Winchester

[RON-E 0]

WELCOME TO PAGE 20!!!!

cool story line

i can recommend the slope mod here on st like i did for someone else though. it will make the transition from higher elevations to lower elevations more realistic for your networks like avenues, rails, etc.

linkie

[lucky7 73]

Oh, another great update! Yes, no one can get lost here, indeed. Prof. Ed must be very lucky with the noise barrier hedges; doesn't his brother work work for the transportation department lol ?

Very good work, looking forward to more and maybe you'll make a street maze once, with completely unlogical signs ,

lucky7

[ky72x 13]

Hello Dan, it's been awhile since I've commented, I've been really busy lately also. Congrats on your one-year anniversary and achieving 500 posts!

I hope you can get your computer fixed soon. Thank goodness you got those files backed up. Which reminds me, I should to the same to mine... I'll be looking forward to those updates.

- Kyle

[dfnva 34]

All: Thanks for well-wishes about the computer. It's back and working with a new video card, so hopefully it will be running fine.

Haljackey: Thanks, as always.

Bruce (Schulmanator): Thanks. On occasion I've put the back of a signal in view depending on what sort of signal assembly is being used. Mostly, the purpose of that one was to reinforce the traffic control for traffic curving into the intersection. I have never seen a "Stock and Save." Most of the Food Lions here became Blooms or another downscale store called "Bottom Dollar." 

Death to Pumpkins: I'll be eager to see your recreation of Hampton Roads. I've barely found time to work on mine, though it, like this CJ's take on Roanoke and Charlottesville, will not be a literal recreation. I've actually never been in the Bottom Dollar down the road from me, though I went in while it was transitioning from Food Lion to Bottom Dollar and it was lame.

Rusty_777: Thanks much, means a lot as I love your suburban developments. 

Jacqulina: Thanks, glad you liked the areas in the last update.

Phoenix7: Thanks. I like putting slip ramps at some intersections as one would find in real life. It's interesting how there are jurisdictional issues when roads cross from one, to another. One of my favorite examples is US-48/VA-55 from Virginia into West Virginia. West Virginia has been cultivating US-48/WV-55 into a super highway (Corridor H) while Virginia has no intention of continuing the super highway into Virginia to end at I-81. 

KJ3400: I'm trying to put more cameras and sensors on the signal assemblies. Here in Northern VA, VDOT has a lot of emergency vehicle sensors on the signals.

Edmonton_Stinks: Haha... you're welcome. The house looks great, I'm looking forward to some more great suburban abodes from you.

Suplado: Thanks.!

Phil's Cafe: Thanks. I don't know if Professor Ed is an influencial member of the faculty, but rather he voices lots of complaints. 

Spore415: Thanks!

Geronimo: Thanks... I love working on roads in SC4!

Bruce (Schulmantor) #2: Ironically, despite possibilities of power supply and motherboard problems, it ended up being the video card that was the problem as my monitor worked fine on my ancient laptop. 

Anarchy0029: Thanks... Glad to see you're an Obama supporter! Hopefully he will win Tuesday!

Jacqulina #2: Thanks, my hope is that the computer will run fine for a long time now!

KJ3400 #2: Thanks for your well wishes.

Edmonton_Stinks #2: I hate computer issues but have rarely had them. Though, in college, my hard drive died on what was only a year-old computer. After that, the computer lasted my almost 10 years.

Phoenix7 #2: Thanks! 

Ron-E: Thanks for opening Page 20! Wow!

Lucky7: Thanks! Well similar to a street maze, we'll be driving through some road construction today.

Kyle (Ky72x): Thanks, and congratulations again on becoming a Moderator!

And now....

Despite the long hiatus, we're going to continue seamlessly along MP-130 southwestwardly out of town. After passing SR-970/Vista Pkwy, MP-130 narrows to two lanes in this rustic setting. I wonder what's hiding behind the trees??

Eeek, talk about a Halloween fright! McMansions stand out like eyesores on what was once prime farming land. I hate driving through Loudoun County, VA and seeing clear-cut land with McMansions. No trees or anything. Just McMansions. Looks terrible. 

Even the sign for Meadow Lake Ln looks elitist....

Continuing further along, we pass SR-715/South Wanata Drive. Turning left on SR-715 would take one back toward Winchester and pass by the sprawling South Wanata Park on the banks of the Wanata River.

At least now, we're in a more rural area, as we pass SR-646. 

Turning right on SR-646 takes one to the venerable Edwards Ferry....

.... which takes one across the Wanata River.

Continuing on MP-130, we pass the terminus of MP-116/Southern Rd which goes through the neighborhoods of South Winchester. Notice that MP-130 temporarily widens to four lanes here. Likely, in a few years, most of this portion of MP-130 will be widened to four lanes. 

