addon or my other scenery addons, please consider using the PayPal link below or on my profile page to donate. I make scenery addons for the fun of it, not specifically looking to monetize my work, but keep in mind that putting these sceneries together requires a significant investment of time, effort, and research, and every bit helps.
Other Scenery By Me
(all available on flightsim.to)
Downtown Los Angeles Bridges
Golden Gate Bridge Night Lighting Enhancements
Bay Bridge Night Lighting Enhancements
Antioch Bridge
San Mateo Bridge
Dumbarton Bridge
Richmond - San Rafael Bridge
Carquinez Bridge
Coronado Bridge
Ambassador Bridge
Knott's Berry Farm
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Cedar Point
Kings Island
Six Flags Over Texas
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Globe Life Park (new Texas Rangers ballpark)
Woohoo!
1 years ago
FreakyD
Nice Bay Area bridges! Thank you, sir.
2 years ago
N697DT
Looks good and perfectly placed. Like this author's other delightful SF bridges, it even includes the toll plaza. Kudos!
2 years ago
fosheem
Nice. Thank you.
2 years ago
fStopper