Covington - Update 61 "Chestnut Hills and South River Bend"

[ecoba]

I really liked this update, Jon. The CBD of Covington has really grown and it is really a beautiful city.

Ethan

[Destis5445]

Wow thats really awesome, i love how you have a map corresponding with your thing.

[mgrinshpon]

The region is just beautiful. I love the steady growth and the farmlands. What trees and terrain are you using? It's so green! I love it.

[danielcote]

nice job!

[JBSimio]

Jordan:  Thank you!  I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Matt:  Thanks!  I really had ignored downtown for too long.  There was such a boom when I first loaded it up again that I couldn't save it the first time around as I had lost too many buildings I wanted to keep.  I had to start over and quickly pause things so I could protect some things the second time around.    The "secret" update isn't so much exciting as it was just me not wanting to show where I was working. 

RickD:  Thank you!  They're not difficult to make... just very time consuming.

Bat:  Thanks!  So nice to see you back again.

Will:  Thank you!  I'm not positive about Big Ben either (although it's been there from the beginning).  I definitely like having a clock tower in that space, but I may need to look for an alternate BAT to use instead.

Joan:  Thanks so much!  60.03 was probably one of my favorites from this update, although 60.10 is a close one as well.  I definitely wanted to keep a good mix of historic and modern buildings here and I'm glad to hear that the mix seems about right.

Haljackey:  Thank you!  Nice to see you stopping in again. 

Arthur:  Thanks!  I spent a lot of time getting downtown laid out, from the roads to the historic "anchors"... like the churches and market square.  After that, it became a matter of letting it grow in stages, saving some older buildings, and letting others get replaced... going back to other parts of the city and coming back to do it all over again.  Downtown is one of those tiles that will never be "finished" and will always evolve with the rest of the region.

Daniel:  (in response to your second post)  Thank you!  (in response to your first post) I mentioned in the update that several of the brick buildings have been listed with the historical register... others are waiting to be added to the list as well.

GreekMan:  Thanks!

Battlecat:  Thank you!

976:  Thanks to you too!

Gjermund:  Thank you!  I think you're probably right about the retaining walls.  They made sense when the city was still much smaller, but they seem a bit out of place now.  I've tried a couple alternatives that I already have, but I may need to do some looking on the LEX before I find a replacement I really like.  You'll see the results eventually though. 

Ethan:  Thanks!

Natalie:  Thank you!  Welcome to Covington (and SC4 Devotion for that matter)   

Mgrinshpon:  Thank you!  I'm using Cycledogg's Columbia terrain mod and tree controllers.

Update Time!!!

Covington continues to fill out the suburban areas and we have a couple places to look at today.

61.01


Our first map takes us back to the Chestnut Hills area on the north side of Covington.  Cone Boulevard forms the southern limit of the neighborhood which stretches roughly from Coleman Valley Road over to Interstate 85.  Comprised mostly of subdivisions, the area looks like many others in the suburbs, although the hills keep things a little more open.

61.02


You may remember the Chestnut Hills elementary school from Update 58.  I had mentioned at the time that it was literally squeezed in at the last moment.  The area was growing so fast that there wasn't much time to find an ideal location and so the school basically wound up sitting atop a ridge in the middle of a large residential neighborhood.  While the location is perfect for parents willing to let their children walk to school (perish the thought!), the traffic on what would otherwise be a sleepy side street can get a bit extreme during school hours.

61.03


Cone Boulevard continues to be a thriving commercial strip.  A number of hotels and other corporate chains line the avenue here and the largest apartment complex in Chestnut Hills can also be found nearby.  This particular style of townhouse has become quite popular in Covington and it seems that they can be found just about everywhere in the city these days.

61.04


Around the otherside of the complex, the apartments give way to more single family homes and subdivisions off of Graton Ridge Road.

61.05


The same can be said near Pheasant Run apartments (first seen in Update 44) along Summit Avenue.  A couple small steps have been taken here to make the residential areas more pedestrian friendly, but in all reality these attempts are a token approach at best.  Along Summit Avenue, the big box stores slowly give way to smaller shops before the countryside takes over.

61.06


Looking north into the distance shows once again how the ever creeping suburbs are threatening the rural areas north of the city.

61.07


All this growth means the the city finally had to do something about Orchard Lane.  We first looked at this former farm road in Update 52 and mentioned that an interchange with I-85 may soon be needed.  That time has come, but first the DOT had to close the overpass and find a way to fit these ramps around all the other things going on here.  They had housing, the main rail road line, and a couple other roads to work around.

61.08


The overpass is rebuilt and connections to the expressway are in place.  The final step was to build the ramps.  (This picture must have been taken on a Sunday or something... there isn't a single car anywhere on the roads!  What the...)

61.09


An overview of the finished interchange.  Farm trucks in particular make good use of the new exits from Orchard Lane, and it quickly became popular with commuters from Chestnut Hills and Marshall Hills to the east.

