Highway Workers Union

The  Highway Workers Union or HWU is a group dedicated to constructing and repairing infrastructural buildings (i.e. nether highways), all whilst making them easier to navigate and traverse. The group is currently the most active nether highway groups on 2b2t after the fall of the Independent Interstate Society.

Usually, highway paving was done by hand or by using scuffed scaffold modules back in the days when Independent Interstate Society (IIS) made every highway to 50k nether (project finished on January 30, 2020). The HWU started to work with baritone as it was a huge step towards automation and made the whole process easier and faster. Getting every highway to 125k nether (pursued IIS project and the first main project of the HWU) was a possible goal now, so the HWU started to work on it and finished it on October 21, 2020, which was something that years before seems impossible and got the HWU a large amount of attention on the server.

What helped boost productivity all over, was automation. The highways the HWU build are made using Highway Tools, as a Lambda plugin for walking, mining, and block placing. All highways are constructed with obsidian to make them as hard to grief as possible. The group works on multiple nether highway projects but the project scope is not limited to the nether dimension.

Founding
The group was founded on September 10, 2020, by the users Save_G and Anni H.S. They created the group because they wanted to have a better highway group that learned from the mistakes that the IIS made, and came to the conclusion that it is better to have more than one group leader. The group is led by The Workers Politburo, whose function is to decide together what will be done next and also vote the suggestions of the other highway workers, aiming to listen to every single one of them. They have created a new Discord server and even a website.

The Discord nuke
On the 12th of September, 2022, the HWU Discord server was nuked, under apparent claims of SpawnMason affiliation, and random larp. This caused huge issue, because roles were wiped, everyone was banned, and all documentation for the most part got destroyed.

However, this did not make anyone give up. After about a week, the server was restored back to normal for the most part, and work still continues on putting everything back to normal. All bans were wiped, as it was impossible to know which members were banned during the nuke, and ones banned before. All roles were also wiped, but members can ask to have their roles restored manually.

As of 09-24-22, the union has been fully restored and is just like new, back to completing the current projects.

Relations
The HWU has strong ties with the Motorway Extension Gurus (MEG). They maintain a decent (or at least, neutral) relation with as many groups as possible, their focus is solemnly to do highway work.

Diagonals Highways to 125k
The project intent was to have all diagonal highways safer and easier to navigate for new and old players. The way of doing it is to have an obsidian highway all the way to 1m overworld or 125k nether. The highways are made of 4 obsidian flats for the main axes and 2-3 on the diagonals with rails on both sides. This project was initially created/executed by the IIS but was eventually forwarded to the HWU and executed in a good team effort. The HWU was responsible for the completion of the Southeast and the Northeast highway sections, as well as some miscellaneous paving and infrastructure corrections on some areas along these axes.

The HWU used more than  800k  obsidian to finish this project which requires a lot of resupply (in form of ender chests that can be mined for obsidian). On October 21, 2020, the HWU completed the southwest highway (-X +Z) and by this finished the whole project after more than one month and a lot of time put into it.

Workers involved:

(This doesn't include IIS members)
 * AnniHeartbreak
 * apheroine
 * Bluoe
 * charlesathon
 * Constructor
 * Enderlover3
 * Fuzzy_Russian
 * GATECRASH
 * gubbygub
 * Horatio_Gamer
 * Isolatism
 * jedao
 * Natan515
 * Promptt
 * Sarya
 * Save_G
 * Spider
 * Yesnik

-X, -Z

 * Start: 52.804 (September 18, 2020)
 * Finish: 125.000 (October 14, 2020)
 * Finished in 27 days

-X, +Z

 * Start: 84.900 (October 18, 2020)
 * Finish: 125.000 (October 21, 2020)
 * Finished in 4 days



Main axis Highways to 1m
The main goal of this project is to expand the obsidian nether highways (+X, -X, +Z, -Z) to 1 million. This is the first project where automation on a new level is used. The HWU started using special custom modules in KAMI Blue (now discontinued, replaced by Lambda) so that it is almost possible to build completely AFK. These modules covered the automatic mining of ender chests and precisely placing the blocks. The modules were tested by the HWU and had not yet been released publicly in KAMI Blue. The project to extend all the straight highways to 1 million has been completed the 09 February 2021. Further extension of the highways is planned.

Workers involved:


 * Antraes
 * apcaus
 * Avanatiker / Constructor
 * Aven
 * Baseballhitter
 * but_nusted
 * Deci
 * Dzintars
 * eatsomebread
 * Enderlover3
 * EnigmA_008
 * Fji
 * Flabberflib
 * Fuzzy_Russian / Autismo224
 * HeganTank
 * Hiiva
 * HopityHop123
 * Horatio_Gamer
 * howlhatesdemons / saintcorvus
 * Huddy
 * INVISIBLEXD
 * JamsCharles
 * GayCutie
 * harritaco
 * HopityHop123
 * Justen
 * Kilomet3rs
 * kuse421
 * Mr_Tilly_831
 * Mystic/Samjoe46
 * Natan515
 * OCdt / 30000000
 * oofplux
 * PitBoss21
 * Reava_ / Jaen_
 * Sand_Turtle
 * Sarya
 * Save___G / NetherHighways (Leading)
 * smcheeto
 * Smokescreen
 * superbad0315
 * TheBetterRyan
 * Tilly
 * Timmy Boi
 * Tullybob
 * Yesnik
 * ZipBagLockGuy

+X
The project started on November 1, 2020, at 178k nether, it has been completed on December 14, 2020.

