You're Hired - NATURAL and SMART Growth - City of Watersauga

[regionlong 3]

 

TODAY IS December 1, 1 G.Y. (Game Year)

Hello Counsellors,

Eager to start your job as a city councillor? Well, you've been hired by the City of Watersauga committee to help us to accommodate rapid future growth! But before you can start, maybe you should know more about the City. We've hired volunteers to take you around and have a look.

VOLUNTEER: Here's our region, the City of Watersauga. Don't be fooled by its name! Despite it is named as the City of Watersauga, it is actually an independent country located in the North Pacific Ocean. It is a collection of region.

This piece of territory is actually a newly found continent in the Pacific Ocean. Being claimed by United Nations in 2000, the continent became its own independent nation beginning 2009. As a result, 2009 marked the first game year (1 G.Y.). There are still, much of the territory left unexplored. This continent, in addition, is also wealthy in terms of resources. It is now attracting numerous residents from far and wide to settle in Watersauga.

Currently, according to the census department, our housing capacity is at 577,438 residents (actual population around 520,000). We are expected to have an extra 400,000 residents (this makes our population to 975,815) residents in the next few decades, provided that we have over 120,000 vacant jobs. As a result, we need your help!

As I said before, we are a collection of cities. The biggest of which, or the commercial centre of the nation, is located at Old Watersauga, with a population of 210,000, as seen below.

  

For those visually minded, here's the satellite imagery...

 

Notice how we are using natural growth technique, without any extensive future planning. Also, we are also trying to cope with the serious problem of urban sprawl. A problem that is already invading into much of our farmlands.

Our last stop of the day would take you to the satellite image of the entire region. Notice how our region is very different with others here on Simtropolis. We have rugged, irregular boundaries. This is because much of our territories is uncharted, unmapped, and we know absolutely nothing about it. Here's a tour of our region.

As you can see, our region is made up of several major cities.

To see the full size, visit this link: 

List of major cities:

* City of Old Watersauga (Pop. 214,000) ~ The commercial heart of the region.

* City of Ottawa - Gatineau (Pop. 108,000) ~ The political capital of the region, it is a beautiful fusion between the English and the French cultures.

* City of Port Credit (Pop. 41,000) ~ The city of external affairs

* King City (Pop. 29,000) ~ The city of industries

* City of Elgin Mills (Pop. 28,000)

* City of Randolph - Rebecca (Pop. 22,000) 

YOUR TRAINER: With these major cities in mind, we have urban planning corridors, to show that where future urban expansions will be. This will be mention in details in our next meeting. However, just to keep you a heads up.

* 1ST PRIORITY CORRIDOR - The Hurontario Delta Corridor (The North-South Corridor Between Old Watersauga and Elgin Mills)

* 2ND PRIORITY CORRIDOR - Dawson River Valley Corridor (The East-West Corridor Between Aylmer and King City)

* 3RD PRIORITY CORRIDOR - The Prairies Corridor (The North-South Corridor Between Port Credit South and Ottawa-Gatineau), also known as the Ottawa - Perth Corridor. 

* 4TH PRIORITY CORRIDOR - The Queen Elizabeth Corridor (The East-West Corridor Between Randolph-Rebecca to Port Credit)

* 5TH PRIORITY CORRIDOR - The Trafalgar Corridor (The North-South Corridor Between Randolph-Rebecca to King City)

These corridors are put into place, and suggest future places in the region to become fully urbanized. Already, there have been outposts and agricultural farmlands put into place in these corridors.

We will discuss more in our next meeting. So please attend attentively to your meetings.

P.S. I currently do not have Photoshop with me on my new computer, so I would have to use Paint to do all the graphics... Please excuse all the bad graphics made...

 

[Follarch 327]

Wow, good region to start this CJ off with.

And you're going the interactive path. Good for you, not many interactive CJ's around here, much less good ones. I can see the potential for you to have a good one right here. Keep this up!

[tostartpressanykey 2]

interesting!

[SounderBruce 173]

Very nice! I love your downtown and I am very eager to see the frontiers...

[regionlong 3]

  

**An update. Just to sync this with the CJ in the CJ section. **

** Thanks all for the compliments! **

DATE: February 14, G.Y. 2 (Game Year 2)

Hello all counsellors,

I sure hope you are still interested for the job! Sorry for the previous holidays we have. Well, our regional chair, decided to take a leave to other countries around the globe to seek ways of improving the region. He is now back and ready for the region's growth. Be prepared for a very long update! (and this is just part 1 of a long update)

Just a quick update. While all of us were away, enjoying vacations, the City of Watersauga increased by another 80,000 in terms of population. We now have over 100,000 vacant jobs (down from 120,000 from last time, as some jobs are taken, and some businesses left our region as they cannot find employees [which is NOT good news])...

As you may have recalled, our development in the region is CONCENTRATED (nope, we do not like sparse developments. We don't want to make the same mistakes as North America did)... so therefore, our development is concentrated into corridors. These corridors are classified into categories of priority.

Today, we will be discussing about the future of our FIRST PRIORITY CORRIDOR. The corridor will be centred around the Hurontario Highway and Hurontario Avenue, around the Hurontario Delta Region. The corridor is expected to house over 100,000 people in the next 20 years. The corridor currently has roughly around 300,000 residents, about half of our entire region's population.

The corridor incorporates the following municipalities: Old Watersauga (Pop. 220,000), Commercium Bay (Pop. 5,000), MacKenzie Ridges (Pop. 0), Carrville (Pop. 2,000), Elgin Mills (Pop. 50,000), and several unincorporated communities. Here is an overview: 

Figure 1 - The area within the dotted red line is part of the first priority corridor. Note that Watersauga and Elgin Mills are respectively in two planning corridors.

Note that the entire area is centred around a highway, with developments branching off the highway. 

Problem 1: Counsellors, we have a problem.

We have came up with preliminary solutions like encouraging high-density growths, which we have been doing since the beginning. However, many of the developments are coming in low density rather than medium density or high density (and that is for municipalities over the population 2,000, which is pretty much all municipalities in the region)... How can we encourage high density growths?

We have proposed the following, other than the traditional "requirements", like water, and high desirabilities, etc etc... :

* Re-developments of urban centres. De-zone any low density zones in downtown cores of municipalities, and re-zone for medium / high density zones. 

* Refrain from excessive developments in the suburbs. With less choice of housing, and continue demand, new residents are forced to urban centre to reside in higher density zones.

So, counsellors, do YOU have any other ideas?

* Note: Hurontario Avenue is currently on an active rapid transit project. A subway line is completed between Downtown Watersauga and Commercium Bay to further enhance developments.

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Now back to some background information:

As said before, developments is centred around Hurontario Avenue. Hurontario Avenue begins at the shores of the Pacific Ocean, right at the mouth of Dawson River, in an area formerly known as the Hurontario Delta. The area is no longer a delta as it has been reclaimed by filling the ocean, and joining the former islands to mainland for high-density developments.

Figure 3 - Start of Hurontario Avenue

The one reason why Hurontario corridor is so special is because it links two major urban centres. Shortly from the beginning of the road, the road widens into an avenue, and is located at the very heart of the busiest urban centre of the entire continent. 

Figure 4 - Downtown Watersauga

Traditionally, developments spread north from Watersauga along Hurontario Avenue and Queen Elizabeth Way (another corridor which we will discuss another day). As seen follows. However, as a thumb of rule, we try to avoid low density as much as possible. Though developments may start as low density, we might convert them to a higher density by using the aforementioned strategies.

Figure 5 - Midtown Watersauga. Notice the mix of high density commercial and the high density residential.

[Picture resized. Please keep all pictures within the 800x600 or 600x800 pixel limit. Thanks! -Chptrk]

 Figure 6 - Uptown Watersauga, on Hurontario Avenue. Notice how the developments are still tending to higher densities, despite farmlands are seen in the background? 

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That is all for today's meeting. Please consider Problem 1, and submit any ideas that will further encourage the corridor to grow. In Watersauga, as you may have noticed, have lots of farmlands in the north, while the population is crammed in the southern end. We do not want to excessively destroy the farmlands (and hence anti-urban sprawl). 

Thanks all for your input! 

>> Next Up: Potential Ecological Impact of the Corridor >>

[regionlong 3]

 

Date: February 18, G.Y. 2

Please try to solve our meetings' problem, highlighted in pink towards the end of the meeting entry. Remember, people of Watersauga look up to you!

Counsellors,

Welcome to the 4th general meeting of the City of Watersauga Council. In our last entry, Counsellor ROFLYoshi has brought up many undoubtly interesting topics for us to investigate. However, we will put that topic aside for now, and will be discussed in the next meeting instead. As promised, we will continue to investigate the potential ecological impact of the developments along the corridor.

Taking some of your considerations, we have established yet another new community just north of the current urban fringe. The farm owner agreed to sell us the land, and construction has immediately begin. The area is currently home to about 5,000 people.

Figure 1 - (Sorry for the brightness icon, I accidentally press it while taking a screenshot). The lower density towards the upper left was from the former developments of the hamlet of Courners. The hamlet no longer exists, as much of it has been demolished. The Bullock Subway Line (this is not an intercity / regional development corridor, and will be discussed later, but certainly a major corridor within the city) has been extended north and added 2 stops.

