For hundreds of years, Alpine City is funded by exporting timber. In recent years, the expansion of industry and tourism has given the city more income, but the economic backbone of the city has never really changed - until now.

It all started when the phase 1 highway construction has completed. The highway now extends towards north from Westdale, forming the second (and third) bridge across Rosewood River. The valley that the highway goes through is soon developed into a new town, as a satellite town of Cratercove. 

This new town in itself is not exactly remarkable. It also consists of mostly low density houses, just as any other new towns around Alpine City. The town center has an open market with a center pine tree, which has become a local landmark.

As part of this new town development, the city's incinerators are relocated yet again - this time to the west of the new town - far enough from residential zones and has direct highway access. 

This here is the moment when the fate of Alpine City is altered forever.

Not a few months into the construction of new town, a vein of rare metal was found near the mountain to the east of the valley. The land is soon acquired by a local resource company. Within just a few months, the entire mountain is cleared up for a new open mine. 

The metal deposit here is huge - enough to fuel the economy of Alpine City for decades to come. The mine currently built covers merely 30% of the vein, but with this the city income has already tripled. 

With this ,the valley to the west, along with the new town, is now named Diamond Valley. 

The mine is so extensive, the citizens living in high places such as The Big Slide and Castle Peak can see it clearly. However, due to topography, the mine is not visible from Rosewood and Cratercove. 

With this new income, now Alpine City can do really huge projects. The first use of this money is, of course, to make more money. The tourism board now has the budget to promote the city far more aggressively. After all, the metal deposit is finite and will eventually run out. To plan ahead, Alpine City must develop tourism with full turbo.  

With the advertisement, the number of weekly tourist reaches above 900, almost double from last year. The landmarks around Alpine City receives a lot more tourists and the hotel income skyrockets. 

The added tourist, mine trucks and population (now reached 20,000 citizens) causes traffic jams all over the city. But with the city treasury flooding with money, Phase 2 of the highway expansion project can now kick start. This will be the most expensive project to date, but it will be worth it to resolve the traffic problem once and for all.