Winchester

[SCDawg 0]

Cool Update. The Airport looks nice, but, as said earlier, the runway should be flat. Other than that, everything else looks great! The new traffic alignment in Salem should really improve the flow there.

Oh, and I was just messing around about the dirt bike thing, not all that big a deal.
 
Looking forward to the tour of Rt. 319 and Smith Lake state park!

Travis #61

Haha, two in a row
Welcome to Page 9

[dfnva 34]

A belated Happy St. Patrick's Day to all...

Haljackey: In leveling some of the hilly terrain around the airport, I neglected to fix the terrain around the runways, but you're right, that's just asking for some mishaps . As for the US-84 bridge, I checked it out using both route query and driving it in U-drive it and it seemed to be functional.... Thanks for your comment and suggestions.

Shanna: Thanks for your comment and like the transportation improvements in Salem.

KJ3400: Thanks for your suggestion about the airport, I see your point about the taxiways, I'm thinking about extending both of them and having two runways. As far as small airports, I'm not exactly sure what to go for, I don't want it to look like a small municipal airport, so I'm basing it more off of one for a medium-sized town like the one in Sioux Falls, SD, yet not a huge behemoth like BWI.

Equilibria: Thanks for your comment and suggestion, definitely I'm going to work on leveling the playfield, for real. 

Kyle (KY72x): Thanks for your suggestion about the filler lots, on a second look, I agree that's a lot of baggage for a small airport to deal with. As for the split of US-84, I like how, in real life, a major road often splits into one-ways when going through a small town. 

BbFan02: Thanks, I make the maps by coloring over major thoroughfares in MS-Paint and then adding the route numbers and other effects in Powerpoint. I've found that I'm able to create a lot of great graphics in Powerpoint. Definitely, this is not to the detail that some do, though. I love Dedgren's maps in Three Rivers Region.

Greek Man: Thanks, I think that the brick streets help enhance the aura of Salem.

Ace of Spades: Thanks, glad you like the Salem improvements.

Edmonton_Stinks: Thanks, I'll be eager to see your new region, good luck with building it.

Simtastico: Thanks, glad you enjoyed the map and airport.

Jacqulina: Thanks, happy you liked the update.

Twenty20: Thanks for your comment and suggestion.

Cristian (Asturianu): Thanks, glad you enjoyed Salem and like the improvements. It will take us several more updates worth of driving to get us back to Winchester, but there should be some cool stuff to see once we get there.

Travis (SCDawg): Thanks for, once again, beginning a new page! And speaking of Route 319 and Smith Lake State Park....

.... it's time for....

Once again, we're back on the road, heading north on MP-319 / Mountain Pike out of Salem after a lengthy stay there. 

Finally we're back out in some more rustic settings. Here we shall turn left onto SR 648 / Gladstone Rd to enter Smith Lake State Park. 

Of course, we can't have an update without some signs.

And as we wind on down the road, we cross one of the numerous nature trails that criss-cross the park.

Further up the nature trail is a campsite...

Continuing along SR 648, we come across some more modern cabins.

At this round-about, which is the major crossroads at the state park, we find more climate-controlled cabins and the trading post/headquarters of the park, all powered by wind power, part of a Massopax state-wide initiative to reduce greenhouse gases.

From here, we continue on foot. 

Here we find more campsites and an ampetheatre.

Beyond the ampetheatre is a nice view of Smith Lake.

At night there are bonfires and the nightly telling of scary stories by Ranger Greg P. Oltergeist. 

Further north along Smith Lake one can commandeer a boat and go fishing or take a paddle-boat for some fun on the water.

After all that, it's time for us to leave Smith Lake via SR 611 / Smith Lake Rd. 

Hopefully nobody will be jumping on this bridge as we drive under it.

And finally we make our way back to MP-319 and we will turn left here to find our way to I-34, an adventure so exciting, we shall wait until next time to explore. 

So I leave you with the signage at the JCT of SR 611 and MP-319...

...And a high-resolution wider view of Smith Lake State Park. Click below to see it.

