Winchester

[vivydu29 60]

Wow, your city is very beautiful, The pictures is nice.

[bbfan02 23]

Fantastic update! I love the route numbers and the rural highway looks fantastic and so does that interchange.

-bbfan02-

[jrone3 2]

You've outdone yourself. Fantastic job on the roadgeekery Personally, I'd go with Proposal 3 because the new fresh area can bring business, hi-rises, and other developments to that area. Keep it up!!

[edmonton_stinks 5]

I vote for #1, although 427 could probably use some upgrading as well.

Good work on the interchange, though I'm kind of disappointed by the retail center. It looks way older than it is; I was kind of expecting big, giant, ugly big box stores. It seems a little too aesthetically pleasing and downtowny for the suburbs.

[connorc24 2]

I vote for 3! Lovely city you got there! Beautiful work! I'm looking forward to more.

[dfnva 34]

Greetings..... After posting my last update, I thought (with the help of Equilibria's comment) that it would help to post some maps of my region and show you exactly the options for the building of I-79.

First off: Here's a high-resolution transportation map of the Winchester region, just click on the thumbnail to check it out:

Of interest on the map are the numbered points and a proposed higher capacity airport for the region. 

The numbered points consist of some places we've visited in 3-ish pages of driving excitement. 

1. Piedmont County Fairgrounds
2. Wingate Town Center
3. Winchester Mall
4. Winchester-Piedmont Convention Center
5. Winchester City Hall
6. Patrick Henry University
7. South Wanata Park
8. Southern Village (new retail center being developed)

And here's a map legend so you can organize your thoughts. The yellow areas show the independent city of Winchester and the incorporated town of Salem. Everything else is part and parcel of Piedmont County. 


So now that you've gotten a regional view, here are the alternatives for building the proposed I-79 through the region. The Blue Line shows the proposed routing for I-79. The blue dotted lines show a proposed additional connector to the proposed airport discussed above.


Proposal 1 - Through Winchester along US-27 and I-134: While this could be a boom to the Winchester economy and a lot of US-27 through here is already to freeway standards, major construction would need to be done at the US-27/I-134/MP-501 JCT downtown causing problems to those trying access downtown Winchester and Patrick Henry University.


Proposal 2 - Around Winchester WEST along MP-427: This would be a better option to route through traffic west around Winchester and Salem, but would also prevent possible tourism dollars from reaching city coffers. Also, this could be a more costly affair as much of MP-427 would have to be upgraded to four lanes and at grade intersections would have to be eliminated.


Proposal 3 - Around Winchester EAST along New Routing: This would be the most costly option, building new pavement east of Winchester, but would give through traffic headed northbound an option to access I-34 eastbound without going through Winchester or going out of one's way by using MP-427. 

Conversationalists and some farmers are opposing Proposal 2 and Proposal 3 because they would encourage sprawl. 

And of course there's one more possibility....

Proposal 4 - Do Nothing / Upgrade Existing Roads: The cheapest option which could work temporarily, but as the Winchester region grows and road materials become more expensive, this could just put off bigger improvements vital to the region by building them later at a higher taxpayer expense.


So now, is it is your sworn duty to decide what road the future shall take, literally. Whichever option gets the highest number of responses will be what is built.


Replies....

Equilibria: Good luck getting the RHW to work... did you have a previous version and need to delete it, that could possibly be why you're having problems.

Jacqulina: Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed the pictures.

Vivydu29: Thanks! 

Bbfan02: Thanks, glad you like the rural highways, it's been fun experimenting with them.

Jrone3: Ha! Your reasoning is exactly why the conservationists are protesting, but sadly for them it's more fun for me to build things up!  Thanks, glad you like the roadgeekery.

Edmonton_Stinks: I'm happy for your disappointment of the retail center because that's exactly what I'm going for, not a cold, generic shopping center. 

Connorc24: Thanks for your vote and glad you like what you see.

Thanks for visiting, and voting!

