Entry 7 - Of Trains and Trees (5E131)
Welcome to Amesbury! Okay, so, in the prime universe, we might not have a subway but our little 75k city seems like its growing faster again! The unemployment issue is solving, the residential demand has risen up. Politically, the Major, Davies, narrowly won the 5E130 elections - the People's Party of Cathnoquey is losing ground to the Federation Party, but only just. The Major promised more parkland, better pancakes, and the setting up of a major mass transit system. (Also more nuclear vaults). Let's go see how it all went!
Traffic jams and donuts! Amesbury is becoming known for two more things : its excellent police record and the quality of its donuts - they sell worldwide now!
In 5E130, Amesbury reached 75000 inhabitants. Doesn't it look big now? Can you tell the initial village from twenty years ago on this picture?
Hickory Circle was refurbished, allowing for a pretty park within the roundabout. You can see a bus stop at the very bottom!
A bus station was built at Central Station to accommodate the bus network. All lines originate from there, so it has to be able to handle heavy traffic at rush hour.
A view of Septim Bvld, looking west. You can see the City Hall on the left-hand side. Buses are colored according to their line for easier spotting.
Ever been to real-life Nottingham? Shamelessly stolen this from their city bus network! Then again they could put both tram and bus services on ONE map, it's not like it would be confusing >_>
This is our initial highway exit into Amesbury. A new street was built parallel to it to divert some traffic, especially to link the more built-up areas on both sides of the motorway. Valenwood and Hammerfell are befell by proxy civil wars and the Migrant Processing Centre in Amesbury is one of five very busy centres for migrants. New suburbs are built to accommodate them, and along with a newfound economic recovery in the nation, a new concept is beginning to emerge in Amesbury and beyond : the Abecean Dream.
There are more motorway exits around town now. This is Brownstone Junction, where one can change between the M2 and CR17 roads.
A view of the CR17 highway between Brownstone and Wigston. Rural highways (1x1 roads) are a common sight where there's too much traffic not to separate traffic, yet not enough room nor money for bigger highways.
This is Exit 70 on the M1. Also, it's a left-hand exit! The exit is not completed, and the northbound lanes are closed for construction, forcing traffic to take a massive detour into Amesbury. The empty area in the corner is just about to be developed.
Amityville is right by the junction between the M1 and M2 motorways. This bridge carries Watson Street and is a major link between the inner city to its closer suburbs. To the right, you can drive by one of many low-rise office buildings. This one houses the local offices of Jet Postal, the national mail company, as well as the regional sorting office for Amery County.
Meanwhile if you wander in the most built-up parts of Fairview Ley, you might just stumble upon this lovely row of little houses. They're actually social housing, which obviously lower the cost of living in this district. Talking of pretty spots in the city, how about some greenery? Didn't the Major promise that?
More parklands was an important priority of the Municipal Council, so many blocks were razed to make way for squares and plaza. This is City Hall Park, which for a long time was the only park in downtown Amesbury. ...Did that Red Line bus just collide with a car at that stop by the University?
Let's head north of downtown, to University Park and Maple Greens. This year, the University of New Technologies and Sciences, the major university in town, has attracted no less than 6.000 students! It does help that in Cathnoquey, tuition fees are affordable.
Anyway, there's nothing better than an evening walk in Maple Greens to recover from a long day of stress and work. Like a square of wilderness surrounded by the concrete of the city.
Sometimes, city planners even manage to combine greenery with efficient intersections. This roundabout on Burnley Av and Nirnroot Av became needed when Burnley Av began carrying more and more traffic from the new suburbs to the Highland Industrial District. Nirnroot Av is the major north-south thoroughfare into downtown Amesbury. The trees also help with noise and pollution, and that's always a plus!
Nirnroot Avenue, looking north (with the motorway crossing in the background). High-density commercial development has spread along the road. Now it separates the low-density residential suburbs of Burnley Dale and Fairview Ley. It's also a popular late-night hotspot, with many cinemas, nightclubs, the local flagship BigBite restaurant, and even a bowling allee!
But enough about intra-city transit and parks. Let's take a look at our favourite intercity mass transit option...Trains!
A GoCargo train on a bridge on the Amery River. It's headed for the Industrial District.
This is the central station, which for now only has two tracks. After all, only some through trains to New Wigmore ever call at Amesbury (that's still one each hour) This might change very soon though.
More tracks, weaving through the cityscape...
The station plaza as seen from a building close to the station. Oh my! Game publishing company and cheese making business Bobbelböck has settled in Amesbury!
Back to freight though...This is the Highland Railyard, the major cargo hub in town, located on the line to New Wigmore. Trains here can go anywhere along the three main lines that link the country.
Our brave cargo train is rolling through the southern suburbs of Fairview Leys towards the capital... Remember Exit 70? It's finally complete, but northbound M1 is still closed between that exit and the junction with the M2. Northbound traffic still has to take a detour into the town to continue their journey.
View from a train in the railyard, this time looking towards the west.
Some are calling for an integrated commuter rail network to link all the new suburbs, but the Municipal Council has so far not followed through. Here is a cosy street in Wood Heights, with the CBD in the background. It's still a very low-rise skyline for now - but this might change soon!
And here is Wigston, a town north-west of Amesbury. Here, too, citizens have been asking for better links to the main town. This will need to be eventually addressed.
Possibly, a ferry could link the town to Amesbury. To the north, the freight harbor is just as important as the railyard and a whole industrial estate has developed around it. Freight from all over the county is processed here, before boats carry it over the canal and all across the world. There are plans to move the Industrial Railyard closer to the harbor, however, but they would require massive overhauls and at such the project has been shelved. It is also predicted the complex might see at least a 200% increase in freight traffic as it becomes a lot more convenient and efficient - after all it would reduce road traffic in favor of rail. That's something else engineers would need to consider when designing the new harbour.
There's also a passenger ferry landing in Aylestone! Ferries connect towns on the shores of Lake Amery together with Amesbury, leading the city to increase its influence. When Amesbury was picked as the seat of Amery County, it was a small and almost unremarkable village. It was a compromise situation when the County was created, as two rival towns in the new county were competing for capitalship. The Major took advantage of the situation almost twenty years ago to build her new town around the new County Seat.
It was a successful gamble : Amesbury has just overtaken the first of these two rival towns, Ivystone, in terms of population and economy, and is very close to becoming the most populous town in the county. All it took was an energetic major and two rival towns far too busy to fight each other instead of taking advantage of an economic boom for a small village to establish itself as a powerful new town. The question remains though - is it a future proofed city or will it collapse as quickly as it rose?
Amesbury City Bus! Do note the trunk lines branching out into the suburbs.
And to conclude, here's a comprehensive street map of Amesbury, with all major landmarks and thoroughfares marked. 
And that's it for now! I dearly hope you enjoyed. Our next entry takes us beyond this map, across the countryside, to visit some villages in the vicinity of Amesbury. Thanks for the feedback, hope you enjoyed!
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