Hi everyone-

Well, at long last, after a couple teasers, we've rolled the odometer to Update 100.  And aside from the fact that there's three digits now, this update will simply be a dose of good old-fashioned Tarkusian Cities, something which has been a bit of a scarcity lately.  I'm going to continue along the lines of the teasers, and show you all the start of what will be the start of a modest light rail system in Chemeketa, along with a number of road realignment and extension projects that will accompany it.  The continuation of Update 99's couplet project in Argentum (2.0) will serve as a bit of an intermission in what should be a multi-update arc, and I may take a little peek back at a couple of Tarkusian Cities you may not have seen in some time, including the discovery of a "lost update" from 2009.

Chemeketa, unfortunately, has begun to experience the dreaded prop pox in its downtown tile, and I've yet to ascertain just what is causing it, so I am considering a full Plugins reboot and a new Tarkusian region in the near future.  As it's been a few years since I've done that--since Chemeketa's start some 4 years ago--it's actually a process I'm somewhat looking forward to undertaking.

Below is the map of Chemeketa, with a rough sketch of some of the proposed changes shown.  Road realignments or additions are in dashed lines, reflecting the color of the new roadway's expected functional classification, and the new light rail line is shown on the map as the "Proposed Red Line".  As my long-time stand-by for large maps, Gmapuploader, is no longer offering the service I used, I'm trying out Zoom.it and using my space at SimTarkus for image hosting.

 

(Edit as of June 2017: It appears Zoom.it has also broken down since, too.  I am hoping to find an alternate solution, and am adding it to the list of things I need to do to fully restore Tarkusian Cities.)

Now to see the "proposals" in action.

The two major projects you'll see under way during this project are the start of the Red Line, and the Tweedy-Ashcroft Corridor project, which are symbiotically related.  (If you're curious as to the namesakes for those roads, see here and here, respectively.)  The Red Line, as a whole, is intended to begin at the Chemeketa Airport, wind its way past the university and through downtown parallel to the railroad tracks, and eventually curve onto 33rd Avenue NE, heading through a high-tech area and ending in the Starpoint District, serving to link up downtown with the airport, and alleviate commute-related traffic on the south end of the Chemeketa Parkway.

This first image is at the intersection of Stiratt Road SE and Link Road SE.  Link Road acts as a little connector between Tweedy Boulevard and Stiratt Road, which are important arterials in the area, and it is surprisingly congested, even more so by the fact that it has an at-grade rail crossing along both it and Stiratt, right near the intersection.  McCabe Street SE is planned to be realigned to meet up with Link Road at Tweedy, and overpasses will be built to cross over both the existing rail line, and the under-construction light rail line.

Stiratt Road traffic was temporary diverted and briefly closed, to make room for the overpass construction (facing north).



Overpass work under way (facing north).





This is facing west.  The 4-lane structure is the replacement for Link Road, which will be renamed as an extension of McCabe Street.



This is at the new Tweedy/McCabe intersection (facing west).  This intersection's completion is a necessary step in preparing for the Tweedy Boulevard re-alignment and Red Line construction.



More construction.



This is where the existing McCabe Street alignment meets with the new alignment (facing west).  The road will now continue south to meet with the former Link Road, instead of southwest to align with 45th Street.



And the new alignment after completion (facing west).



The new intersection at Tweedy is open for business (facing west).



Two roads through the industrial area along McCabe have been converted to one-way traffic, in order to handle the loads caused by the Tweedy Blvd closure.



This is where Tweedy and Ashcroft currently converge, at the intersection with 35th St SE.  The new one-way couplet hooks in here as well.  Ashcroft will eventually be extended south, some 35 blocks, to meet up with the proposed Western Bypass. (facing west)



35th is also being realigned (its naming is actually a bit odd, as it actually intersects Tweedy/Ashcroft where 38th should be), and the eastbound part of the couplet now connects into it, a temporary change. (facing west).



Tweedy Blvd west of the new McCabe Street intersection has now been torn out, and work begins on extending Ashcroft Street (facing west).  Upon the project's completion, Ashcroft Street will have an overpass atop Tweedy Boulevard, allowing for smoother traffic flow. 



That does it for this installment of Tarkusian Cities.

-Tarkus