The new community is built based on the SMART growth concept, and is almost entirely transit-powered. Schools, and other ammenities are designed so they can reached by walking.

Much of Watersauga is located on a piece of lower-elevated flat piece of land. Towards the north, away from Pacific Ocean, the land gradually rises up, and thus therefore home to many precious forest tracts / woodlots, which is extremely (and I can't emphasize that enough) of the local wildlife. The area is home to many species of wildlife, some of them are endangered, and some of them only exist within the Watersauga boundaries. As a result, we would have to be careful with our developments and not to destroy them.

We have woodlots set aside in urban areas, appealing to the wildlife. These areas are never to be developed to protect the wildlife. We will discuss the location of these in our next entry.

Last time, we only took a look at the corridor's southern end in Old Watersauga. Let us finish up our tour towards the north.

Along Hurontario Avenue, we can find:

Figure 2 - Immediately north of the City of Old Watersauga, is an area of high-tech industrial park. They primarily exist in low to medium density, and will be slowly converting to higher density in the future. About 100,000 industrial jobs are available here. The dirty industrial jobs are pre-100 G.Y. era (i.e. over a century old) when the city has just begun.

Figure 3 - North of the industrial area, Hurontario formerly ends here, at around the 10th concession counting from the Pacific Ocean shoreline. Given this corridor plan, we extended Hurontario Avenue north towards Elgin Mills (the northern end of the corridor). The extension was built in a ground highway format, to accomodate future growths.

Figure 4 - The street you see in the lower left corner is the former alignment of Old Hurontario Avenue. Notice how the new highway overtakes the old alignment to maintain the concession system. The old alignment is not a gravel road as it was paved when it was built. Other rural roads, however, are gravel roads (Old Hurontario Avenue is an exception).

Figure 5 - The highway travels through an ecological sensitive valley. Upon construction of the highway, we received many complaints in regards to concern of the local wildlife. Guardrails are proposed to be installed in the area. We have also maintained a small woodlot in the locale. Yet, many wildlife can still be found on the highway, and as a result, many animal deaths are recorded on this section of the highway. To the right, it is a series of manufacturing industries. They are under the regulation of Clean Air Act to ensure the wildlife is protected.

Figure 6 - Another example of woodlots. (There are bigger ones, of course) Notice the rugged landscape. The landscape gets hillier as we reach north.

Figure 7 - Many people question about the new highway. It seems to be empty during non-rush hours. It is only used by mainly (up to 90%) freight trucks, and only a few scarce cars passing by a day travelling between the two major cities of the corridor.

Figure 8 - Future rail alignments are built for future rail usage. For now, a few passenger trains and freight trains use the alignment.

Figure 9 - The remote Outpost of MacKenzie Ridges (Outpost is a form of municipality in our region, among Townships and Towns). MacKenzie Ridges is inhabited. Patches of areas are reserved for woodlots. Farms are positioned here to prepare for future developments.

Figure 10 - Our solution: Smaller farmland size. More agricultural jobs spanning over a smaller area of land. More effects over a small area of land means more wildlife is protected.

Most of our agricultural spaces are specifically positioned away from Dawson River. The reason is, the wildlife enjoys living around water. We have reserved over 4 medium sized-tiles for the wildlife, with occasional county roads passing through this area. Heavy trucks are not permitted to use the roads. The roads are also closed in the winter months. This is a significant obstacle to our development of the corridor.

Conclusion of the EA

The Hurontario Planning Corridor fails the environmental assessment. Better solutions are needed before developments can go ahead.

According to the Law of the City of Watersauga, a fail in EA requires the locale to halt all developments. We have to figure this out in order to start the development again.

Problem 2 -

So Counsellors. How can we balance growth of the corridor and nature? It seems like we have to sacrafice one or the other. While we had a smaller farmland size, so farms don't spread over a big area, do you have any other ideas in mind that we can use? 

SOLUTIONS AND CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED! THANKS!

That's it for the 4th meeting! Please be prompt for the next meeting!

Regional Chair

Next Up: As the Highway Gets Closer to Elgin Mills... >>

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P.S. Oh no, you guys can actually start rating me from the next entry. Please don't judge me on the graphics, please! Thanks all!

You can start telling me how to improve this CJ... I want to get a high rating for the CJ...

[regionlong 3]

Date: February 20, G.Y. 2

Welcome, counsellors! Thank you for all your comments on our last post. We will consider your comments.

Sorry... I "lied" in my previous entry. Instead of discussing the northern end of the corridor, we will be discuss how we can combat against urban sprawl in this meeting. As you know, Watersauga is growing at a rapid rate. We are now searching for ways to accomodate these new residents, without excessively to sprawl into the countryside. Remember, we do not want to make the same mistake as North America did.

So without further due, your task is simply help the council decide what is the most suitable choice for the city. Questions that can help you to this task is highlighted in PINK (like this one)!

We have come up with 3 solutions, from the most desirable to the least desirable.

1) Rebuild / Redevelopment. Older parts of the city has either been reserved (for heritage purposes) or stayed without redeveloping. These parts of the city exist in low density form, and occupies a big area of land. Some areas, for example, like highway interchanges, are wasting land space. Should we demolish and redevelop these areas?

2) Reclamation. Imitating what cities in China and Japan have been doing, we can fill up parts of the Pacific Ocean within the current city boundaries, and have new redevelopments there. We have done this before about 70 years ago, when a massive portion of the Pacific Ocean has been reclaimed into land. This massive portion is now home to what is now our downtown, about 80,000 commercial jobs reside there. The concern is the environment. Is this the proper option?

3) Sprawl into the farmlands. This is not what we what. But if no other solutions are deemed possible, this is what we would do.

4) Do you have any other ideas in mind?

SOLUTION 1 - REBUILD / REDEVELOPMENT

So before we discuss this option, we want you to keep our SMART GROWTH technology in mind. We started to adopt this technology about 80 years ago. During this 80 years, our urban area size increased by 17%, but on the other hand, our population grew by a whopping 300%. Smart Growth does make a difference.

Figure 1.0.1 - Our first smart growth community, built about 80 years ago. Of course, the density has been increased from medium to high in the recent years. Notice that all ammenities are within walking distance. We encourage residents to either walk or take transit. In walking distance, you see parks, library branch, schools, police station, hospital, commercial areas (used to be shops, but redevelop several years ago). If a resident must travel outside the community, the area is served by 3 subway lines / rapid transit and bus routes.

1.1 - A real case recently

In late G.Y. 1, we noticed that a blotch of high-tech industrial land in the extreme northern end of the city was abandoned (as they could not find enough employees to work at their plants). We decided to dezone the area, and redevelop into another smart growth community.

Figure 1.1.1 - Before the redevelopment. Notice the abandoned high tech industrial area.

Figure 1.1.2 - New development. It took about a year for the community to completely flourish. Some of the residential developments exist in a density lower than what we expected, but it should be re-developed into higher density residential complex later on. The community is currently home to about 3,000 residents. As you can see, all ammenities are within walking distance, clinic, community school, train station, bus, and parks (shops are also in walking distance but not in the picture). Thru traffic is also discouraged to ensure transit usage.

1.2 - Ways to save space (Redevelopment)

Figure 1.2.1 - Elevated rail interchange. This elevated rail section was among one of the busiest rapid transit line in the city (now overtaken by the new subway line built about 10 years ago, just one concession road south of this alignment).

The rapid transit line is now considered as a waste of space. Should we demolish the line and surrounding area, and redevelop it into higher density housing?

Figure 1.2.2 - An older style train station. The train station has among one of the highest usage of the heavy rail line, spanning across the top of the city. But it is considered as a waste of space, spanning 3 x 2 tiles.

Figure 1.2.3 - We have replaced the older train station with an on-track train station. We saved a lot of space, as well as bumped up the total capacity of the train station. The concern is, the new train station has no indoor building. How can we manage the number of passengers? Wouldn't this pose an inconvenience?

Figure 1.2.4 - The usage of the above mentioned train station. It is severely overcrowded, at 495% of the capacity. We have already added two train stations nearby, but the capacity remained at around the same level.

Figure 1.2.5 - The aforementioned new train station to relieve the stress of the older one.

Figure 1.2.6 - These intechanges are also considered as a waste of space.

Figure 1.2.7 - These interchanges are deemed to save more space. However, they can't deal with as much traffic as the proper interchanges. They sometimes cause congestions too. Which option should we use?

Figure 1.2.8 - Ah. Movie Studios. True, they bring tourisms and everything. You might also spot a few stars on the streets. But, do they have practical uses? They are believed to be a waste of land. Should it be relocated and be redeveloped?

Figure 1.2.9 - Like we mentioned before, some of the older communities exist in low density. They preserved our heritage and reminded us about our past. (The toll booth there is to discourage thru traffic, as the road is too narrow to handle high traffic). But should they be kept? Should they be demolished and redeveloped into high density zones?

SOLUTION 2 - RECLAMATION

We have done this before. It's not our first time.

