Hello everyone, we are back in Spring City. In the previous post I went over how the city was experiencing some economic hardships regarding it's industry. Part of the reason is commute times for industry are not great. The city never designed its road systems well enough to handle large numbers of trucks and cars. As the city has grown over time the old roads have failed to keep up. Lets watch as the new year shows progress towards building a greater city.

It was decided that some minor upgrades would be made to help increase traffic flow across town.

Here is just one picture of high amounts of traffic.




This one road is often backed up with traffic. Another great source of traffic is in downtown. As of right now the city has some plans to help allievate downtown traffic but nothing has been done or put into action just yet.




Here is the upgraded road network outside of the East Industrial area. In a previous image it was shown that it is constantly backed up.



The road gained some turning lanes and some ramps to help increase traffic flow. So far it seems to be working great.

Some other traffic improvements have been made. Like the main artery into downtown has gained some turning lanes.




Here we have current city hall. As of right now the building is old and is often in repair mode. The city has decided to make a few changes to this area of town as well, prompting for

a new town hall to be built. Since this city serves as the main government center for the region it was decided to consolidate offices into one main building. On top of that, a roundabout has been planned for the previous location of the city hall. This is to help stimulate traffic flow in downtown and decrease deadly accidents.



Here is the new roundabout put into place instead of the four way stop light.




And here is the new town hall. Just down the road from the previous one.





Here's a shot of downtown prior to the improvements made to it.






Unfortunately these improvements have come too late for some businesses in downtown, and they have closed up shop. Thankfully, the city has a plan for the location of these buildings.
A new plaza is to be constructed to help grow downtown more and give some class to the area.




Here's the new plaza.





Here's a shot of the East Side elementary school. It was built within recent years.



Commercial development has been on the rise lately.




And a series of new park initiatives has begun.. Here's one new park built in town.



And a trial running alongside the rail line has been constructed as well. 




Finally, the last major change to town in the past year is the construction of a new fire station on the East side of town. It is a larger station meant to serve the surrounding area and region. 





Unfortunately, all these positive changes to the city do not change the fact that the city is facing an identity crisis. For years the city was a small-big city, based heavily in industry and services. However, recently the industry in the area has begun to falter. Issues with transportation being one large reasons, in combination with economic turmoil. As such, unemployment is on the rise. The city has been working to renovate downtown and encourage large business operations made there. But, it is costing the city lots of money. 




For now the citizens just have to wait out the storm.




Here is a bonus picture.





Overall the city has seen some minor improvements the past year. The city has grown to just over 60,000 people. Commercial demand has gone up despite some businesses failing. Downtown has begun a series of major improvements and growth and development, and a new transit hub and distribution center is being planned to help ease the industries voice for help. Stay tuned for next years developments.