61.10


The north side of Covington isn't the only place with a booming construction trade these days.  South of Crescent Park, the South River Bend neighborhood has also seen a lot of growth recently.

61.11


We saw the large meat packing plant west of the railyards previously, but industry continues to spread all over this area.  All this growth and additional jobs came at heavy cost to Holden Township, which had to invest heavily in water treatment or face the wrath of EPA officials.  Fortunately, the new plants have worked very well and the river nearby remains very clean.  While not the prettiest area in town, it's an essential piece of the local economy.

61.12


Just across I-85 south of the rail yards, a small commercial strip serves as a buffer between the busy expressway and nearby subdivisions.  And of course, this being North Carolina, you have to have a Food Lion somewhere nearby for all those grocery needs.

61.13


Facing the other way shows that just across the road is where the housing comes back into things.

61.14


An overview shows that we're petty close to the edge of town here.  Subdivisions abound and farmers are starting to fidget a little as the houses creep outwards.

61.15


Some larger "waterfront" condos are even beginning to pop up here near West Bend Road and Tobacco Row.  The River Trail actually begins here at West Bend Road just south of the taller apartments before it passes beneath Freeman Mill Road.  There are still several gaps in the walking and biking trail around the Hudson Landing area, but the trail is almost complete from here all the way around to bridge at Cone Boulevard on the northeast side of the city.

61.16


And finally... a spiffy overview of everything we've seen in the last couple updates.

Thanks for reading!!!
JB

[sim-al2]

Wow... if this wasn't a fansite I'd be asking what city those pics are from...

I just absolutely love the last shot.

[woodb3kmaster]

The open land around Covington is disappearing bit by bit and getting filled in with the loveliest of suburbs. Great job, Jon - your suburbs, with the amount of details you put into them, are a real inspiration!

[Utvaw]

Fantastic MD, I love it when Covington has updates.

One question, where is that lovely little shopping center in 61.13 from?

[marsh]

That ragionview is amazing man! I cant belive it!

,marsh 

[canyonjumper]

Great update Jon! The farmers must be getting a little scared, what with suburbia encroaching on their territory.

                      -Jordan

[Treason3]

Hey my friend!. I know this city well,  , I'm a resident of "Covington" myself, and a fellow simcity fanatic! I think your next street name should be.....oh idk......Market Street, or Wendover, that sounds cool!!! Keep up the great work on your CJ!!!!

[ecoba]

Wonderful update, Jon. The sheer beauty of Covington's suburbs is wonderful, and all the medium wealth BATs look perfect. The way you walked us through constructing the highway interchange was wonderful as well.

Can't wait to see some more work out of Covington, my friend.

Ethan

[kwakelaar]

Some great looking shots from the outer areas of Covington, I especially like photo 61.04 where the houses are put on something looking like a small hill.
The images from the construction of the new interchange are great as well.

Gjermund/Kwakelaar

[Nanami]

Nice construction story!

[dljrfn2000]

Oh.... my.... god this has to be the most absurdly beautiful thing I've ever seen built on SC4.... the level of detail and realism is unmatched by anything I've ever seen. It's just.... I have no words for it. While I've had some disagreements with woodb3kmaster in the past on other sites I couldn't agree with him more with what he's said about your city. Inspirational....

[danielcote]

nice update

[Connor]

Words can barely describe how much i love that overview !

Fantastic work 

[Jmouse]

I always enjoy looking at your consistently-excellent screen shots, but in every update there are always one or two which stand out at first glance. 61.04 is an example which seems to "speak" a bit louder than the others. I think it has something to do with the east/west road in the bottom of the photo. Or maybe it's the flawless composition – maybe even a combination thereof!

61.06 is an excellent example of "creeping suburbia," and once again, the photo's composition is outstanding. The interchange featured in 61.07-61.09 is an interesting study in making things fit within the confines of existing development. Sometimes it's tempting to drag out the dynamite and do it the easy way, but it's much more realistic and certainly a greater challenge to "do it right!"

Of course, the overview (61.16 ) is magnificent, and looking better after each update.

Later...
Joan

[threestooges]

Interesting that the suburbs here seem to be getting denser and denser (in terms of building proximity) than what I recall for your previous developments. It's rather close to real world developments in a way too, where buildings may be lucky to have a 5 foot strip of land between each other in some developments. It's nowhere near that bad here, but I'm curious if it's my imagination or something you've planned. I think 61.04 and 61.14 illustrate it best. Also, yay for the wrath of the EPA. The water treatment plants look good there, and provide a nice bit of grimey openness to the area. Nice work on this Jon.

Also, is that a landfill down in the bottom middle of the urban area in the region shot?
-Matt

[i_love_lamp]

wow! That region shot reminds me of Pittsburgh from the air! Keep up the good work!