Dan

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Well in that case, great job on the unconventional center! I love those model neighbourhoods that have a lot of multi family residences and shopping nearby--sometimes made like small towns. McKenzie Towne and Garrison Woods out here are good examples.

Great transportation map; it definitely makes the choice clearer. I vote for 1!

[mentarman 14]

I think option 1 as well. Options 2 and 3 could be for a future beltway (I-279?) but for now I think option 1 is best for the region.

[vivydu29 60]

Wow, It's very impressionant. Great work.

[petriknl 15]

I will go for option 2 .. great for the eastern development.

[Equilibria 16]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you when I was the one who wanted these in the first place... I like the third option the best, because if the city is going to expand you should be providing new options as opposed to simply renaming the old ones. That said, my ideal option would be a combination of 1 and 3 where the freeway is extended to the south to meet the bypass, with the I-79 designation applied to either one while the other gets an I-279 or some such thing.

Option 3 includes a version of this where the two meet at the new airport, which makes a lot of sense, so I'll have to say that one is the best, with an eye to extending the freeway portion of US-27 south in the future to provide drivers from the south with a choice of freeways clear from one end of the region to the other.

It would also be slightly easier to build everything if I-79 didn't go right through the airport site and require all sorts of tunnels and such (maybe that's your plan...) An adjustment of I-79 to the west would bring it more in line with current development boundaries and move it to the periphery of the airport still allowing for access with a connector continuing through (like I-190 into O'Hare).

Golly I've written a lot. Hope this makes up for the tardiness.

[hamsterTK 93]

Option 4 because freeways suck.

...figures you need some good old NIMBYism around here

[jacqulina 162]

i go for option 2 my friend

[kj3400 178]

Hello, impressive cj. This is the type of cj I like. So much roadgeekery!! Anyway I think you should go for option 1 because it's cheaper than the rest and also would be helpful for Winchester's growth. Option 2 and 3 combined could be the beltway around the region. Hope to see more expansion soon.

[dfnva 34]

[

Greetings!

Currently the standings are as such for the proposed I-79 corridor:

Option 1 (use current US-27/I-134)                                      3
Option 2 (upgrade current MP-427/western by-pass)    2
Option 3 (new routing/eastern bypass)                              3
Option 4 (do nothing/spot upgrades of existing roads)  1

By no means an obvious outcome at this point, so I will let the voting continue. The options, along with maps appear above in an earlier post.



Edmonton_Stinks: Thanks. I will post a status report of the development at Southern Village in one of my next updates as well as an update on Winchester Mall. And thanks for your vote, I promise, as opposed to the Massopax Presidential primary, I won't let my opinion sway the results!

Mentarman: Thanks for your vote, and you bring up a good point about the possiblity of also upgrading MP-427 or building some or all of the eastern route as well as it could be an outer beltway.

Vivydu29: Thanks!

Petriknl: Thanks for your vote!

Equilibria:  DING! DING! DING! You were Reply #100! Congratulations!

You make a good point about thinking proactively about the building of necessary roads, as opposed to reactively as is often done, sadly. I think you're right that US-27 will have to be upgraded to a freeway, between SR-970 and wherever I-79 diverges from US-27, eventually. Basically the intention of the eastern route (option 3) is to go around the outer towns such as Scarborough which is being swallowed by Winchester's sprawl, though you make a good point about making sure the route jives with the airport. Thanks for your ideas and vote!

HamsterTK: Thanks for your vote, and good reasoning behind your choice!

Jacqulina: Thanks for your vote!

KJ3400: Thanks for your vote and comments. Are you from Maryland (as that looks like a Maryland shield for your avatar)? 

And now....



Elkton is a fairly small farming town with some industry. Here is where US-27 Business diverges from US-27. For the most part, US-27 south of here bypasses towns with business routes going through town.




Here's a zoomed-out view of the interchange. Among other things, a Red Roof Inn, gas stations, a mexican restaurant and a Food Lion. The Red Roof Inn boasts, "While we may be further from Winchester, our rooms are the cheapest in the region!" Also, with all the powerlines, there is an environmentally-friendly wind farm not far down the road on SR-634.