Figure 2.0.1 - This community (look at the housing along the road) is named Baie D'Coeur. The first subdivision built in Watersauga about 150 years ago. They are kept, untouched until today (though one house is demolished for a subway station). This used to be the shoreline of Old Watersauga. Anywhere south of here was plain ocean, yet about 20% of our population and 90% of our commercial jobs are south of here.

Figure 2.0.2 - This is posted in one of our previous entries. However, ALL OF THIS that you are seeing are located on reclaimed lands. It used to be a part of the Pacific Ocean.

2.1 - Proposed Reclaimed Site

Figure 2.1.1 - We are planning to fill this bay in for future developments. If we do fill this bay in, we will receive more land for about 10,000 extra residents and about 10,000 extra commercial jobs. Land is good. But the thing is, it's not good for the environment. Should we do it?

SOLUTION 3 - URBAN SPRAWL

Not what we want here. But if nothing else deems possible, this is the way out.

Currently, farmland account to about 40% of our land. If we do the math properly, and if we develop all the farmland into residential housing, we could potentially double our current population. Is it worth it?

Figure 3.0.1 - Imagine this piece of farmland, 100 years down the road. Will this piece of farmland be home to thousands of people?

SOLUTION 4 - YOUR OWN IDEA

So counsellors. Got a great idea in your mind to stop urban sprawling? Post a comment below. All counsellors here will be glad to explore and discuss your ideas. Remember, you may actually save us from urban sprawling!

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SOLUTIONS AND CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED! THANKS!

That's it for the 5th meeting! Please be prompt for the next meeting!

Regional Chair

Next Up: As the Highway Gets Closer to Elgin Mills... >>

(This topic will definitely on in our next post. Stay tuned!)

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P.S. Oh no, you guys can actually start rating me from the next entry. Please don't judge me on the graphics, please! Thanks all!
I want to get a high rating for the CJ...

[regionlong 3]

 

Today is February 23, G.Y. 2

---------Before we begin-------------

You've spoken, and we've heard you!

Thank you Consellors _marsh_ and danielches for inputting comments about limiting urban sprawls in Watersauga. Together as a committee, we have established the following consensus. The following results have been submitted to the City Hall for approval.

Elevated Rail: Will be demolished. A subway line will be first built under the current alignment before the demolishment begins to avoid inconvenience for transit users.

Train Capacity Problem: Like we suggested in the last entry, we will add more train stations nearby to divert commuters.

Highway Interchange: Futher debate is needed. Stay tune for future updates, but we are leaning towards keeping the traditional interchange.

Movie Studio: The problem will be set aside until we absolutely need the land.

Heritage communities: Will be kept as per consensus.

Land Reclamation: Some land will eventually be reclaimed. The current project suggests the ocean space just outside Pacific Place and the bay outside of the Humber Community. However, this will be further investigated in the next entries.

Urban Sprawl: Per consensus, yes. We will divide the farmlands into priorities, with the ones closer to the Hurontario and the Rexdale Tertiary Corridor first, then work inwards. The development would last for the next 100 years. Work has been started in parts of the farmlands. More on this later.

Thanks all again for your comments!

-----------NOW we can start------------

Welcome, all counsellors, yet again, to our 6th general meeting! Well, today, we have a mini short update. This update was originally intended to be the 5th update, but the urban sprawl issue was more urgent, and therefore we have to switch our agenda a little bit.

Just a friendly reminder. I am currently working on improving the graphics, and that is all the banners, and perhaps a nicely built table of contents and fact sheet about the region. Stay tuned to these updates, and they will be posted in our 1st and 2nd entry.

Also, the questions highlighted in pink are to encourage you to help us with the developments of the region. So you might want to answer them.

Just to remind you where we are looking at...

Figure 1 - This is the Hurontario Development Corridor. Rated the first priority in develpment of the region, if you don't remember about it, maybe it's time you review about it from our previous entries. Today, we are looking at the northern end of the corridor, towards the Satellite City of Elgin Mills (Population 50,000).

In our last tour of the corridor, we ended the tour at MacKenzie Ridges (a farming outpost with small farmland sizes), and now, let us continue our journey north.

As we leave MacKenzie Ridges on the Hurontario Corridor Highway, we now approach a farming community, namely Carrville, home to about 500 residents.

Figure 2 - Carrville. The farming community. Many who live in the township work in the nearby farmlands. Many also treat this community as the cottage country / vacation destination of the cities of Elgin Mills and Watersauga (about 2 hours drive from Watersauga), as seen with the resort hotel.

However, recently, more dirty and manufacturing industry are fleeing away from the big cities and started to land in Carrville, because of cheaper land value, and also because its proximity to Elgin Mills and its loose regulation on clean air policy (our cities, if they have population over 25,000, are mandated to have a strict clean air act). Residents fear that these incoming industries will pollute their clean air in this farming community, and some also fear it might lower the desirability for residential developments of the entire township. Some of the residents have already moved away. The township of Carrville, however, appreciate the invasion of these industries, as they bring tax income.

What do you think should we do with these dirty industries? Should we let them stay, or force to move these industries to other municipalities? If so, how?

Immediately north of Carrville (about 20 minutes drive) comes the City of Elgin Mills.

Figure 3 - The Hurontario Corridor Highway entering the City of Elgin Mills. The City of Elgin Mills is a satellite city, and have recently been developing fast (population doubled in less than 20 years). The highway connects Elgin Mills to Watersauga, and is the lifeline of the city's connection to the corridor.

Elgin Mills serves as the satellite city for the region's two biggest cities, Ottawa (Pop. 127,000) and Watersauga (Pop. 230,000). As a result, the land value is expected to rise in Elgin Mills in the next few decades, with developments edging in closer to Elgin Mills from both cities.

Figure 4 - Downtown of Elgin Mills. Notice a mix of low density and medium density. Recently, we have made an attempt to start slowly converting the zones to medium and even high density to limit urban sprawl into the surrounding farmlands. The downtown is where the two corridors, the Ottawa corridor (which we will discuss later), and the Hurontario Corridor.

Figure 5 - Like we said before, we are encouraging medium to high density zoning in Elgin Mills. As a result, all new communities develop in Elgin Mills lately are tending towards medium and high density, as seen in this community is southeastern Elgin Mills. One special point of these communities are that they have public transit installment just before occupation of the units in the apartments / condos begin. Roads are also widened to an avenue for the anticipated traffic.

In the community, smart growth is also incorporated, with ammenities within walkable distance. Busses are the most common form of travelling.

Is this a healthy development, do you think? With the downtown still under re-development to high density, but the new communities surrounding the downtown core already exists in high density forms. It limits urban sprawls for sure, but what other concerns do we have? What can we do to fix this?

The one problem we have last time about saving space (that no one answered) is still open in this entry. If anyone wants to take a shot, go ahead:

So counsellors. Got a great idea in your mind to stop urban sprawling? Post a comment below. All counsellors here will be glad to explore and discuss your ideas. Remember, you may actually save us from urban sprawling!

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SOLUTIONS AND CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED! THANKS!

That's it for the 6th meeting! Please be prompt for the next meeting!

Regional Chair

Next Up: Regional Corridor Structure, Analysis, and more. >>

Stay tuned!

 

[crazychickensc12 84]

Great start on this CJ my friend lots of pics and that region view is splendid!! Keep up the great work lookin forward to more!!

[kccl35 83]

 Very detailed, I must say! Keep it up! Although I must say that a little more custom content would be appreciated.

[regionlong 3]

 

February 26, G.Y. 2

 

Dear all counsellors,

This is not an official meeting, but rather a preparatory session (aka mini-update) for you to understand the back country of our region. 

This is just the background material, so read it, and be sure you are ready for the next meeting tomorrow regarding this remote township in our back country.

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Deep in our back-country (maps will be provided in the meeting memo tomorrow), a remote township has been created. The township is named Lloydminster, though much of its urban area straddle between two municipalities, Port Credit en la Prairie, and Lloydminster. The township is home to approximately 2,000 (1,400 of which are on the Port Credit en la Prairie side).

There are no formal access to the community, other than dirt roads. However, a recent project has been developed, proposing a new rural highway to stretch to the locale. A possible airfield may also deem possible, as the township is too far to reach from other urban areas of the region.

Figure 1 - The aerial view of Lloydminster, zoomed up to a height of about 100 m. Notice the main means of transportation in the community are mud roads.

Figure 2 - Lloydminster is actually situated in a clearing of a very dense forest. The clearing was created by the loggers in the past century, when the Winston Churchill Regional Park was not established. Logging is now banned in the Winston Churchill Park. Lloydminster is completely enclaved (i.e. surrounded by) Winston Churchill Regional Park, note in this picture with parts of the unorganized grounds of Winston Churchill Regional Park.

Figure 3 - The community house of Lloydminster. The community house is where all the townspeople gather for community events and functions.

** The following will be discussed in high details in our next meeting. **

Figure 4 - A rural road in the outskirt Lloydminster. Since Lloydminster is so close to Winston Churchill Regional Park, where most of the wildlife lives, there is a great need to protect the wildlife from running onto the road, and ultimately killed by passing vehicles. We have deduced several methods, which will be discussed in our next meeting. Here's something to think about for the next meeting: What is an effective way to build the roads to prevent wildlife entries?