Milestones:
 * 178k (Start, November 1, 2020)
 * 250k (November 10, 2020)
 * 500k (November 24, 2020)
 * 750k (December 6, 2020)
 * 1m (December 14, 2020)

+Z
The project started on December 10, 2020, at 125k nether.

Milestones:


 * 125k (Start, December 10, 2020)
 * 250k (December 16, 2020)
 * 500k (December 29, 2020)
 * 750k (January 14, 2021)
 * 1m (January 22, 2021)

-X
The project started on December 25, 2020, at 125k nether,

Milestones:


 * 125k (Start, December 25, 2020)
 * 250k (January 31, 2021)
 * 500k (February 05, 2021)
 * 750k (February 10, 2021)
 * 1m  (February 13, 2021)

-Z
The project started on December 22, 2020, at 125k nether,

Milestones:


 * 125k (Start, December 22, 2020)
 * 250k (January 15, 2021)
 * 500k (January 29, 2021)
 * 750k (February 04, 2021)
 * 1m (February 09, 2021)



The Diamond Highway
The Nether Diamond Highway is another ring road that connects all straight highways at 50k from spawn (crossing the diagonals at 25k), but it is rotated by 45 degrees compared to the regular ring roads. Its purpose is to reduce traveling time if killing back to spawn is not an option. This reduces the distance to be traveled from one straight highway to another by about 30% (71k blocks instead of 100k blocks distance). The Diamond Highway has been completely dug and paved with obsidian by the HWU. Other diamond highways are planned as well (closer to spawn and further away)

This project started at end of December 2020 and has been finished on the 7th of February 2021



Workers involved:


 * CrossedUpByJJ
 * Sand_Turtle
 * Baker
 * ZipBagLockGuy
 * Autismo224
 * taltz
 * EnigmA_008 / schwarzerfalke2
 * AnniHeartbreak
 * ZincoDrone
 * PhoneticFailure
 * Axandil
 * Avanatiker
 * Horatio_Gamer
 * Charlesathon

All diagonals Highways to 1 million
The project intent was to have all diagonal highways safer and easier to navigate for players that want to go very far in the nether. The way of doing it is to have an obsidian highway all the way to 8 million overworld or 1 million nether. The highways are made of 4 obsidian flats for the main axes and 2-3 on the diagonals with rails on both sides.

Workers involved:


 * Kuse_Shin
 * GayCutie
 * NetherHighways
 * Tilly_831
 * Avanatiker
 * Sicky2000
 * Sand_Turtle
 * FudgePlayz
 * DehydratedMax
 * HopityHop123
 * xX12master
 * Hiiva
 * Hotpoint
 * saintcorvus
 * ZeenyoMoment
 * EnigmA_008
 * Horatio
 * Zahtec
 * OffsetPanda701
 * Cooper132
 * HowlhatesDemons
 * Maker
 * Into_the_void
 * Tullybob
 * DenimDan216
 * itshoodieboy
 * MiningBedrock
 * DarkRider2704
 * Imnothausemaster
 * CaptainLuigi

+X+Z
The project started on February 15, 2021, at 125k nether.

Milestones:
 * 125k: February 15, 2021 (start day)
 * 250k: February 22, 2021
 * 500k: February 28, 2021
 * 750k: March 08, 2021
 * 1m: March 16, 2021

-X-Z
Milestones:
 * 125k: March 22, 2021
 * 250k: May 06, 2021
 * 500k: May 13, 2021
 * 750k: May 17, 2021
 * 1m: May 28, 2021

-X+Z
Milestones:
 * 125k: March 19, 2021
 * 250k: March 27, 2021
 * 500k: April 12, 2021
 * 750k: April 28, 2021
 * 1m: May 09, 2021

+X-Z
Milestones:
 * 125k: March 16, 2021
 * 250k: March 23, 2021
 * 500k: April 02, 2021
 * 750k: April 16, 2021
 * 1m: April 25, 2021

+X axis Highways to world border
The HWU members voted on the project on February 16, 2021, and it was completed on August 2, 2021. The goal of this project was to pave the X+ highway in the nether between 1 million and 3,75 million (30 million in the overworld) to reach the world border using highway tools (Kami Blue and Lambda). This project used 16.5 million blocks of obsidian. A very large milestone was designed at the world's border by Makers and Offsetpanda701 of the MCG. The monuments to world border milestones were built by NetherHighways, Offsetpanda701, Maker, and Sandturtle. The World Border Milestone is a large expanse with different monuments (a giant statue of Cthulhu, a nether dwarf, and other mythological animals). You can see a tour of this milestone here. Another milestone with some monuments has been built at 3 million on the +X highway by Maker and Offsetpanda701. You can see a tour of this milestone here.

