Circuit Road

The Circuit Road forms the road network in mainland Corsica.

## History

The road network of mainland Corsica was built together with the continent. Not much was added later. The biggest change was the name. Firstly, the road was known as *route X*. Then, in 2011, it was officially named *Circuit La Corse*.

One must acknowledge that initially Corsica was built as a French continent. Currently, many sim names in the continent have French resonance names. The new name could be related to the well known cyclist tour of France. Some residents believed that the Lindens organized a cycling tour when the road was completed. The reality is that such a thing never happened. The best prove is that the road was initially just known as *route X*.

## Structure

The *Circuit Road* can be seen on the continent map as a long oval. It has no start and no end. It stretches East - West on the map. There are four *shortcuts*, roads that usually run North - South and allow access deeper inside the continent. The road network has no *dead-end* roads, no interrupted roads and no off-road sectors. There are, however, places where the road is of less quality or narrower.

Officially, it is not connected to the waterway network. However, two border connections do exist, one in Naberrie and one in Edge Walker.

### Types of pavement

Most of the road network is covered with asphalt. There are only two exceptions which are covered with pavement. While most of the road is large, designed to allow access to all kinds of vehicles, trucks included, there are a few narrower places.

**Main.** Almost all of the road is covered with quality asphalt and has good road signals. Traffic signs are good and always in place, showing directions to nearby sims, sim crossings, directions to rezz zones, steep grades (sometimes over 20 %) and warnings of animals crossings. There are emergency phones located along the road (but don't expect to call someone from the real world with them). There are pedestrian crossings in some places. Along the road, there are fences and bushes. Some bushes are cut into animal shapes.

**Narrow.** Along the third shortcut and in a few sims along the circuit road, the road structure is different. It is more narrow, sometimes surrounded by walls and shows alternative flat and steep sections.

**Special.** There are three special places, where the road looks like a path:

* *The (almost) off-road sector* can be found in South, stretching for a few sims. The road is covered with a low-quality pavement and is surrounded by high trees. There are small yellow floating lights in the air.
* *The pedestrian sector* is a road sector on one of the shortcuts, closed for cars. It is covered with pavement. There are signs restricting cars not to cross, but if you drive your own car through, nobody will stop you.
* *The great bridge of Corsica*. This bridge crosses over a wide river in Fishers Rest. The bridge is beautiful, but too narrow to allow space for a large car to pass.

## The Circuit

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Length: 15675 m.

```

The Circuit Road has no start and no end. There is no finish line along it. We will describe it starting from the Second Life Geography Institute base in Naberrie in an anticlockwise direction.

In Naberrie, the road comes very close to the shores. The area provides access to the seaside. Further North, along the way, the road is built on a long bridge. Altitude is very low. Residents can alter ground features, building ponds or islands and constantly changing the coastline. As the road heads North, it moves away from the coastline. Unknown to many, the road reaches the base of a long peninsula (over 2000 m long), which stretches far to West. In Valarian, the road comes close to the springs of a less known waterway.

The road then runs at some distance from the North coast. In Lusca, it intersects Shortcut 1. As it heads East from Lusca, the road climbs to the high plateaus of mainland Corsica. One can notice that the land becomes rocky and mostly uninhabited. The intersection with Shortcut 2 is in Wyrlsong sim. Please note that parts of this shortcut are not opened for cars.

East from Wyrlsong, the road runs along the high plateaus. Off-road vehicles can try in this area to explore stretches of abandoned land. The road crosses Corfield sim, home of the YavaScript pods.

Further East, altitudes decrease, but the coast remains very far. The road intersects Shortcut 3 in Shelton. This area is of low altitude. There are lakes in some places. This is the place where a river forms, flowing South towards Fishers Rest. The road is more narrow in this area. It has a different type of asphalt and is not designed for heavy freight vehicles.

The road continues almost in a straight line towards East and reaches Klens, the connection to Shortcut 4. The area is flat and green. In this place, the coastline is far and the road runs almost through the center of the continent.

East from Clens, the road climbs once again on the white, rocky plateau. It then gets close to the East coast, which sometimes can be seen. The land around the East coast is more inhabited. Unfortunately, there is no connection between the road and the coast. The road then turns towards West and runs almost parallel to the path it followed, this time close to the Southern coast.

The road intersects Shortcut 4 again, in Oxal. This comes with a big change in landscape, as altitude decreases. White, rocky plateaus, are replaced with green landscapes. Abandoned land is replaced with inhabited land. And the road becomes more narrow.

The **Great Bridge** is located in Fishers Rest sim. The road crosses over a river. The bridge is narrow and built in a different way compared to all other bridges on other roads. It is low and does not allow too much space for boats to pass. Anyway, there is no protected waterway beneath it. Fishers Rest is also the point where Shortcut 3 meets the road.

Further West, the road looks more like a path. Asphalt is replaced with poor quality pavement. There are many trees along the road. Little yellow lights can be seen, freely floating between trees. It is a place worth a visit. More to West, the road is still narrow and surrounded by small walls and fences.

At Black Lion, the road meets with Shortcut 2. Altitude rises fast and the road gets back on the rocky plateau. Then, altitude decreases slowly.

The only place where the road is really *touching* the coastal waterway is in Edge Walker. There, the road gets down from the high plateau and reaches the shoreline of a navigable waterway. One can walk from road to the shore and back. Unknown to many, the highest place on the continent is also located in Edge Walker, up on the plateau. One can reach it easy, by leaving the road behind and climbing on abandoned land.

The road climbs again and then gods down towards the coast, reaching in the end Shortcut 1 in Meewalh, very close to Naberrie.

## Shortcuts

The shortcuts are four roads that run almost North - South. They share the same name, *Circuit La Corse*. There are four shortcuts.

### Shortcut 1

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Length: 1821 m.

```

It connects Lusca and Meewalh sims. As seen on the altitude map, it takes advantage of a passage way between Corsica Highlands. The passage looks like a large valley. The road is large and opened for all types of vehicles.

### Shortcut 2

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Length: 1741 m of conventional road, 351 m opened only for pedestrians.

```

Shortcut 2 connects Wyrlsong and Black Lion. There is a small section to North, where the road is covered with pavement. In that area, access is restricted for cars. Despite the road signs, one can still drive through. The pavement in North looks similar to other pavements found in Heterocera.

The shortcut climbs up to high elevations, reaching 152 m in Morders Crossing. If you want to have a close contact with Corsica Highlands, this road is the best option. Here, one will see the white, rocky, barren plateaus, where land seems to stretch out in all directions.

### Shortcut 3

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Length: 1122 m, narrow, asphalt.

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It runs almost parallel with a river, connecting to the Circuit Road at Shelton in North and at Fishers Rest, near the Great Bridge, in South. However, the river is too far to be seen from the road for most of the journey. The road is narrow and in many places it is surrounded by walls and fences.

One interesting feature is the alternation of flat and steep areas. From Fishers Rest to Shelton, altitude rises significantly.

### Shortcut 4

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Length: 888 m, asphalt.

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Shortcut 4 is the shortest and connects Klens with Oxal. It is built almost in a straight line and runs along the base of another rocky plateau.

## Total Measurements

The Circuit Road consists of 21598 m of road, 938 m could be considered paths (not suitable for cars) and 20660 m being suitable for most vehicles.

## See Also

* Second Life Geography
* List Of Roads
* Corsica