Sincerely,

Your Volunteer Assistant

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That is it for the quick, brief, short, preparatory session for the next meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting.

NEXT UP: Building a rural highway in the rural outback >>

THEN: Corridor Structures in the Region, with Updated Maps >>

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P.S. I sincerely appreciate those who commented. Your comments are my motivation to continue to update. Though more responses to the interactive materials are appreciated.

[Tysons4 68]

for figure 4... elevated road... wild life can go under... sims go over... fences at points where road is level with ground

[Moshi 61]

Good start, though I would recommend putting in a slope mod, and taking screenshots with the grid turned off. Otherwise, it is intriguing and nicely done.

[regionlong 3]

Thanks all for the replies! I will consider those suggestions, and report to you what we did in our next entry.

For now, this is our new up-to-date census information of the Top 10 Cities of Watersauga.

Note that Kingston, Angus Glen, S. Port Credit, and Port Credit en la Prairie are actually suburbs are the larger cities but they are in the top 10 nonetheless.

Stay tuned for our next updates! 

[Rionescu 14]

Great CJ, and don't get discouraged if few people are commenting. Once more people take notice you'll be getting more comments than you can handle. On another note, I love the names for your cities and roads. I can see your area of inspiration seems to be Southern Ontario, and I'm guessing your from Mississauga or Toronto?

[regionlong 3]

@ Rionescu:

I'm actually from Markham, but yea, you guessed it right, Southern Ontario (hence the southern Ontario names)

Even the name "Watersauga" is derived from Mississauga. 

[Renedius 25]

grget my friend

[regionlong 3]

Today is March 4, G.Y. 2

Before we begin our meeting, let us take a moment to mourn for those who were victims in the earthquake in Chile and Taiwan.

A tsunami warning had been issued on the night of the earthquake. Cities near the shores of the Pacific are required to evacuate. This meant over 400,000 people were displaced.

Our country did indeed receive the tsunami. However, most of the impact was hit on the outer islands of Watersauga, so that includes the Tsang Mo Um Sha Islands and the Land Link Island. Those islands, home to about 1,000, was the hardest hit. Currently, damages and fatalities are unknown. However, the islands blocked most of the wave, and when the waves reached Watersauga, the waves were merely 0.1 m tall.

For those of you who have not checked it out, we have posted the new updated Top 10 Cities list in our last entry (comment section).

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Figure 1 - The location of Lloydminster in relation to the rest of the region. Lloydminster is not located on any highways nor any railways.

Last time, we took you on a tour to the Lloydminster side of the community. The other side was yet unknown to you. The other side is adminstered by Port Credit en la Prairie (Population 12,000), and therefore more urbanized.

Figure 2 - The current (when the picture was taken) configuration of the rural highway, signed as PCEP route 2. Notice how the highway is elevated to prohibit wildlife access to the corridor.

Figure 3 - Interchange (artificial) between the PCEP Routes 1 and 2. It links the community of Lloydminster (both sides of the municipal boundary) to the rest of the region. It's the most important interchange (and certainly most busy) in the community.

The traffic is very heavy throughout the PCEP routes 1 and 2 corridor (where they meet is Lloydminster), and we have recently received many complaints about the traffic through the neighbourhoods of Lloydminster, disturbing the peace of the community.

As a result, we took the following actions:

Figure 4 - PCEP route 1 is re-aligned. A By-Pass, namely Lloydminster Ringway is built, as shown here, the paved road. The old alignment, shown here as a street, is now made as dead-end, in a cul-de-sac. Thru traffic is now forced to use the ringway, not through the local road.

Figure 5 - PCEP route 1 retaking its old alignment, as it heads north beyond Lloydminster. Notice the local street here was formerly the major thoroughfare of the community, part of the PCEP route 1. Many houses on this road receive a high traffic noise rating, and have been abandoning. The re-alignment reassures re-occupation.

Figure 6 - To get you oriented, this is how the Port Credit en la Prairie side of Lloydminster looks. The north-south thoroughfare is PCEP route 1, while the east-west is PCEP route 2.

Figure 7 - However, the Bypass for PCEP route 1 was proven unsuccessful. A year after the road is open, no traffic is using the road at all.

Any suggestions how to encourage traffic to use the bypass?

Figure 8 - Keep in mind. A response is needed soon. The community currently suffers from a lack of jobs, because of the heavy traffic on the formal alignment of PCEP route 1 through town. What other methods, other than a new traffic by-pass and a rural highway, would you suggest to relieve this problem?

Figure 9 - To help you solve the PINK HIGHLIGHTED problems, this image above demonstrates the typical traffic condition on the highway. (Of course, there had been months when the traffic was higher, around 1,200 vehicles)

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That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

NEXT UP: Improving Lloydminster Infrastructure >>

THEN: Corridor Structures in the Region, with Updated Maps >>

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

The regional chair

[regionlong 3]

Today is March 5, G.Y. 2

Figure 1 - The whereabouts of Lloydminster in relation to the rest of the region.

Well, thank you counsellor ROFLyoshi who suggested the new developments for Lloydminster. As a result, actions have been taken:

1) A Central Business District (CBD) is being constructed near PCEP Routes 1 and 2.

2) A new connector road between the residential district and the new Lloydminster Ringway.

3) The Lloydminster branch rail connecting the community to the rest of the region.

This project, as suggested by ROFLyoshi, was known as the Lloydminster Economic Action Plan (LEAP).

Figure 2 - The new connector road between the residential district and the new Lloydminster Ringway began construction. Parts of the trees are logged, clearing a way for a muddy trail (for now).

Figure 3 - The connector road, unpaved, not opened to the public in this stage.

Figure 4 - The connector road was paved, and the median line was painted. The road was paved with bricks to comply with the rest of the neighbourhood's style.

Figure 4 - With the traffic expected, a set of traffic light was installed at the intersection of the connector road and the Lloydminster Ringway.

Figure 5 - A rural bus stop was added to service the connector road.

Figure 6 - Within less than a month after the connector road's opening, the usage of the road increased by 2800%. (The current traffic stats indicate over 300 vehicles use the road during the morning rush hours)

To solve the problem of commute time in Lloydminster as part of the LEAP project, other than building better connector links to major thoroughfares, a branch rail was also approved by the regional government to reach into the community.

Two train stations are proposed to be built (currently, only one is in service, the other is still under construction), one being namedLloydminster East, the other Lloydminster West. There will be 6 trains operating, 3 per rush hour session. At other times, residents of the locale will have to drive or take the regional bus to connect to the rest of the region.

Figure 7 - The branch rail construction began, in part of the LEAP. First, the area is logged, cleared of trees, then a muddy path has been set by the trucks to allow easy access of construction materials. The terrain is also raised, so that it is more difficult for wildlife to cross the heavily travelled corridor (both the PCEP route and the railway). The area is extremely wildlife sensitive.

This is also the reason why the railway and the PCEP route are placed together, to lessen the wildlife destruction over a bigger land mass.

The government does not promise an elevated rail and an elevated highway for free wildlife passing due to budget problems. However, we do promise that they will be upgraded to elevated travel corridors, once the usage warrants this condition.

Figure 8 - The muddy path of the proposed railtrack was constructed.

Figure 9 - The railroad was paved on the originally muddy path. 

Figure 10 - The finished product. Notice how the rail and the PCEP route 2 are placed side-by-side. The corridor of travel is significantly elevated, to prevent wildlife entry. This corridor will be elevated in the near future, with warrant of usage. Currently, 16 passenger trains and over 400 vehicles utilize the corridor. 

Currently, the government does NOT suggest the usage level before elevating it. 

As a counsellor, may you please provide the input... what usage level (passenger train and vehicles - vehicles is the sum of all cars, buses, trucks, etc) should be reached before elevating the rail and the PCEP corridor?

The rail spans along the PCEP corridor, and finally reaches Lloydminster East station (Lloydminster East is located on the more prosperous side of the Llodyminster community). The station was built in an old-fashioned European style, as follows:

Figure 11 - The Lloydminster East rail station. It is able to handle 10,000 passengers per day. However, the current usage is only 130 passengers. We have encouraged usage by including a new bus stop connecting the rail station to the rest of the community. How else can we encourage ridership?

Notice how we also took ROFLyoshi's advice, building the CBD near the intersection of PCEP routes 1 and 2. The intersection is also where the train station is located. About 200 - 300 commercial jobs are located around here.

A drop-off loop is also constructed for kiss n'ride (carpooling), for those who are using the rail station.

A mezzanine is also constructed (though it does not show up quite as well in this image) behind the train station. This is done so to encourage more pedestrian walking towards the train station, rather than driving. The mezzanine is surrounded by various shops.

Figure 12 - And finally, signages showing how to get to the new CBD is placed on PCEP route 1 to guide thru traffic into the downtown core. These signages are newly placed as part of the LEAP project. The PCEP route 1 signage is old, and was there since the Lloydminster Ringway was constructed.

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That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

NEXT UP: Corridor Structures in the Region, with Updated Maps >>

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

The regional chair

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IMPORTANT NOTICE!! 

