Tarkusian Cities (Update 107-08/23/2020-West Chemeketa Reconfig, Part 1)

[praiodan]

Yeah, bring it on. 

[vester]

Alex is at it again

[Gugu3]

Yeah!!!!

[Guest]

That it is good to see old CJs coming out of nowhere!

[mattb325]

Now this will be great 

[Tarkus]

Hi everyone-

Thank you all for the warm welcome back!

As many of you may have hoped after my little teaser three days ago, I am happy to confirm that Tarkusian Cities is indeed returning from its 3 1/2-year hiatus.  The plans to bring Tarkusian Cities back actually happened as a happy accident--Simtropolis' own Dirktator and Cyclone Boom tasked me with obtaining some NAM-related screenshots for a project.  I dusted off Chemeketa and both versions of Argentum to that end.  I wanted to get a good sampling of GLR and GLR Dual-Networking features, and ended up spending a fair bit of time playing around in Chemeketa, resolving the light rail "cliffhanger" set up by Update 102, back in December 2013. 

It was the first time I had truly played the game in quite some time, outside of my normal NAM development work, and I had a blast.  I'm not sure how much longer I'll really be able to do anything with the Chemeketa region, as my attempts to try to use an earlier backup to avert a Prop Pox issue in the downtown tile have unfortunately proved unsuccessful, and one of the other built-up tiles shows evidence of disabled props in SC4 Savegame Explorer.  Argentum 2.0 also hit a point where I wasn't really feeling it anymore, though I do actually have some archives I've located of some projects I've done there that haven't seen the light of day, which I'm hoping to process into updates.  In all likelihood, I'll be starting a new region in the near future, though pending RL (I'm looking at moving out of Oregon, possibly as early as this summer) might put things back on hiatus for a bit.

So, without further ado, here's Update 103, where we'll be picking up with the construction of the Chemeketa Red Line light rail system.  The Red Line is designed to connect between Chemeketa Regional Airport to the office and high tech area in the Lila Engel neighborhood, near the intersection of 39th Avenue NE and Ashcroft Street.  When we last left off, construction was wrapping up on southern portion of the line, paralleling the newly-reconstructed and realigned Tweedy Boulevard SE. 

This update will pick up with the central segment of the line, which will run through Downtown Chemeketa.  The route will continue to mostly parallel the existing C&O Railroad line, though in order to minimize disruptions to C&O's operations, and minimize demolition, it includes a "crossover" over the existing rail line, just south of 20th Street SE, and a stretch where it will run in the median of an expanded Rail Avenue, roughly between Salisbury Way SE and 8th Avenue NE.  Additionally, the 9th/10th Avenue SE couplet will be extended one block east, from Rail Avenue SE to Liberty Street SE, in order to reconfigure some less intuitive intersections, and allow for a grade-separated crossing of both the Red Line and C&O Railroad. 

Here's a look at the finalized routing through downtown and vicinity (click to enlarge).



This is just south of 20th Street SE, near the point where the crossover will be constructed (facing north).  The road just to the east is Anglia Way SE (which is now connected directly to Tweedy Boulevard, just south of here).  The crossover is needed due to the presence of the rail junction just north of here.


The crossover under construction (facing north)


Here is the current alignment along 10th Street SE, where the couplet with 9th Street SE will be extended one block east (facing north)


The completed crossover (facing north)


The 20th Street SE station on the Red Line, just south of the C&O junction (facing north)


Work begins at 10th Street SE (facing north).


The portion of 10th Street SE between Rail Avenue SE and Liberty Street SE has been closed, in preparation for excavation work (facing north).  This part of the central segment of the Red Line is actually the only one where building demolition was required, due to the more extensive reconfiguration of traffic patterns at this spot.


Preparation work also begins on extending 9th Street SE from Rail to Liberty (facing north)


That wraps up this construction update.  For Update 104, we'll continue with the 10th Avenue SE reconstruction, and enter into the heart of downtown.

-Alex

[stebo48021]

So glad your are back working on your cities, I used to love following this showcase over the years

[mattb325]

It's nice to see all of the construction scenes back 

[Simcoug]

Welcome back 
The RRW upgrade looks good too 

Non SC4 related... will you still be in the PNW, or another part of the country?

[SimCity V6]

Sooner than I expected. I'd also like to say the return of the MD also probably coincides with the 10th anniversary (already?), but I guess the reasoning was true. Excellent anyhow, you're definitely hard at work improving your SC4 city. 

[art128]

Nice to see you firing up the game from time to time. Great update!

[Themistokles]

That's a welcome return! I imagine you have much to attend to, now that NWM and all the other parts of the NAM has progressed so far, to a large extent thanks to yourself

[tomvsotis]

Oh awesome! I will look forward to reading/following this

[EDGE4194]

Alex- I am excited to follow your updates again- I have really missed these! I forgot how awesome your maps were.    Glad to hear you are able to find time to actually play the game for a change. ------------Eric

[Nanami]

Glad to see you back here with your city! Interesting update about the light rail construction on the downtown. nice work in overall!