We must be getting close to a JCT with MP-427 (the western by-pass) as evidenced by this signage.

More land cleared for more McMansions as we continue along.

Ooohh... road construction. 

Lots of construction around the area of the Junction of MP-130 and MP-427 as a grade-separated interchange will be built, complemented by widening of MP-130. Additionally a new shopping center will be built as the intersection depicted below with SR-659/Grey Goose Rd will be realigned and signalized.

Here's a zoomed-out look of the construction in context. A bridge will be built carrying both MP-130 and SR-659 over MP-427 and MP-427 will be widened to four lanes in this vicinity. A widening of all of MP-427 is on the horizon but with budget shortfalls, it is likely in the distant future.

Our last screenshot shows what is, and has been, the at-grade intersection of MP-427 and MP-130.

Next time, we'll check the progress of the construction.

Thanks for visiting, hopefully it won't be so long before the next update!

-Dan

[Schulmanator 5,787]

McMansions? Cool! I want one! Well, at least I want to be able to afford one!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Its been a while since I have been here, and I have to say, great work! And I'm sure you realize how evil mcmansions are, people paid for them with loans they couldn't possably pay back just so they could live in a swanky big house that was built over beautiful open space. And we all know where that got us.....

... LOL!!! Anyway, great job! Don't mind me and my ranting,

-Todd

[Haljackey 17,319]

Its great to see Winchester back!

looks like you're goona like FAR when it comes out!

A new shopping centre?  How many will that be now? 

And as always, great work with your sign pics!

Best,

-Haljackey

[deathtopumpkins 43]

Ahhhh! McMansions! Those things are terrible, aren't they? I can't stand to have a yard without any trees...

And oh look, another shopping center! That area should look nice when completed, and I'm interested to see that interchange.

[PhilsCafe 8]

What's so terrible about McMansions? I would take one... one at the edge of the forest though .

Great update, Dan. I love the signs and the planning. And the ferry landing looks cool. One suggestion though... do you know the Village Battery already?

I always enjoy to visit!

- Phil

[jj88 23]

Interesting cj. If you hate the tree-less aspect of the manisons so much, you do know you can plant trees in peoples gardens right?

[Equilibria 16]

Great looking construction work, and I like the clear outlining of the future ROW. How do you determine what is RHW-2?

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

nice update!

[Benedict 3,119]

I loves me a zombie CJ!

[SCDawg 0]

Hey Dan it's been a while since I've commented on here, I'm sorry to here about your computer problems, but it seems like Winchester hasn't missed a beat. While I don't like McMansions either, that area looks nice. And I know what ur talkin about with Loudoun County, their everywhere up there. 

Keep up the great work!

Travis

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

nice planning so far, cant wait for more!

[dfnva 34]

Bruce (Schulmanator): You may be in luck, the value of some of the McManisons are going down with the real estate market the way it is.

Todd (SimHotToddy): Ha, yeah you're preaching to the choir about the McMansions, nonetheless they're still coveted.

Haljackey: Thanks. I'm eager to see all the features of the final version of the FAR. 

Death to Pumpkins: With the rapid expansion southwestward, it is thought such a shopping center will be profitable. We'll see the progress of its building below.

Phil's Cafe: I actually had never seen the Village Battery... thanks for the suggestion. I still may use some wind turbines as it is my hope that more will be built in real life to solve our energy/climate problems. 

JJ88: Ha, yeah I should've planted some trees to make the McMansions better, however, I wanted to go for the realism of what I see as I drive around the outer suburbs of Northern Virginia.

Equilibria: Thanks. For the most part, the new lanes on MP-427 will be built parallel to the current RHW-2. You'll see more in the update below.

NewYork Runaway 1: Thanks!

Benedict: Ha! Thanks.

Travis (SCDawg): Thanks. Luckily my computer has been working fine since recieving it back, so hopefully I'm out of the woods.

NewYork Runaway 1 (#2): Thanks, I really enjoy planning different developments, roads, and highways.

And now...

We're going to take a look at some of the elapsed progress of the construction at the junction of MP-427 and MP-130 as well as the building of the Swanson Commons Center. 

To facilitate the next phase of construction, the MP-130 bridge over MP-427 has been completed. The original alignment of MP-130 is being used as a slip ramp to allow access between MP-130 and MP-427. Eventually the slip ramp will be reconfigured into on and off-ramps for MP-427 northbound.

Just south of here, the SR-659/Grey Goose Rd bridge is also completed over MP-427. Notice that while the new southbound component on MP-427 is complete in some places, it is not complete in others.

While this is happening, work is being done on the Swanson Commons Center which features Target, Lowe's, and Mort's Market among other stores. This will be Target's second store in the region, with a third being built near Deltown at the JCT of I-34 and MP-165. Also, this will be the largest Mort's Market built to date featuring expanded gourmet foods, prepared foods, and organic foods. Must be to compete with the Wegman's 10-ish miles east.