It has come to our attention that the images from Updates 1 - 7, which were hosted on Photobucket, were invalid because of bandwidth issue (I think I only get 10 GB a month, and apparently it's all done)... So, I'm now switching to use ImageShack, and the images in Updates 8 and on should be fine...

The rest of the image will be reinstated by March 12, as that's when Photobucket will reset the measure meter.

[regionlong 3]

Today is March 11, G.Y. 2.

As promised long ago, we would thoroughly investigate the structures of the development corridors. Refer to our section 1 for the corridor details. These corridors are designated locations where developments are permitted to occur. Throughout these corridors, natural growth and smart growth occurs.

Where two corridors meet, there forms an anchor city. This anchor city will be the spotlight of development. Most of the concentrated commercial and industrial activities will be in the anchor city. Anchor cities are shown in bold in the list of municipalities, or illustrated with a red dot on the maps.

Figure 1 - Current regional view, also showing the unexplored lands north of the Dawson River corridor.

FIRST PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT - Hurontario Corridor

The highlighted (area inside the white box) is part of the Hurontario Corridor of development. This corridor is rated as first priority, and therefore, most development in the next few decades will be concentrated here.

This corridor has been thoroughly discussed in our Meeting Numbers #3 - #6.

Member Municipalities: Outlying Islands / Tsang-Mo-Um-Sha (Pop. 368), Watersauga (Pop. 227,395), Rexdale (Pop. 7,282), Commercium Bay (Pop. 664), MacKenzie Ridges (Pop. 0), Carrville (Pop. 181), Elgin Mills (Pop. 49,148).

Total Population: 285,038 (ranked 2nd in region, 45.84% of total regional population)

Transportation: Highway 10 (Hurontario Avenue), Highway 92 (Crosstown Expressway), Highway 10A (Watersauga Ringway), Highway 11 (Angus Glen North-South Link), ~5 Rapid Transit lines in Watersauga, 2 Railway links (north-south, and east-west), proposed rapid transit line in Elgin Mills

Natural Features: The MacKenzie Moraine - Limited developments allowed.

The Dawson River Nature Refuge Area - No developments allowed.

Outlying Islands Regional Park - Limited developments allowed.

Major Industries: Commercial Developments (Watersauga / Elgin Mills), Agricultural, Dirty Industry (Rexdale), Manufacturing Industry (Commercium Bay), Tourism (Outlying Islands)

SECOND PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT - Dawson River Valley

The highlighted (area inside the white box) is part of the Dawson River Valley of development. This corridor is rated as second priority, and therefore, most development in the next few decades will also be concentrated here.

This corridor is scheduled to be discussed thoroughly in the upcoming entries.

Member Municipalities: Aylmer (Pop. 3,689), Stittsville (Pop. 203), Ottawa - Gatineau (Pop. 127,903), Kingston (Pop. 33,019), Elgin Mills (Pop. 49,148), Nobleton (Pop. 598), King City (Pop. 38,684)

Observant Municipality*: Chelsea (Pop. 2,023)

Total Population: 253,244 (ranked 3rd in region, 40.73% of total regional population)

Transportation: Highway 1 (Dawson River Expressway), Highway 510 (Nepean Expressway), Highway 10 (Hurontario Avenue), Highway 12 (Trafalgar Corridor Expressway), ~2 Rapid Transit lines in Ottawa, 4 Railway links (north-south, and east-west), proposed rapid transit line in Elgin Mills

Natural Features:

The Dawson River Valley - Must alott at least 25% of greenspace in developments.

King City Highlands - Limited developments allowed (though legislation is currently being made, changing this to alotting 50% of greenspace in developments. Is this a good choice?)

Major Industries: Commercial Developments (Elgin Mills), Agricultural, Manufacturing Industry (King City / Ottawa), Government Centre (Ottawa - Gatineau)

* Not officially part of the planning corridor, but is considered as part by some non-official, third-parties.

THIRD PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT - Prairies

The highlighted (area inside the white box) is part of the Prairies of development. This corridor is rated as third priority. Currently, active, major housing project is being constructed along the corridor, which will be covered in future entries.

This corridor is scheduled to be discussed thoroughly in the upcoming entries.

Member Municipalities: Ottawa - Gatineau (Pop. 127,903), Nepean (Pop. 1,553), Perth (Pop. 2,075), Winston Churchill (Pop. 667), Port Credit en la Prairie (Pop. 11,916), Port Credit (Pop. 41,266), Credit Bay (Pop. 1,718), Port Credit South (Pop. 13,608)

Observant Municipalities*: Lloydminster (Pop. 614), Stittsville (Pop. 203)

Total Population: 200,706 (ranked 4th in region, 32.28% of total regional population)

Transportation: Highway 510 (Nepean Expressway), Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), ~2 Rapid Transit lines in Ottawa, 1 Rapid Transit line in Port Credit, Port Credit en la Prairie, and Port Credit South, 2 Railway links (north-south, and east-west)

Natural Features:

Winston Churchill Regional Park - No developments allowed.

Major Industries: Agricultural, Manufacturing Industry (Port Credit / Ottawa)

* Not officially part of the planning corridor, but is considered as part by some non-official, third-parties.

FOURTH PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT - Queen Elizabeth

The highlighted (area inside the white box) is part of the Queen Elizabeth of development. This corridor is rated as fourth priority. Queen Elizabeth corridor was under a major development of housing, doubling its population in the last 20 years. The development has currently been somewhat slowing down, as the focus is shifted towards the other corridors, like the Dawson Valley.

This corridor is scheduled to be discussed thoroughly in the upcoming entries.

Member Municipalities: Dixie South (Pop. 3,508), Port Credit (Pop. 41,266), Richmond Hill (Pop. 6,250), Angus Glen (Pop. 21,731), Watersauga (Pop. 227,395), Breakwater (Pop. 203), Land Link (Pop. 509), Randolph - Rebecca (Pop. 22,207), Trafalgar Village (Pop. 957)

Observant Municipalities*: Caroline Mountains (Pop. 460)

Total Population: 324,026 (ranked 1st in region, 52.11% of total regional population)

Transportation: Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), 1 Rapid Transit line in Port Credit, ~ 5 Rapid Transit line in Watersauga, 1 duo-track railway link, Highway 511 (Angus Glen North-South Link), Highway 510 (Prairies Expressway)

Natural Features:

Mackenzie Moraine - Limited developments allowed.

Major Industries: Agricultural, Manufacturing Industry, Commercial (Watersauga)

* Not officially part of the planning corridor, but is considered as part by some non-official, third-parties.

FIFTH PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT - Trafalgar

The highlighted (area inside the white box) is part of the Trafalgar of development. This corridor is rated as fifth priority. It is the least developed corridor out of all corridors.

This corridor is scheduled to be discussed thoroughly in the upcoming entries.

Member Municipalities: Randolph - Rebecca (Pop. 22,207), Northeast Macky (Pop. 644), Trafalgar North (Pop. 284), King City (Pop. 38,684)

Observant Municipalities*: Hokoe (Pop. 460)

Total Population: 61,819 (ranked 5th in region, 9.94% of total regional population)

Transportation: Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), Highway 12 (Trafalgar Corridor Road), 2 railway links (north-south, east-west), proposed rapid transit in Randolph - Rebecca

Natural Features:

Trafalgar Moraine - Limited developments allowed.

Dawson River Valley Nature Refuge - No developments allowed.

King City Highlands Reserve - Limited developments allowed.

Major Industries: Agricultural, Manufacturing Industry

* Not officially part of the planning corridor, but is considered as part by some non-official, third-parties.

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That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

NEXT UP: Transportation Structures in the Region, with Updated Maps >>

THEN: Second Priority Corridor >>

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

The regional chair

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

[Renedius 25]

great job

[regionlong 3]

Today is March 14, G.Y. 2

This is a prepatory session to the major urban expansion project, which will be thoroughly discussed in our next entry.

Figure 1 -  Area of focus is in the white box. The United Town of Randolph - Rebecca is shown in relation to the rest of the region and the largest City of the region, Old Watersauga.

The United Town of Randolph-Rebecca is a united town in the City of Watersauga. With a population of 25,000, the town is one of the top 10 municipalities in the region. The town was made up by three separate towns, Randolph, Rebecca, and Trafalgar. The towns amalgamated some 16 years ago. The name Trafalgar does not appear in the united town name, as Trafalgar was considered negligible in terms of population. You will soon discover, however, that the impact of Trafalgar does not stop there.

Figure 2 - The demographic make-up of the united town. Notice that the town is heavily concentrated in industrial, especially in manufacturing. Its manufacturing jobs attract workers from as far as Old Watersauga.

Figure 3 - A satellite view (zoomed to level 1) of the entire United Town of Randolph - Rebecca. North of the river is the former Town of Randolph. South of that is the former Town of Rebecca. The settlement to the far east is the former Township of Trafalgar.

The town's strategic location at the mouth of the King City River and the Pacific Ocean gave an initial boost to the town's manufacturing industry.

If you had noticed in our previous entries, the town is part of the Trafalgar Corridor, the least developed one. The focus of this meeting is to further develop this corridor.

