Hi everyone-
Well, after a little over two years away, Tarkusian Cities is finally back in action--and will hopefully stay that way for at least a little while, as I have quite a few projects to show in Chemeketa, some of which are, to quote Johnny Carson, "really big" (and maybe even a "lost update" from a past region).
Those of you who may have glanced through past updates may also notice that quite a number of them have been at least partially restored, after the Imageshack and Majhost losses wiped out the first 86 updates. Some past images (particularly maps) are proving to be a bit difficult to re-source in all the files spread across various hard drives (especially as the snazzy map upload services I used to use, like Gmapuploader, are long gone), but I am hoping to have at least 90% of Tarkusian Cities restored. As of writing, this has been accomplished with the material up to Update 38.
Getting back to this latest update--Update 106 (!)--today, we'll be getting an overview of some of the traffic problems facing Downtown Chemeketa in light of recent development in the city core, particularly the 5th-Murdock-Wallace Corridor (labeled as "A") and the North Division Corridor (labeled as "B").
Here's a map of the vicinity (click to enlarge):
First, we'll begin by looking at some of the conditions with the first target area ("A"), the 5th-Murdock-Wallace Corridor. Wallace Road is a major north-south arterial, which was formerly part of Highway 221, skirting the west edge of Downtown Chemeketa, the east edge of Downtown Vivien Heights, connecting both with Highway 36. 5th Avenue N/NE is a major east-west arterial through the city center, which curves and turns into the diagonally-routed Murdock Way N, which intersects Wallace Road directly north of Highway 36.
Given the vast amount of undeveloped waterfront property close to the city center along Murdock, the area has started to see considerable high-rise growth. And high-rise traffic to go along with it. The "Murdock Curve", where 5th Ave turns into Murdock Way, routinely endures lengthy backups from the Wallace Rd intersection.
Here's a look at the Murdock Curve and Wallace Road, with that infamous traffic congestion (facing north). You can see the western portion of Murdock and Wallace Road itself are no slouches in the congestion game, either.
Another view, right where Murdock intersects 4th Ave N, right before it curves onto 5th Ave N (facing north).
And a westerly view, from 5th Ave N coming onto the Murdock Curve. As you can see, developers are wasting no time snatching up the waterfront property--even despite the congestion.
This is a little closer to the city core--5th Ave N is the Road going from left to right toward the top of the image (facing north), and the lower one is 3rd Ave N. As you can see here, 5th and the surrounding network are also pretty congested. The north-south roadways through here are (from left to right) Claxtar St N, Mission St N, and Farmer St N.
Here's a section of 5th on the east end of downtown (facing west)--being on the east side of Division St N, this section is actually 5th Ave NE. This section isn't quite as congested, but it is ultimately being taken into the survey area, because of one of the city's planned solutions for the corridor. The main crossroad here is Progress St NE.
Since 4th Ave N/NE runs directly parallel to 5th from the Murdock Curve all the way to Progress St (and actually, two blocks farther east, to Dell St NE), part of the plan is to convert 4th and 5th in this area into a one-way couplet. Since 4th is a relatively minor street at the moment, the plans for staging this conversion involve switching 4th to one-way traffic first.
Here's the east end of the couplet, at 4th and Progress (facing west).
Further west, here's the couplet progress at 4th and Rail (facing west). (This work was initially done with an ancient version of the RRW, and took place intermittently over years.)
One of the challenges with the conversion, however, is the jog that exists on Mission Street N, which, if the conversion is fully realized with its current alignment, would complicate traffic flow on a somewhat important collector street in the area. As such, the conversion is only being done to the east leg of Mission at the moment, such that the two legs may remain traversable, until realignment can be done.
(facing north)
(facing west)
The other major downtown-area project is the North Division Corridor, named after Division St N. Division is a primary arterial through Downtown Chemeketa, signed as Highway 215. Through most of downtown, it forms a couplet with Commerce St NE, but on the north end of the central city, just past 16th Ave N/NE, the two converge into a unified Division (irony fully intended). This 4-lane stretch of surface arterial eventually turns into the Chemeketa Parkway, a freeway (featured in many past updates) which heads through the northern suburbs, until reaching Highway 15 in the Rankine area of unincorporated Marion County.
Here is the point where the Division/Commerce couplet converges on the north end (facing north).
This transitional section of Division, between downtown street and freeway, is extraordinarily congested, in large part due to traffic headed to the industrial areas in the Lila Engel neighborhood just to the north, and has a number of dangerous at-grade intersections before becoming controlled-access.
Here is one such intersection (22nd Ave N/NE, a western extension of which is recent, and not on the map). (facing north)
Here's the worst offender--the intersection with 24th Ave N/NE, a major collector in this part of town, connecting newly developed waterfront property with established neighborhoods, and some commercial development.
The city and the DOT have ultimately determined that the controlled-access Chemeketa Parkway needs to be extended closer to the Division/Commerce split, converting the 24th/Division intersection into a grade-separated diamond interchange. This will require demolishing some of the nearby commercial structures, though will largely leave the residential areas in tact.
Next update, we will look at further progress on the extensive work planned for these two vital corridors. Until then, hope you enjoyed this latest installment of Tarkusian Cities--it's good to be back!
-Alex