Hope you enjoyed the update and be sure to leave any comment or suggestion.

Dan

signature

4/27/2008: On The Road Again... Heading East on US 84

BARACK OBAMA 2008!!

www.barackobama.com

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull work and pics,wow i love your campground my friend.very nicely put together excellent use of the trails,the bridge looks perfect there.excellent work.

[Benedict 3,119]

Haha, love your 'green' update, quite creative.

[bbfan02 23]

Great nature update! I love the trails and cabins!

-bbfan02-

[Equilibria 16]

Beautiful park. Might I suggest downloading the 1x1 Solar Power plant, which I'm sure I've seen somewhere, and replacing those windmills?

Sorry to have so many constructive criticisms every time. This really is a great CJ.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Looks like a great park... and now I have perfect signage to guide me there. Time to camp out.. make some s'mores!

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Don't anticipate it too much. It'll probably be months.

Great looking scenery. I'd love to vacation there.

[SCDawg 0]

Hey Dan. Smith lake looks very nice, as your CJ always does. Kind of reminds me of Smith Mountain Lake, and Lake Sherando.

Can't wait for more!

Travis

[ky72x 13]

It's too bad that some sections of the street that leads to the cabins have grass, instead of being pure sidewalk or pure half grass/sidewalk. Currently, it looks kinda funky with seemingly random patches of grass there. I get the same problem even with a mod that erases those kinds of sidewalks, and usually it's because I have two parks beside that particular portion of the street.

Other than that, everything looks great! Nice use of everything, from the windmills to the trails to the beaches. As always, the signage was top-notch! I like how you used that bridge, too.

- Kyle

[Haljackey 17,322]

Hun, I guess that overpass is functional.

-But the fact still remains: it doesn't look right

Anyways, on to your update, I enjoyed it! Nice work with the ped bridge over the road, it looks great!

Best,

-Haljackey

[asturianu 4]

Oh ok that is good! I love the idea of having a tour around the county before getting to each town. Salem was lovely. The trip to Smith Lake was enjoyable and beautiful in the natural areas. Now I wnder what is tthe next location

Se ya dude

Cristian

[dfnva 34]

Jacqulina: Thanks, glad you liked how the campground looks. 

Benedict: Thanks, I'm not sure what you mean by green, if you're referring to the nature or the use of green technology to keep the campgrounds running. At any rate, glad you liked the update.

Bbfan02: Thanks, happy you enjoyed the update.

Equilibria: I really appreciate your suggestions, so don't be sorry. Certainly a solar powerplant would be in favor with the Massopax green initiative. 

Schulmanator: S'mores go great with ghost stories, glad you liked the update.

Edmonton_Stinks: I understand it takes time to get a region built up so it's presentable. Glad you liked the update.

Travis (SCDawg): I've actually never been to Smith Mountain Lake, though that's kind of what I stole the name from. However, when building this, I was trying to think, instead, of the Goshen Boy Scout camps in Goshen, VA. 

Kyle (Ky72x): I thought about downloading some mod for the roads and such, but was afraid that it would ruin sidewalks in urban areas. I agree that there are too many sidewalks by some of those cabins. We'll blame it on government waste this time.

Haljackey: Glad you liked the update. As far as the bridge, I see what you mean with how the diagonal doesn't have the sidewalks, but the orthogonal one does.

Cristian (Asturianu): Thanks, glad you enjoyed the scenery in this update.

I decided to begin a new visual theme and logo for Winchester and the Massopax Piedmont. I hope you like it.

Now, it's time to get back on the road. Here is a shot of where we left off at the intersection of MP-319 / Mountain Pike and SR-611 / Smith Lake Road. 

As we head north along MP-319, we pass by the gated community dubbed Stepford.

Numerous wealthier residents of Piedmont County live here.

Quite a few parks and recreation facilities are available in Stepford.

One of the more well-known residents is U.S. Senator Hal I. Burton, a republican, who lives here with his, uh, Stepford wife (and yes that's John Goodman playing Hal I. Burton for us).