Workers involved:

Milestones:
 * Fuzzy_Russian
 * Offsetpanda701
 * Maker
 * NetherHighways/Save__G
 * Sandturtle
 * apcayss
 * BIKMUNNI
 * coldeer
 * Soham
 * EnigmA_008
 * eternal_fin
 * Free Memes
 * FudgePlayz-inactive-willjoinback
 * Hiiva
 * Imnothausemaster
 * sus man
 * Playerk125
 * ! soggie
 * Timmy/Miner/Balloo
 * Tullybob


 * 1.5m: June 04, 2021
 * 2.0m: June 17, 2021
 * 2.5m: June 28, 2021
 * 3.0m: July 11, 2021
 * 3.5m: July 25, 2021
 * 3.75m: July 29, 2021

HWU spawn symbol (the spawn thing)
The idea of creating the biggest logo on 2b2t has surfaced on August 2, 2021, just after the paving of +X to the overworld worldborder project was finished. The original design was made by AnniHeartbreak and optimized by IronException. The goal of the project was to make the biggest obsidian logo in the nether and on 2b2t in general (10k x 10k logo), and thanks to the Nether Spawn Excavation project, this project became possible. The logo is built on the nether roof (dug-out area of the 5k radius) on y-level 119 (one block lower than the highways). That means that the area is 4 blocks high which makes it easier to travel with elytra in those areas. Nothing was built within the 1k radius which II had bombed out during their project "Secret void" to not create big obsidian platforms that could be used to make a spawn escape much easier. The project officially started on September 11, 2021.

This was an enormous project: 28,168,285 obsidian were placed, the equivalent of 2037 echest shulkers or 38 dubs of echest shulkers (more obsidian than the Masonic Eclipse symbol, which has 28,154,762 blocks). The logo was built on y-level 119, so two layers of netherrack (56,336,570 blocks) needed to be cleared, which required 340 pickaxe shulkers, or 6.3 dubs.

Different parts of the logo were outlined, some workers dug the netherrack using HighwayTools while others paved the areas with HighwayTools or Baritone. For grinding obsidian from ender chests, workers used AutoObsidian module or the integrated function of grinding obsidian in HighwayTools. Resupply of materials happened through assigned workers that put ender chests, pickaxes, gaps, and thorns armors in dungeon chests in the overworld.

The project's workers, however, had encountered some difficulties: hostile players attempting to kill them and the spawn of ghasts (which can spawn due to the height at which the project was built, so thorns armors were needed to kill them while afk digging/paving). Journeymap mod was used to see the outlines of sections, keep track of progression and waypoints for each section. The project was completed at 9:45 AM UTC on March 9, 2022 (after almost six months of work). A WDL of the 5k nether spawn (10240 x 10240), which was made by baka_833 can be found here.

2b2t reddit post / 2b2t uncensored reddit post Workers involved:


 * _Smokescreen_
 * 7red
 * 7zpy
 * ana
 * Axandil
 * baka_833
 * CaptainLuigi
 * CottonSeedHuman
 * Deci
 * Dom1405
 * EnigmA_008
 * eternal_fin
 * ExtremeBleach
 * FronTieRed
 * laxerrrr
 * lokyie
 * Imnothausemaster
 * IronException
 * JJ1221
 * JustAnAdept
 * Maker02
 * Offsetpanda701
 * Pier77Repeter
 * Qwer956
 * Rhino
 * Sarya
 * Save__G
 * soggydoggy
 * TCLR187
 * Tilly
 * Tullybob
 * xXMrGXx

Donators of materials: Mapping of project progress:
 * SandTurtle
 * Shulkerroad
 * baka_833

Widening of the Diagonal Highways
This project was one of several options all members got to vote on. It was decided as the next HWU project as of 04-16-2022. It was picked as the previous setup of diagonal highways consisted of railings on the sides, which while at the time of construction were no issue, new elytra fly bypasses, and other movement exploits struggled to work with the limited space.

This was an impressive feat, and a true accomplishment. Over the course of 217 days, around 8 million netherrack and 8 million obsidian was mined, and over 8 million obsidian was placed. This consisted of more than 5600 hours of digging time over many members and accounts. Over 1300 pickaxes were used (Thanks MEG for the donation!).

Worker List

 * TullyBob
 * 7red
 * Dek
 * Save_G
 * ALQUU
 * Ranlen
 * ORCIFYYT
 * Maker02
 * ENIGMA_008
 * IMNOTHAUSEMASTER
 * AVANATIKER
 * Baka_883
 * OffsetPanda701
 * Mastermind
 * RosiesSleepy
 * Hiiva