We have deduced several ways, BUT can you suggest which one is the best? And also, please provide some extra solutions as well!

Before we start, we thought it would be beneficial to take a look at the current standings of the town.

Throughout the amalgamation process, instead of having two separate downtowns, the commercial focus has been gradually shifting towards Downtown Rebecca. Businesses have migrated from Randolph side of town to Rebecca, as encouraged by the government.

Figure 4 - Main Street Rebecca. The street was originally two lanes wide, eventually widening to an avenue to accomodate more businesses. This was used to be where all the businesses are located in Rebecca. However, businesses are gradually shifting one block east, as the train station for the town is located there. (See next image)

Figure 5 - Downtown Rebecca. This is where the train station, most of the businesses, and the town hall are located. Also seen in the picutre (top right corner) is the University of Watersauga (Rebecca campus).

Figure 6 - Main Street Randolph. After most of the businesses have been moved to the other side of the river, the only that's left on the main street is some minor roadside stores. The vacant spaces left behind by the other commercial activities are replaced by residential housings.

An electronic toll booth is placed to discourage traffic to overuse the corridor. They are encouraged to use the Rebecca - Hokoe Highway.

Figure 7 - Downtown Trafalgar. Trafalgar was the smallest out of all three when merged together with Randolph and Rebecca. However, the town serves an important function: It's the turning point of the Trafalgar Corridor (from east-west to north-south). Note that the Trafalgar Corridor is a contour directed one.

Figure 8 - When the three towns are merged, this was the town's initial housing plan. Houses were built in a linear pattern along the Trafalgar Link to maintain unity in the town. This was to ensure a continual urban area between Randolph, Rebecca, and Trafalgar. This was the first sign of the Trafalgar Corridor developing.

----

The Trafalgar Corridor is actually made of TWO (2) sub-corridors. One that links between Randolph - Rebecca to King City, the other links Randolph-Rebecca to Hokoe.

RANDOLPH - REBECCA <> KING CITY

Figure 9 - Highway 12 (Trafalgar Highway). Along with the railway, this is the backbone of the Trafalgar Corridor. It is really underdeveloped.

Figure 10 - Highway 12 crossing the Trafalgar Fjord. This area is extremely ecologically sensitive, yet as you will discover in the following images, that this area is scheduled for major urban expansion. Is this a right choice? Are there any other ways to maintain corridor integrity?

Note that this was what put off the corridor development for so long, and therefore, the corridor is extremely undeveloped.

Figure 11 - Highway 12 running alongside the Trafalgar Fjord. Notice it's heavy usage for a street. The highway is really underserviced.

(Note: The street was built prior to the introduction of RHW, or Rural Highways)

Figure 12 - The community of Trafalgar Fjord. Notice the classic traffic light in the locale. The locale has not been developing in at least thirty years.

RANDOLPH - REBECCA <> HOKOE

Though the one of the shortest corridor in terms of distance, the area receives much traffic with commuters.

Figure 13 - The Hokoe - Randolph Corridor. Notice the urban sprawl of the housings along the corridor. The corridor is heavily used by about 2,000 vehicles daily. A highway by-pass (shown to your lower right) is currently constructing to divert the traffic.

Figure 14 - The Randolph - Hokoe Woodland is served to be a natural refuge for the wildlife, as well as preventing the overuse of land by agricultural farmlands. Keeping a little "nature" within the agricultural land use.

Your "Homework":

1) What are ways, beside urban expansions to maintain corridor integrity?

2) The corridor is very underdeveloped right now. Do you suggest to just abandon the plan of developing the corridor? Or should we focus more on this corridor to put it back up to standards?

3) All the pink highlighted questions / considerations.

Thanks for considering all of these questions. Your answers will help out thousands of residents in the Town of Randolph - Rebecca.

PLEASE attend the next meeting. The next meeting is crucial. It will be about one of the biggest urban expansions in history of the region.

WARNING!! You are into a big, and ambitious urban expansion plan! Your help is needed! Please be attentive throughout the meeting!

Since we are anti-urban sprawl, this urban expansion plan is a rare opportunity (it only happens once in a few hundred years) !! We want to "fit" as many people as we can in the urban expansion, and of course, keeping smart growth in mind.

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That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

I know I am jumping around between topics, but for your general idea of where are we going next:

NEXT UP: Urbanizing Randolph - Rebecca >>

THEN: Traffic Problem in Rexdale >>

AND THEN: Queen Elizabeth Corridor >>

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

The regional chair

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

Constructional comments are appreciated!

[regionlong 3]

Today is March 16, G.Y. 2

WARNING!! You are into a big, and ambitious urban expansion plan! Your help is needed! Please be attentive throughout the meeting!

Since we are anti-urban sprawl, this urban expansion plan is a rare opportunity (it only happens once in a few hundred years) !! We want to "fit" as many people as we can in the urban expansion, and of course, keeping smart growth in mind.

Figure 1 - Area of focus, in the United Town of Randolph - Rebecca.

Recall from the last meeting. Randolph-Rebecca is a highly industrialized town, mostly dominated by manufacturing industries. There are currently 18,000 empty jobs in the town, attracting from workers far and wide, from as far as Old Watersauga to come here and work.

As a result, commute time is a great issue in Randolph - Rebecca. This is mainly due to the large area that the town spreads upon.

Figure 2 - The commute time trend in the town. Due to the extension of the Rebecca - Hokoe Expressway, the commute time has decreased from 70 minutes from a year ago to the current 56 MINUTES (compared to 110 minutes 10 years ago).

The Trafalgar Corridor (as seen in our last entry), is extremely underdeveloped. It's the ONLY corridor without a freeway or an expressway stretching through it. As a result, we have deduced an ambitious plan.

Figure 3 - The master plan for the United Town of Randolph - Rebecca. The bolded, solid red line indicate an existing expressway (the north-south one is named Rebecca - Hokoe, the east-west one is named Rebecca By-Pass, but will soon re-name to be the Trafalgar Corridor Expressway). The dotted red line indicate the proposed, future extension of the expressways. The area circled in yellow are our first phase of development, which will be thoroughly discussed below. These areas passed the environmental assessment (EA). The area shaded in yellow are our second phase of development, which are accompanied with the extension of the expressways.

The decision is, however, both proposed extensions stretch into naturally reserved lands (i.e. The Trafalgar Fjord area). An extension is warranted, but we do need to figure this out... Should we either build an elevated expressway, or, divert the expressway, or lower the class of the expressway (i.e. build a road instead of an expressway), or cancel the extension?

But keep in mind, by cancelling the extension, some of the development plans along the proposed highway corridor might be cancelled, which defeats our original goal: Consolidating the Trafalgar Corridor.

For now, we will just discuss the first phase of development.

However, feel free to discuss the possible types of zoning and urban designing concept of the second phase of development along the proposed extension of the freeway.

Proposed Development Area #1

Figure 4 - Proposed Development Area #1. Situated near the Trafalgar River and the Rebecca - Hokoe Expressway, the area is prime when it comes to view and convenience in terms of traffic.

The area is proposed to be either medium density residential or high density industrial. As a city counsellor, we hope you can help out in making this decision.

The pros of medium density residential is of its convenient location and its view. However, the cons would be that it is so close to the industrial area (almost immediately south of it), that the industrial area may bring pollution and freight truck traffic to the locale.

The pros of high density industrial is also of its convenient location and providing jobs. The cons would be bringing pollution to the other side of the highway, to the medium to high wealth residential area.

You may voice other opinions of zonings if you desire to.

Proposed Development Zone #2

This area is the biggest development zone, and is shown as the largest yellow circle on the overview map.

Figure 5 - This is the second development zone. It is located east of the current alignment of the Rebecca - Hokoe Link. Its big area lead to concerns of ecology and the impact to the environment due to the urban sprawling.

The council has accordingly proposed to zone low density industrial (agricultural), or low density residential, or medium density industrial.

However, for the residential development and medium density industrial to develop here, according to legislation, since this is a semi-protected area, 50 - 75% of the land must be retained as greenspace, or untouched land.

So, the thing is, even if the land is developed into residential or med. density industrial, much of the land is unused, affecting the efficiency of the land.  As well, since the area is so big, the zoned areas might not all be occupied due to over-supplying.

Proposed Development Zone #3

This development zone was proposed for ages. During the past 7 years, the area is under debate of which zone type should this piece of land occupy.

The housing to the left of the image below was actually some of the housing that was built recently. It was originally part of this development zone #3.

Figure 6 - Proposed development zone #3. There are really no special features of the site, except for its view of the Trafalgar River.

There are currently no developments across the river, but that will change within the next century, as the area is marked as the second phase development area of the Trafalgar Highway Extension.

There are four choices of land types for the locale: low density residential, medium density residential, agricultural, or parkland.

The main concern for agricultural is that the pollution generated by pesticides may affect the beauty of the river, just south of the site.

If the area is used as parkland, it might be considered as a waste of land by some (as this location is not in protected lands, and there is no legislation suggesting how much land should be kept natural), or it might be considered as eco-friendly by others.

Keep in mind this debate went on for many years already.