Enough of Stepford, we continue north along MP-319 and pass Smith Lake Elementary School. 

Enough of Stepford, we continue north along MP-319 and pass Smith Lake Elementary School. 

As MP-319 approaches I-34, there have been the building of a Bloom grocery store and other commercial buildings and stores in recent years. The Grey Llama, which sells a number of odds and ends, has been here since the 1960s.

We're going to turn onto this ramp to go East on I-34 to get back towards Winchester. 

Some newer, more driver-friendly, signage has been put at this ramp. Alexandria is the capitol of Massopax, prominantly featured in the CJ entitled "The Massopax River Valley."

Here's the view as we start eastbound along I-34.

How about some more signs?

And more signage? This portion of I-34 has been deemed a "Highway Safety Corridor" because of the high traffic as a result of long-distance traffic, high numbers of commercial trucks, and local traffic. While I-34's speed limit in rural areas is 70, the speed goes down incrimentally as I-34 gets closer to Piedmont Heights. Lots of cops police this section of highway.

Finally, here's a zoomed out view of the area we're driving by on I-34.

Lastly, a sign for the next interchange.

And finally... here are some shots of completed construction on new I-79.

Next time, I plan for us to exit off onto SR-620 and explore some newer suburbia in western Piedmont Heights.

Hope you enjoyed this update,

Happy Easter,

Dan

[Benedict 3,119]

I was referring, of course, to the color of the text

[Schulmanator 5,787]

If there's a Trixie for most awesome signage in a CJ, I will vote for you. You are the king of signs!

The new interstate is looking good. Any speed traps?

[suplado! 23]

really nice road network and interchange looks really nice in the area as well...

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Woohoo! I-79 is a go!

Wow, a real life (sort of) Stepford. Freaky.

[PhilsCafe 8]

The renewal turned out great, Dan! That's actually something I like most in SC4... the renewal part. It's so much easier to change existing setups instead of building from scratch. I also like the camping, especially the lake front. And Stepford looks very nice too... gated communities always have something sinister about them though (such as the robo-wives... ). And I wouldn't trust that Burton guy... .

[kj3400 178]

The campground looks great. I don't think I've seen any in any city journals I've read so far. Nice job with those. And I-79 looks fantastic. How far does it go?

[bbfan02 23]

Fantastic work! I like the new construction of the interstate.

-bbfan02-

[Savahoo 0]

howd you make this nicE/?

[packersfan 666]

nice, i definately need to rework some of my routes and signage, but I agree renewal and redevelopment is fun! Keep up the roadgeekery.

[jacqulina 162]

beautifull job my friend looking awesome as are the pics

[dfnva 34]

Benedict: Ha, you're right that was green too.

Schulmanator: Glad you like the signs, there are a lot of them in this update. The police definitely patrol the 'Highway Safety Corridor' on I-34 pretty well, though they also do what is sometimes done in Maryland and put up cardboard replicas of police cars along-side the road to get people to slow down!

Suplado: Thanks, glad you like the new downtown interchange. Through traffic is now able to zip by at 55-mph without going on ramps or merging.

Edmonton_Stinks: Thanks, glad you liked the Stepford update, for some reason that sounded like a good name for a gated community.

Phil's Cafe: I think one of my favorite things to do is to change areas once I've built them, by changing development, or upgrading the roads. I agree that someone with a name that sounds like, uh, Haliburton, shouldn't be trusted. Glad you liked the update.

KJ3400: I'm pretty sure I've seen some campgrounds in some CJ's, just can't remember where. As far as I-79, it goes from I-34 to the north and presumably goes south for a few hundred miles along-side US-27. Glad to see it looks like you're having a CJ, I'll look forward to seeing it.

BBfan02: Thanks, glad you liked the improvements made for the christening of I-79.

Savahoo: I'd say that among the things that have helped me build better SC4 regions is what I've downloaded from the STEX, such as the Netword Add-on Mod (NAM) and Rural Highway Mod (RHW) for roads, and the numerous buildings and lots I've downloaded from there too. If you have a question about something specific, let me know by private message and I can get back to you.