[Tarkus]

Hi everyone-

I'm back to share even more Tarkusian Cities progress, by picking up where we left off with the construction on Chemeketa's Red Line. 

First, I want to answer the "mailbag" from Update 103:

So glad your are back working on your cities, I used to love following this showcase over the years

First off, welcome to the world of posting here at SC4D--I'm really flattered that Tarkusian Cities was where you chose to make your first post here, too!   It feels really good to be back at this, and I hope you continue to enjoy the updates here.

It's nice to see all of the construction scenes back 

Thanks, Matt!  It felt like riding a bicycle putting those together again . . . I still want to design some new construction lots one of these days, but finding the time has been the killer.

Welcome back 
The RRW upgrade looks good too 

Non SC4 related... will you still be in the PNW, or another part of the country?

Thanks, it's good to be back!   I'm really enjoying what the RRW brings to the equation with rail, and I think I'll end up doing quite a bit more with it with my next region.  I'm still floored at just how much Stephen (eggman121) has done with it.

As far as my relocation plans,  I'm mostly looking to the southwest--the East Valley part of the Phoenix metro area seems to check the most boxes for me.  I've even started firing off applications for jobs down there.  Boise's still in the running, but it's the only spot in the northwest that's on the list right now.

Sooner than I expected. I'd also like to say the return of the MD also probably coincides with the 10th anniversary (already?), but I guess the reasoning was true. Excellent anyhow, you're definitely hard at work improving your SC4 city. 

Thanks for the kind words, and for bringing up the anniversary, as I wasn't even thinking about it.  It is indeed today, it appears--it's really hard to believe it's been 10 years.  It makes me feel oooooollllllllddddddd.

Nice to see you firing up the game from time to time. Great update!

Thanks, Arthur--glad you enjoyed it, and it was nice to actually see and do things with Chemeketa for the first time in far too long.

That's a welcome return! I imagine you have much to attend to, now that NWM and all the other parts of the NAM has progressed so far, to a large extent thanks to yourself

Thanks, and that thought indeed has run through my mind.  Before today, the last time I had updated Tarkusian Cities would have been just before NAM 32 came out, at the end of 2013.  I am definitely looking forward to playing around with all the new toys that have arrived since, plus some of the ones I currently have in my stash of not-yet-released stuff.

Oh awesome! I will look forward to reading/following this

Thanks for the welcome back, Tom--hope you enjoy this update as well!

Alex- I am excited to follow your updates again- I have really missed these! I forgot how awesome your maps were.    Glad to hear you are able to find time to actually play the game for a change. ------------Eric

Eric, thanks for the kind words--it's good to be back, and great to see you around! 

Glad to see you back here with your city! Interesting update about the light rail construction on the downtown. nice work in overall!

Thanks for the warm welcome back, Nanami--glad you enjoyed the update!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Before we resume, here's the map again:



When we left off last time, the 9th/10th Street SE couplet was being extended one block, both halves of the couplet planned to cross over both the existing railroad and the new Red Line tracks.  (facing north)


Work has begun on building the overpasses.  There's also a lot of other things to note here.  Since the plan entails lowering the existing railroad to cross under the new couplet, the C&O line through downtown had to be temporary closed.  Rail Ave SE has also been reconstructed between 9th and 10th Streets, since it no longer has to serve as a de facto part of the couplet. However, Liberty Street SE is being widened to 4 travel lanes between 8th and 11th Streets, in order to fulfill the same purpose, and some structures have been demolished in preparation.  (facing north)



Here's the finished product.  In order to seamlessly integrate with the couplet, the new 4-lane section of Liberty has been given dual left turn lanes onto the extended 9th Street.  9th Street east of Liberty, however, now ends at a cul-de-sac just before the new intersection, in order to better control access and mitigate impact on the residential neighborhood. (facing north)



Here's a little farther north on the line.  In order to mitigate the need for further demolition and new right-of-way (ROW) acquisition along Rail Ave, the portion of the Red Line between Salisbury Way SE (the road that comes in where 6th Street SE would be) and 8th Avenue NE is being run down the median of the road.  Crews have already been at work on some parts of the track north of downtown, so here's where that advance work is going to connect into the median running. (facing north)



Here's the completed Salisbury split, the south end of the median running. You can see the 9th Street overpass at the bottom. (facing north)



And finally, here's the Red Line running underneath Highway 36. (facing north)



That does it for this update . . . there will be a Part 6 for the Red Line coming shortly, where we'll see the northern segment under construction.

-Alex

[Kitsune]

It's nice seeing this active again. It was 109 in Phoenix yesterday ... I dunno how anyone from the northwest wont melt in those temperatures 

[Ramona Brie]

It's nice seeing this active again. It was 109 in Phoenix yesterday ... I dunno how anyone from the northwest wont melt in those temperatures 

It's only going to get worse...

[vinlabsc3k]

It's great to read you again!!
But it's unfair that you use the FTL before the release.

[Dantes]

I like your mass transit system. It's awesome how this grow!