Remember reviewing our last entry (the tour of the town) may help with your decisions.

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

That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

I know I am jumping around between topics, but for your general idea of where are we going next:

NEXT UP: Portås do Cerco / Furontia Kur? Zudoeria >>

THEN: Traffic Problem in Rexdale >>

AND THEN: Queen Elizabeth Corridor >>

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

The regional chair

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

Constructional comments are appreciated!

[regionlong 3]

Today is March 19, G.Y. 2

This is another prepatory / touring session. Today we will discuss the issues with the Frontier Closed Area (FCA). There are currently two separate 

Some background information on what is a Frontier Closed Area (FCA):

FCA is an idea originated from Hong Kong. The following gives a complete description of the FCA and its function...

The Frontier Closed Area (FCA) (Traditional Chinese: ????; Japanese: ??????????????; Japanese Romanization: Furontia Kur? Zudoeria;Portugese: Portas do Cerco ) is a protected area in Watersauga along its border with its next door Japanese and Portugese colony. It was gazetted and established in June 51 BCGY, and expanded to its current limit in 42 BCGY. Ordinary people who are not residents within the area cannot enter the area, except with a permit or when they are going to cross the border.

It was set up to halt incoming of illegal immigrants from the Japanese and Portugese colonies, and to restrict illegal activities. It freezes development within the area. Due to the lack of human activities in the area, the FCA became a natural habitat for Hong Kong's animals and plants.

For those who are neither residents within the Closed Area, nor crossing the border, a Closed Area Permit is required. Applications for a Closed Area Permit outside the Closed Area are available at the Police Stations outside various border crossings.

Figure 1 - An example signage marking the Frontier Closed Area (FCA).

(Text adapted from Wikipedia, and was changed)

Furontia Kur? Zudoeria (FCA East)

Figure 2 - This is the FCA (Frontier Closed Area) with the nearby Japanese Colony, Region of Cosmo. As a result, this FCA is named in Japanese, namely Furontia Kur? Zudoeria, or in Japanese characters ??????????????. The Chinese translation for this area is simply ????.

The area between the white line and the region's boundary are frozen for developments, and heavily armed to avoid illegal crime and illegal immigrants crossing the border. It is served as a buffer zone.

As a result, the border crossing stations are located on this white line. Though passing the white line, it is still legally Watersauga's claimed land.

Figure 3 - The Trafalgar Link Highway (Originated from Rebecca City Centre) at the border crossing in Furontia Kur? Zudoeria. The border crossing operates 24 hours. The corridor is heavily used by freight trucks and tourists. It is the ONLY 24 hour border crossing to the Region of Cosmo. Notice the FCA is fenced off with trees and a fence. There is also a mountain trail stretching from the border crossing. It is a patroling trail used by police.

At the border crossing, there is an information centre where tourists may obtain travel information. There are also duty free shops inside the FCA zone. A police station is located there as well for patrolling purposes. The houses are given residences for the custom employees. 

Figure 4 - The mountain trail along the boundary of the FCA. It is used for patrolling purposes by the police to spot any illegal immigrants or illegal crimes along the boundary with the Region of Cosmo.

Figure 5 - The fence bordering the FCA stretches into the wild wilderness just north of the Town of Randolph - Rebecca.

Figure 6 - In the same FCA zone, about 30 minutes drive north of the border crossing mentioned above, there is another border crossing booth at a concession road. The border crossing station opens for 18 hours daily, between 0600 to 2400 everyday. 

The border crossing is used by freight trucks only. There is also a police station at this border crossing for patrolling purposes.

Portas do Circo (FCA West)

Portas do Circo is translated to as ?? in Chinese. It is the Frontier Closed Area (FCA) with the next door Portugese colony. It serves the same function as FCA East. 

Figure 7 - The FCA boundary is zoned by the white line to the border of the region. The FCA is planned to extend northwards as there are no protection fences and border crossing north of this FCA currently. This will occur in the near future.

Figure 8 - A concession road discontinuing upon reaching to the FCA. The contrasting land use helps to identify the location of the FCA. The area outside of the FCA is reasonably developed with farmland and agricultural uses. The FCA is fenced off by trees and fences, and is undeveloped, with miles and miles of woodland.

Figure 9 - The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) reaching to the only border crossing station towards the Portugese colony west of Watersauga. The Queen Elizabeth Way, upon crossing the border crossing station, becomes named as Praca dos Portas do Cerco. It opens for 24 hours. The corridor is also heavily utilized. 

The border crossing station is equipped with a police booth and a tourist information centre. Notice the FCA is fenced off from the agricultural lands from the rest of the town.

Figure 10 - Another view of the border crossing station. Praca dos Portas do Cerco connects to the nearby Portugese colony. Notice the wide broadwalk for those no duty shops along the Praca. The houses are zoned for employees working in these no duty shops and the custom department. 

Notice how the FCA is fenced off on land, and separated by an overwater power line as a marker. 

No unauthorized person is allowed to enter the FCA without a Closed Area permit. Residents in the FCA is the only exception. Others must first apply for a closed area permit, or cross the border first with a passport and/or valid documents.

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That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

I know I am jumping around between topics, but for your general idea of where are we going next:

NEXT UP: Traffic Problem in Rexdale >>

AND THEN: Queen Elizabeth Corridor >>

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The regional chair

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Constructional comments are appreciated!

[Benedict 3,119]

Great to see your latest updates - love the QE border post shots!

[regionlong 3]

Today is May 20, G.Y. 2.

We apologize in advance that we have paused our updates without any prior notifications. The new patch of Mac OS 10.6.3 currently has glitches with SimCity 4. All Mac users using Mac OS 10.6.3 are currently experiencing texture problems, which gives us difficulty to update. Sorry!

Anyhow, counsellors, today we shall discuss the long-due topic of the ongoing traffic problem in the Town of Rexdale.

Figure 1 - Rexale's location in relation to the Greater Watersauga Area.

The Town of Rexdale, despite its population of 7,000, is not a small town after all in terms of its traffic problem. Rexdale is known as the fulcrum of transportation, featuring over 30,000 industrial jobs and 5,000 commercial jobs, and a neighbour to a town of 1,000 people with about 50,000 industrial jobs, and a city of 240,000 with near 100,000 commercial jobs, the town is frequently used as a by-pass corridor from any other in-town routes for commuting purposes.

As a result, with a population size of 7,000, we have introduced three expressways, one elevated rail line (from the City of Old Watersauga), one ground rail line (GLR), and several more rural highways in rural areas.

Figure 2 - Road corridors within the town. The highway from the Town of Angus Glen reaching into Rexdale is quite congested, accounting for 25,000 cars during rush hours, and over 8,000 buses.

Figure 3 - Not just highways, avenues, roads, and streets, are also congested.

Any solutions? Should we build a bypass through the wilderness for thru traffic? We have done that several decades ago, and now, as the land develops, the by-pass is no longer rural, and becomes rather congested.

To further assist you with your analysis, our analysts generated a general trend of traffic.

Figure 4 - Using assistance, we can see most commuters use Rexdale as a commuting corridor. While some actually works in Rexdale, many just drives through Rexdale into the nearby industrial town, Commercium Bay South.  Over 18,000 cars come from Angus Glen and more from Watersauga. They use our freeway corridors to access Commercium Bay South. Some leaves the corridor and work in the industrial area of the town.

For your information, the southern neighbors of the town include Angus Glen (Pop. 29,000) and Watersauga (Pop. 247,000). Many of the residents there commute to Rexdale and Rexdale's eastern neighbour, Commercium Bay South.

We'll leave it to you at that to figure out a solution to solve the problem.

CONCERNS THOUGH!

1) In our region's policy, it is best to avoid to traverse through ecologically sensitive area, and that is areas to the north, where the moraine is located.

2) A corridor stretching too far may discourage users to utilize the new corridor.

3) Extensive mass transit may be considered, but note that Rexdale has limited fund.

4) Toll routes (Electronic ones) has been attempted, though it does not work that well.

Scenes during rush hours

Figure 5 - An in-town avenue with 27,333 cars. Most of these cars commute to an industrial location within town (not Commercium Bay)

Figure 6 - During rush hours, the usgae of the corridor.

Figure 7 - An in-town route, with 26,653 cars, and the route is heavily used to reach the Commericium Bay By-Pass Corridor.

Figure 8 - The industrial corridor with 25,070 cars and 5,638 buses, connecting to Commercium Bay.

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That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

I know I am jumping around between topics, but for your general idea of where are we going next:

NEXT UP: Urban Expansion in Action >>

AND THEN: Queen Elizabeth Corridor >>

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

The regional chair

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

We are now online! Check out http://gravenhurst.wikia.com

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Constructional comments are appreciated! (And for the two people who rated the journal with 1 out of 5, please specify the reason)

[regionlong 3]

Today is May 22, G.Y. 2

Thanks for attending the meeting, despite today being a Saturday.

Thanks for Counsellor _marsh_'s opinions, a new highway by-pass has been constructed in Rexdale, by-passing the town centre. The traffic problem was slightly relieved. It was absolutely necessary, though the environmental activists complained that it cost a lot of 1) money, and 2) damage to the environment. The highway corridor traverses the ecologically sesnitive highlands. It required a lot of terraforming and traversing through woodlands. We have re-instated some of these woodlands, as promised to the environmental activists. However, they see this as an opportunity for the government to promote urban sprawl.