Packersfan: Thanks, glad you enjoyed the roadgeekery and I'll be eager to see more of your's.

Jacqulina: Thanks! I'm happy you enjoyed this update.

Today we're going to exit off of I-34 to journey south along SR-620 / Greysboro Road and check out the development along there in western Piedmont Heights. SR 620 was recently widened to four lanes in the past couple of years and residential and commercial sprawl have increased along this corridor.

Here's the view as we exit off of I-34 onto SR 620. Numerous hotels, restaurants, and shopping centers have been popping up here.

Here is the signage at the interchange. Notice a sign for I-79 (RIP I-134). 

Here's a close-up of the interchange.

At the end of the ramp, we encounter this traffic signal as we turn right to go south on SR-620.

And then once on SR-620, we see this reassurance marker.

The first intersection we come to is with Hanson St and Oak Hill Drive. The Piedmont Forest Shopping Center is fairly new with this being the first Target in the Winchester area.

Here is the signal for Hanson St and Oak Hill Drive. When SR-620 was widened, the contractors opted for the newer "flashing yellow arrow" signal for left turns. 

Further along, we cross SR-2100/Technology Blvd, which goes through an industrial area, and Piedmont Oaks Drive, which accesses the Piedmont Oaks apartment community.

Yet another confusing signal with the flashing yellow arrow was erected here.

Here we pass some of the taller buildings in the Piedmont Oaks Apartment community. Despite the drab look to them, it is a rather nice place to live and cheaper than living within Winchester city limits.

Next we cross SR-703/Wayland Rd to the left and SR-656/Garland Rd to the right. Turning right on Garland Rd would take us back toward Smith Lake and Stepford.

Here's another signal assembly with a flashing yellow arrow, though it is mounted on a pedestal instead of overhead for some reason. Though not posted on signage here, SR-656 multiplexes with SR-620 for a short distance beginning here.

After crossing over some railroad tracks, SR-656 diverges from SR-620. Barnesfield Road meanders through a residential community, eventually finding its way to US-27 Business/Kings Highway.

No traffic signal at SR 656/Barnesfield Rd yet, but some citizens are asking for one.

At this intersection, we pass Covenant Presbyterian Church and SR 2903/Wilson Woods Drive, which will be lined with houses in the near future.

After passing that intersection, we see this sign as we approach MP-165/Deltown Rd.

Here is the intersection with MP-165 in all it's glory. Yet another mid-upscale Bloom grocery store is here which I'm sure Kyle (Ky72x) would like. When SR-620 crosses MP-165, the name changes from Greysboro Road to N. Horton Ave.

Contrary to the screenshot, there are five lanes on the approach to this intersection: two that turn left, two that go straight, and one that turns right. Turning right would take us back to downtown Salem. 

Finally, here is an overview of Piedmont Heights with the perspective of looking South.

Hope you enjoyed the update. Thanks for visiting!!

Dan

[THE_Chris 0]

Looks good! I'd have left the bumpy airport runway though, it looks suspiciously like the runway at the airport near me!

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Love Love Love!

It's awesome! The last pic shows just how realistic it is. The signage is of course superb.

We have one of those flashing yellow left arrow thingys just 3 lights from my house. It flashes a green arrow instead of a solid green light when the left turn is unprotected but the light for thru traffic is green.

[Haljackey 17,322]

Wow, I have missed an awful lot! Amazing work as always dfnva!

Try to work with your sloping a bit. Some of the ramps and overpasses for your highways/RHWs look a tad too steep.

Other than that, nice update(s)!

Best,

-Haljackey

[edmonton_stinks 5]

You were right, there is lots of roadgeekery. Love everything about that update. Once again, you are the king of signs.

[AceofSpades 1]

Great job love that massive downtown intersection.

[Equilibria 16]

Very nice update, and I like the last overview for context. Is a name change continuing straight not generally noted on a sign (my experience is mixed, but it usually is on town lines)?