A zoomed in view of the JCT with MP-42 and SR-634. MP-42 multiplexes with US-27 Business here.




Here's the view as we go over the Lewis Branch into Clark County and enter the town of Elkton .






Driving through Elkton....




Approaching the diverging point...


And at this intersection in downtown Elkton, we shall turn right onto SR 608 to find our way back to US-27 (even though we theoretically could do that going straight). Nothing much of excitement in downtown Elkton, pretty much a wasteland commercially.


Ye olde traffic signal. A classic set-up from Virgina where the red light is 12 inches but the yellow and green lights are 8 inches. Anachronistically, some NEW signals of this type were recently installed in Annandale, Virginia on Gallows Rd.


The view along SR-608....


... or should I say Hawthorn Glen Road? Looks like we're leaving Elkton.


And we find a gas station and a fruit stand at this JCT with US-27.


When this part of US-27 becomes I-79 (and there's no dispute about the alignment here), this signal will be removed with SR-608 passing over the highway, much to the anger of the fruitstand owners.


Hmmm.... maybe the world is flat.


And as such, with little fanfare, our US-27 drive, which began back in August, is completed. Thanks for coming along for the ride!!

Luckily, there's still much more to come....
* Building I-79 and a new airport.
* The completion of the Southern Village development as Winchester Mall gasps for life.
* A drive from west to east along US-84/I-34 taking a look at, among other things, the town of Salem, Smith Lake wilderness park, the towns of Scarborough and Deltown, and a detailed tour of Adventure World.
* Did I say more roadgeekery?

Thanks for visiting!

Dan

[bbfan02 23]

Wow, I love how that rural highway splits up! Great road signs as usual and I love those road numbers. Very realistic! I look forward to more my friend!

-bbfan02-

[KingTitan 6]

Definitely can see you have a love for traffic design. Road construction is like trying to make sure the right arteries are taking blood to the right places. Seems you have it well planned out, Can see the hard work you have done. Great stuff friend.

[Equilibria 16]

Beautiful update. Of course, do what you want with the roads. You have the vision.

One small nitpick: when doing diagonal roads, I find it neater to avoid the 90-degree-turn-before-diagonal look and make sure the transition to diagonal is clean. Your way might well be more realistic, but since I go to so much trouble to avoid that look in my cities, I figured I'd point it out here...

Again, really nice city, as always.

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Too bad the driving segment will end. I liked the traffic signal shots, never could figure out how you made them look so good.

Good thing though that the storyline continues. I always wondered what would become of Winchester Mall.

[vivydu29 60]

Great update, I like your city.

[tomdapom 79]

Great update! I really enjoy looking at this city for inspiration for my transit network. I can't wait till the next update!

[Peng74 1]

This has been a fun CJ to go through. I like how you take us on a drive around the different areas, and the use of signs just adds to it. Definetly will be back to check out more.

As for the proposals, well i'd go for Number 1. I love to see major re-development of downtown areas.

[gabry85 2]

Nice work! The "travel" feature makes your CJ interesting! Looking forward to more!

EDIT: #1 proposal seems interesting.

[kj3400 178]

Oh, darn. I really enjoyed those drives. But I'm looking forward to the expansion and the future rides around your region.

By the way, I am indeed from Maryland (Born and raised in Baltimore).

[SCDawg 0]

Excellant Update! Elkton kind of reminds me of Bowling Green, Virginia.

Great Work!

[jacqulina 162]

great roads system you have built my friend

[Haljackey 17,322]

Well, Its about time I checked this CJ out. For the winner of the best roadgeek CJ, you sure do impress dfnva. I will be following the updates here as the truck along!

My only recommendation is to fix your sloping. Your roads/highways have incredibly steep inclines/declines and are very bumpy. Smoothing/leveling the slope will make it much more realistic and more appealing. But, other than that, nice CJ!