Constructions were also noted as particularly difficult due to the steep landscape of the town on the rise of the highlands.

Figure 1 - Our area of focus: The Town of Rexdale. The new highway corridor created a "scar" in the farmlands, and thus is extremely visible in the satellite imagery.

The New Highway Corridor

Figure 2 - As aforementioned, the new corridor traversed through the farmlands of Rexdale.

Figure 3 - However, the new highway corridor had amazing results. Within 6 months of opening, the highway is carrying 17,756 cars and 8,200 buses. The section of the highway shown here is near the community of Rexdale West. 

Figure 4 - Another section of the highway by-pass traversing through parts of the industrial park in Rexdale. (Due to screenshot glitches, I didn't capture the traffic stats properly). However, as I recalled, over 23,000 cars and 9,000 buses travel through the corridor, not to mention about 200 freight trucks.

The new highway by-pass surely helped diverted traffic. Look at 

The Old Highway Corridor

Figure 5 - The old highway corridor. This highway corridor was formerly jammed by near 30,000 cars plus 9,000 buses. Now with the diversion provided with the new by-pass has relieved this corridor, down to 18,950 buses and 1,134 cars.

Before

After

Figure 6 - More usage stats of the old corridor. The corridor is still very popular (or become even more popular) for buses, while cars tend to use the new corridor.

Let's do some Before and After analysis here of some in-town routes, and evaluate the usefulness and efficiency of the new corridor.

Before

After

     

Figure 7 - Before and after of an in-town route. Though the number of buses slightly increased, the number of cars greatly decreased from 26,653 to 430. That's a drop of a whopping 98.3%!! 

More before and after analysis.

Before

After

Figure 8 - The number of cars using this in-town avenue drastically decreased from 27,333 cars to 1,078 cars. That's a drop of a whopping96.1%!! 

Figure 9 - Even with the new highway corridor, there are still congested sections from place to place. This is best represented near major intersections, and curves on the highway.

Figure 10 - The general flow of traffic in town. The two corridors are still noted with capacity over 300% in places. The in-town routes that was previously congested has now reduced to 40% of capacity.

Did you think the new highway by-pass worked efficiently? Or do you have another suggestion in mind? (We're still open to more suggestions to solve the problem. Every day in the two commutes, there are at least 80,000 cars and buses, if not more, flowing through this town of 7,000 people.)

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That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

I know I am jumping around between topics, but for your general idea of where are we going next:

NEXT UP: Urban Expansion in Action >>

AND THEN: Queen Elizabeth Corridor >>

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

The regional chair

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

We are now online! (Along with other regions) Check out http://gravenhurst.wikia.com

Currently, Watersauga only has 2 articles out of the 133 articles. The other articles are about another region.

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Constructional comments are appreciated!

[regionlong 3]

Today is May 31, G.Y.2

This is not a full-scale meeting, but rather a help session. Our region's engineers are currently having troubles making the RHW in Port Credit en Prairie, a town on a steep moraine. 

The RHW would not cope with the sloping nature of the hills, but rather, flatten the land, creating an ugly dent in the landscape.

The RHW is now completed, but it left a scar for the city.

We need your help to fix that. Any councillors, with SimEngineering background, have any ideas?

Here are some pictures for your reference:

Figure 1. The completed RHW leaving a dented scar through the city's landscape. Also, it creates a giant risen bump near the connection to the neighbour city with a decrease of altitude.

Figure 2. The RHW refuse to climb slight slopes (whereas a road, an avenue can), but rather continuously flattening out land.

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Please help us out with the problem, as this is my first time using a RHW.

[regionlong 3]

Today is June 6, G.Y. 2

Earlier, recall from Meeting #12, we introduced a series of plan in expanding the urban area of the United Town of Randolph-Rebecca (pop. 25,000). Just to keep you up to date, the urban expansion has already begun, and in some parts, completed.

Figure 1 - Our area of focus in the region, in relation to the city seat of Old Watersauga.

Recall the following image.

Figure 2 - Development Zone #3. Many counsellors back in Meeting #12 voted in favour for this zone to develop into a medium residential community. This was then put in first priority, and is now developed, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3 - The community began developing several months (back in April), and this is a shot of the community while the community was in construction status.

There was a condo constructing in the area, as shown in the image.

A canal park was also built to beautify the community.

Figure 4 - A night shot of the completed community in Development Zone 3 in May G.Y. 2. The community incorporatedSMART GROWTH TECHNOLOGY, and was entirely zoned in medium density residential. The community also features some commercial developments. The community also fully encourages pedestrian and public transit usage.

Now we have also done a lot to stimulate growth in this stagnate town, including the construction of a new highway (was specially built on the city's 100th birthday), redesign highways, and a new rail line.

Keep in mind the following:

We've been trying to improve the urban designs of the town, but unfortunately Randolph-Rebecca is one of the oldest districts in the City of Greater Watersauga, and it is entirely based on SimCity 3000, where my urban planning skills were poor.

Randolph-Rebecca has been voted (at least in the old town district) the town with the worst urban planning.

But all of these is slowly changing with the new infrastructure designs...

Part I : Extension of the Randolph - Rebecca By-Pass

Figure 5 - The terminus of the Randolph - Rebecca By-Pass before the extension of the highway.

Figure 6 - Planned overpass of the highway. The highway here is seen to be laid out with a dirt path through an agricultural part of town.

Figure 7 - A completed overpass of another part of the highway.

Figure 8 - A planned rail overpass across the highway, not yet completed.

Figure 9 - The highway extension approaching its proposed endpoint (The Trafalgar Link).

** Note: The final product of the highway result in use of just under 1,000 vehicles per commute. The images of that will be released in the next meeting.

Part II: Re-Designing the Highway Intersection

The Intersection of the Queen Elizabeth Way and the Randolph-Rebecca By-Pass is known as the worst intersection (not in terms of traffic, but design-wise) in the region. The intersection features many roads joining together in one junction, and choosing the wrong one can lead to a very different place than desired.

Therefore, as part of our expansion plan, the intersection was re-designed. It was also to provide better traffic access from distant communities such as Ivory Coast and Trafalgar Village.

Figure 10 - Before: The rural highway separates the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and the Randolph-Rebecca By-Pass. For QEW users, they have to exit here to the rural highway. If they do not exit, they'll end up on the Randolph-Rebecca By-Pass without knowing.

This often causes many confusion to motorists.

Figure 11 - The intersection was then redesigned (somewhat). QEW users may continue straight on the expressway, while motorists using the Randolph - Rebecca By-Pass must use the interchange to exit from the QEW. This is believed to reduce confusion. 

Part III - Upgrade of the Trafalgar Corridor Highway

The Trafalgar Corridor Highway was also upgraded.

Recall this image:

Figure 12 - The rural road (the north-south one) shown here is the Trafalgar Rural Highway. It has a high traffic load, and therefore poses significant danger to motorists.

This highway is now paved into a RealHighway (RHW). Though at this point, the town's outreach office has not e-mailed us any pictures yet.However, FIGURE 9 is an example of this upgrade.

Part IV - New Rail Line

In effort to reduce congestion on the main north-south railline of the city, connecting between Hokoe and Trafalgar Village via the town, another railline was constructed from Hokoe to the town centre in effort to relieve construction, and to encourage growth in Development Zone #2.

Recall this image:

Figure 13 - A railline was constructed through Development Zone #2. Despite the objection of environmentalists, as the new rail line brings pollution, noise, and damages the environment through the locale, the government still proceeded anyways. Do you think this is a good idea? (Pros: Relieve congestion and traffic in other areas; Cons: Encourage human populaton in the area, and brings pollution).

Figure 14 - Parts of the railine traversing through Development Zone #2. The overpass shown in FIGURE 8 is part of this railine.

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That is it for the meeting. Please be on time for our next meeting. You can do that by SUBSCRIBING the journal.

I know I am jumping around between topics, but for your general idea of where are we going next:

NEXT UP: Queen Elizabeth Corridor >>

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

The regional chair

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

We are now online! (Along with other regions of mine) Check out http://gravenhurst.wikia.com

Currently, Watersauga only has 2 articles out of the 133 articles. The other articles are about another region.

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

This update is the utter last one in our storehouse of images. Currently, Mac OS 10.6.3 is causing graphics to NOT APPEAR PROPERLY, and therefore, we cannot use those to update. However, we expect that Apple is releasing 10.6.4 solving this problem tomorrow. So don't worry, updates should KEEP ON COMING.

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Constructional comments are appreciated!

[regionlong 3]

June 2010 : Region Overview - Update

.

Fig 1. Overview of the region as of mid-June, 2010. (G.Y. 2)

In June 2010, the population reached 724,143. This image is not the full regional view, but gives a general idea of the entire region. The growth in population mainly originates from Ottawa - Gatineau (with population jumping from 120,000 to near 170,000). Our territories also extended north of Ottawa - Gatineau, and also to the east of King City.