New Argentum: A Couple Couplets, Part 1

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Entry posted by Tarkus · June 10, 2013

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Hi everyone-

Well, I'm back with the first "post-doctoral" update. We'll be getting a close up on the New Argentum this time around. Appropriately enough, today also happens to be the birthday of one especially loyal Tarkusian reader from the SC4D edition, our Amsterdammer friend sebes, who created the "drunk engineer" term to refer to the quacks who built the original Caldera Lane/Barnaby Drive interchange in Old Argentum. For those who don't remember it:

Yeah. That wasn't pretty. Fortunately, New Argentum's hiring practices tend to be much better at screening out the intoxicated candidates, so the illustrious J. Ron Error, former Capital Projects Engineer for the City of Argentum and the original "drunk engineer", won't be back to stick another "masterpiece" like that in there.

First off, here's a map of the central city tile of New Argentum. The "dashed line" bits are involved in the first construction project we'll examine. You'll notice some familiar road names from Old Argentum on here, including a few "honorees" from earlier in Tarkusian Cities. (Click to view larger)

Now, I'm going to show an image of something I've never shown before--how I actually start off a town (facing east). Usually, I lay out a small downtown-ish area and build out basic arterial roadways from it.

Here it is at a later stage in development, more or less filled in (facing east).

This is the intersection of Caldera Drive and Argentum Boulevard (facing north). As you can imagine, this is a major intersection that basically serves as the "gateway" into central New Argentum from the south.

This is where Argentum Boulevard intersects Isthmus Avenue, a major east-west route (facing north). It's clearly quite congested.

Same vicinity, a little farther north (facing north).

A farther out view of the Argentum/Caldera intersection (facing north).

This is along Caldera Drive as it heads diagonally along the shores of Emerson Lake (facing north). As you can see here, seawalls have been built to keep Emerson Lake from spilling its banks during unseasonably wet weather. The Stone Caldera, a mini crater lake in the midst of Argentum's downtown (and where Caldera Drive and Crater Street get their name) is also pictured.

And here's where Caldera Drive intersects both Vista Street and Centum Avenue (facing north). Some building construction is also occurring.

In order to alleviate the congestion along Argentum Boulevard, and at its intersection with Caldera Drive, the city is undertaking a project to convert Crater Street and Argentum Boulevard into a one-way couplet, between Lake Drive and a bit north of Isthmus Avenue. Caldera and Lake will also become a couplet for a few short blocks. Construction on the south end of this project has begun, as you can see here (facing north).

This is at the north end of the project (facing east).

These two images show the connector roadway between Argentum Boulevard and Crater Street, north of Isthmus, being constructed, forming the northern split into the Argentum/Crater couplet (facing east).

The finished result of this project will be shown next update which, astonishingly enough, will be Update 100 of Tarkusian Cities. Hope you enjoyed this one, and we'll be back to New Argentum for some more construction shortly.

-Tarkus