Best,

-Haljackey

[politicman 1]

Your signalisation system is to cool !!

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Good job in the planning, it can be hard to restrain the hand of development. Nice job!

[dfnva 34]

Wow, I think this is the most responses I've gotten to an update....

BBfan02: Thanks for your comment! Glad you continue to enjoy the roadgeekery.

King Titan: I've always found traffic design interesting, so I try to emulate what I see in the real world when I play Simcity. Glad you like it, thanks for visiting.

Equilibria: You make a good point about the diagonal roads, something that I've thought about more recently with the RHW because if you curve it at the wrong time, the RHW curve has a regular road 90-degree turn puzzle piece in between. 

Edmonton_Stinks: Well, lucky for you, today's update focuses on Winchester Mall. And there's plenty of roadgeekery coming soon. As far as the signals, I just put various shapes and elements together using PowerPoint and save them for for different uses. 

Vividu29: Thanks for your comment and for visiting.

Tomdapom: Right back at you, I definitely have gotten inspiration from you in trying to realistically develop portions of my region, especially the run-down areas of the regions you've shown, which have been great . Thanks for visiting.

Peng74: Thanks for your vote, and there will be plenty more driving soon. 

Gabry85: Thank you for your vote and for visiting!

Kj3400: Cool, I've lived in VA all my life. Thanks for visting!

SCDawg: I've been through Bowling Green a few times, nice town, though Elkton is more-or-less based on (you guessed it) Elkton, VA, which is east of Harrisonburg on US-33.

Jacqulina: Thanks, glad you like the road system, thanks for visiting.

Haljackey: Thanks for your comment. Somehow (to my surprise), my previous CJ (Massopax River Valley) won the Roadgeek trixie a couple years ago, despite far superior CJ's out there such as the definitive roadgeek CJ Downingsford by Oroen. I see your point on the sloping, usually I use railroads to improve the sloping, though that didn't work too well in the area of the Elkton exit ramps. When I-79 goes through there, such slopes will dissapear to bring the pavement to interstate standards.

Politicman: Glad you like the signals, thanks for visiting.

Manticorefan: I agree, it's a lot of fun to develop but then if I overdevelop, the region loses the character that I'm trying to go for. Thanks for your visit.

And now...

After a lackluster holiday shopping season, Winchester Mall is limping into another year with increased retail competition coming from the south at Southern Village. 

Here's a zoomed out look at the vicinity around Winchester Mall. The area immediate around Winchester Mall is not so bad, but the area east of US-27 Business is deteriorating.

Winchester Mall... (yes, with all due respect to SimGoober I did some photoshopping to enhance what I want the mall to portray)

Next to Winchester Mall is a Bottom Dollar Food.

Winchester Mall has unveiled a new logo as seen here on this sign and marquee seen along US-27 Business/ Kings Hwy.

Along with a new logo, Winchester Mall has decided to close-off the second floor, moving all remaining stores to the first floor. This includes the closure of the food court, of which Subway is the only restaurant to relocate to a first floor location. Additionally, much of the southern wing leading to the former Belvedere's has been closed off. 

Sear's apparel departments consist of the only retail on the second floor. Sear's has closed off the second floor mall entrance.

Filling a major space on the first floor left vacant by Mountain Sports in 2003, a new store called the Black Market may be the last hope for Winchester Mall. Dubbed a cross between a college bookstore and Spencer Gifts (which recently closed up shop), The Black Market is an off-campus college bookstore specializing in selling, trading, and buying used textbooks on the cheap. 

The Black Market is owned by Edward Black, a graduate of PHU disgusted at the lack of competition the PHU on-campus bookstore had and how they engaged in price gauging. 

Here's an ad from the Black Market featured in the Winchester Daily News:

Only time will tell whether the flock of students from PHU (a 5-10 minute drive through residential areas) visiting the Black Market will be the saving grace of Winchester Mall or if they will leave the center after getting their books with the lack of trendy boutiques in the mall.

-Dan