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San Mateo

San Mateo is in California, on the peninsula that stretches from San Jose to San Francisco. It's situated on San Francisco Bay, and in real life, the Pacific Ocean would be off the map to the left. As the breeze from the Pacific is pushed up by the mountains, the moisture is squeezed out, so there are lots of trees in the mountains. By the time they come down into the warmer bay side, it is much drier. The San Andreas earthquake fault runs directly under the Crystal Springs Reservoir. The real life reservoir is fed from by an aqueduct which carries water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park.

The dam at the reservoir will provide both electricity and water to the start square. The highways in the map correspond to those in real life, but I've tweaked things for more interest. I've upgraded the intersections to handle more traffic near the start square, and there are two completely separate rail lines if you wish to keep cargo and passenger service separate on a big city build. You may notice the footprint of SFO International airport at the top; use it to build an airport or a seaport, but you will need the 81 Tiles Mod to reach it.

Enjoy a time-lapse video (and some great music!) of a real drive down the I-280 highway from San Francisco to San Jose at https://youtu.be/m9ei-qHk1D0. I-280 is the highway on my map that snakes through the hills from the top left to the bottom right, and parallels the lake. The video enters the top of my map at about 6:55, crosses the bridge by the dam at 8:09, passing my big intersection at 8:32, and leaves the map at about 9:28. (I once lived very near the spot at 4:30.)

See BonBonB's review at https://youtu.be/Z3L9b-XM_Jw.


Check out my other maps:

Orcas Island: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1858963662

Dry Falls: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1885241926

Canyonlands: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2170606329

Sebascodegan Island: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2246391897