Here is a view upon completion of the shopping center.

Here is the view once all of the interchange and widening work is done.

Here is a zoomed in view of the new grade-separated interchange with MP-427 and MP-130. Notice the trees planted by MP-DOT so that the area doesn't look so barren.

And with that, this construction project is completed. Originally, MP-427 was to be widened to four lanes from here south to its terminus at I-79/US-27 and also to the north across the Wanata River. However, budget constraints prevented those improvements to come to fruition. 

We'll drive through it and check out the new signals and signage here and continue further southwest along MP-130 next time.

-Dan

[Haljackey 17,319]

Wow, lots of road construction! The end result looks great Dan!

I'd suggest getting a slope mod or something to level out the highway though. It looks kinda bumpy and has steep slopes.

Best,

-Haljackey

[deathtopumpkins 43]

Looks great! And I just relotted that target yesterday... you want a copy of it? It's transit-enabled.

And I agree with haljackey about getting a slope mod.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

The new shopping center is looking nice. Is there also a bar on Grey Goose? If not, a great street for one!

[PhilsCafe 8]

It looks like you've put a lot of thought into that construction, Dan. It was really interesting to see how you've rebuilt that section with the idea to keep traffic flowing. Well, that's planning. I also liked the shopping center.

- Phil

[pickled_pig 7]

Wow - not only that this CJ is still going strong, but that the last two updates pretty accurately reflect the epic scale of rural development most anywhere. It makes me think of going out towards Rock Hill in South Carolina or Concord in North Carolina from Charlotte - it's clear the infrastructure is rural yet developers put a suburban traffic toll on it. The construction projects show a great deal of realism as well.

-Aaron

[Benedict 3,119]

I always enjoy how you make the construction realistic in terms of access. Great stuff.

[dedgren 830]

Dan, always great to drop by and watch the progress. That wide median will come in handy when 427 is eight lanes wide.

David

[djf3591 1]

i like the updates to this point. Great work!

[kj3400 178]

Wow, it's been a while. I see you've been doing some construction. It looks really good. Reminds me of some routes in Maryland where it seems like you're in the middle of nowhere, and then all of a sudden, you come out on a shopping center. I'm looking forward to the next update.

[knarfmo 0]

Good job on the road signs! Nice CJ, in general, too!

[flyinbird93 2]

aww that's awesome, you journal in your construction time in the city haha! I've played like that before, didn't think about taking pics I'll be back to see more!

[dfnva 34]

Haljackey: Thanks. I use railroads to do the slopes with good results usually, though with the bridge, I was trying to make it look like the road was going uphill. I'm eager to use the new RHW goodies in this area once it comes out. BTW, is the new NAM 3-lane OWR only orthogonal or is it diagonal too?

DeathtoPumpkins: Thanks. Sure, I'd like to check out the Target you lotted. Do you have the "Super Target"? I keep looking for that on the Stex and Lex and can't find it.

Bruce (Schulmanator): Ha! That kinda escaped me as I was thinking of a road name. All of a sudden I realized what I had been subconsciously thinking! lol.

Phil (Phil's Cafe): Thanks! Glad you liked how everything turned out.

Aaron (Pickled Pig): Great to hear from you, long time no see. Hope things are going well with college and such. As for the development in rural areas, I'm going for the explosive development that has happened in the western DC 'burbs (Loudoun and Prince William Counties). Hope that you'll have some time to put out another CJ.

Benedict: Thanks. It's fun to show the process of the construction.

David (Dedgren): Ha! Hopefully the building up of rural areas won't require MP-427 to be that wide. Then again, it's possible with the new RHW coming out.

DJF3591: Thanks!

KJ3400: Thanks, it is funny, like that on some roads in Loudoun County, VA... you're in the country, it's all serene, and then BAM! It hits you... suburban sprawl.

Knarfmo: Thanks!

Flyinbird93: Thanks.. I plan on doing that more as I pass by areas where construction is going on as it's fun to explain/show how things change.

=======================================

And now... Happy Thanksgiving... here is an updated region map of the Southwestern Reaches of Piedmont County in addition to the northern tip of Clark County. 

Currently, we're at the JCT of MP-130 and MP-427. We're going to continue southwest on MP-130 to Bradysville and then go west on MP-42 toward Pommerey. 

Click to see the map:

Hopefully this weekend I'll have an update. Thanks for visiting!

-Dan

[deathtopumpkins 43]

Nice map there! It's looking pretty realistic.

And about the target: I have the same one you have. Is there a super target out there?

And I can email it to you if you PM me your email address.

[Hawkeye9 0]

THis is a very nice cj, great transportation network!!!!

Very nice mall development aswell!!!

Looking forward to more!!!!