Covington - Update 61 "Chestnut Hills and South River Bend"

[Sciurus]

All is beautiful there

Guillaume

[antimonycat]

Your region view is perhaps my favourite of all the ones I've seen. Lovely MD.

[JJ]

It just looks so fantastic like a real city. The region pic is amazing.

[bat]

Great work on that rural area there!

[art128]

A new wonderful update there my friend, I really love the interchange in the last picture. Your work with the FARR/FAR always amaze me !
Looking forward to more.

Take care,
-Arthur.

[danielcote]

Great Update JB I see youre improving every last detail .... tipical 

[Jmouse]

Sorry... but I just can't help myself.  More fun with all those things that involve the letter R! 

And I just couldn't resist another peek at Covington! The FAR is lovely to look at as we've seen so many times in 3RR and elsewhere. I especially like the way it can skirt the little hills just as a road would in RL. Of course, we can't build a  bridge across those charming curves and angles or intersect with them, but some pre-planning would make it work. Trouble is, I get so carried away with the looks of the roads I forget to leave any spaces. On the other hand, you're doing a great job with all those "Rs!"

Later...
Joan

[mightygoose]

wow missed a few updates here, great work on FAffing the region, looks superb. and the region shot is getting better and better, keep going your nearly there

[superhands]

hmm... i had a suspicion that an update was ready for viewing. 

great work on the Durham re-work.

dave

[JBSimio]

Guillame:  Thank you!

Antimonycat:  Thank you so much!  Nice to have you here.

JJ:  Thanks and welcome to you as well!

Bat:  Thank you!

Arthur:  Thanks!  I was very happy with the rail interchange too, although it was a frustrating hour or so...

Danielcote:  Thank you!  Yeah... I guess I do have a tendency to get carried away sometimes.   

Joan:  Thanks!  You're right, remembering space for intersections can be a bit challenging.  Rumor has it that this could change in time, but until then I'll just keep plugging away as best I can.

Mightygoose:  Thank you!  By "almost there," I presume you mean filling in the rest of Covington itself?  It's getting closer, but still could take some time... and even then, that will only be when the real fun begins! 

Dave:  Thanks for stopping by again!

Update Time!!!

Yes, that's right... I'm still busy having fun with the new roads and rails.  I guess you could say that I've been acting like a little kid who just got his favorite toy for Christmas... I'm liable to ignore everything else until this one breaks!    I've been working my way around the eastern part of the region the last couple days.  Let's take a look at the map and see where we're headed this time:

39.01


So as all the nifty shaded areas might tell you, I've completed most of the work from Walnut Creek down to Coldwater Creek near Raliegh.  (By the way, I should mention that the map is wrong.  Walnut Hills State Park should extend south to Interstate 40... sorry about that!)  What better way to show off the new fun stuff than with a mini mosiac?

39.02





This is the "new and improved" town of Walnut Grove.  (You can actually see the old version of this and some of today's other towns in Update 13 if you're curious!)  I did have to make a number of changes here to get everything to fit together again, but nothing too drastic.  There are two turns just over the bridge that I couldn't bring myself to change.  I like the buildings too much right there and I'm afraid that I'll never get them back if I mess with the roads.  (I know I could just plop most of them again, but it's just not the same!)

39.03


Heading south on US 311 we arive at the crossing with state highway 6.  This is the before picture...

39.04


...and here is the after.  This might be one of the toughest sections I've had to do so far.  There just wasn't much room to squeeze this intersection in and the hills surrounding it made things even more interesting.  A couple spots could be a touch smoother, but I think I'm the only one that will ever really see it anyway.

39.05


Heading west on NC6, we eventually cross the main railroad line between Raliegh and Covington.  This used to be another very choppy area, which now looks infinitely better... well at least it does to my eyes!

39.06


Just over the tracks is the small town of Burlington.  Once again, there are one or two turns I couldn't quite replace.  All in all things are much smoother though.  The small commercial area took a pretty hard hit while rerouting some roads, but it seems to have recovered nicely.

39.07


Just up the road from Burlington is the village of Rickland Center.  This was a pretty easy one to redo, but I really like the way the main corner turned out.

39.08


Just south of Raliegh was another fairly interesting intersection that I just liked the looks of.  The rural grain elevator just seems to set this corner off nicely too. 

And why not end with another FAR mosaic... this one is just a touch longer:   

39.09

Thanks for reading!!!
JB

[payce2tw]

Kid with a new toy indeed! I know transportation systems have always been your love.

[threestooges]

Now this is what those curvy roads are supposed to look like. If there was ever an advertisement for the FAR(R) and North Carolina, this would be it. Just looking at these pictures makes me imagine a warm late spring/early summer day's drive in a classic convertible ('57 Ford Skyliner wouldn't be bad) the scents of spring, the warmth of the sun, yeah, good stuff. I love the image location map, it's a great touch, and the mosaics were great as always. I'll say it again though, the FAR(R) keep taking center stage here. I can only imagine what you'll do with the stuff David's been working on. Also, one last thing, what's the thing between NC and KY? I might make it out there one of these days, and it would be a bad step to incite violence and all, heh heh. At any rate, I'd leave a longer post here, but I'm off to my Con Law final, so I'll stop hee for now. Great stuff Jon.
-Matt

[danielcote]

I like the roads better in rick land center because they just looked chopy before. But I liked the building better before. If you added Mels cafe and the duck and goose pub by gascooker again then I wouldn't be so sad. 

In Raliegh the roads look better and it really makes the town look more realistic. But the pharmacy lloks lonely and it looks wierd without a side walk. So you can fix that one thing by putting buildings across the street from it. 

The little community with a gas station looks delightful. 

Burlington has never looked better and smoother. Also that big RLS country home looks good. Id recomend making it historical.

the Nexis grain elavator fits in great and that awsome farm with the mansion on it is quite a marvel to look at.

Oh boy youre Cjs hot so many updates in one week!

[Simpson]

Incredible update as well, my friend !!. Your transport networks is magnificent 
The mosaic is looking superb, I also really like the fields 
I'm looking forward to the next update,

Take care,

David

[art128]

two excellent mosaics there Jon, the second on is my favorite, it show a lot of your farms development and the little  city of Raliegh. Also, excellent use of trees, that looks really good.
Looking forward to more.

Take care,
-Arthur.

[bat]

That's a really beautiful rural area there! Nice work on all the pictures and mosaics!

[Q-Tips]

I havent been reading anything of your diaries for a while, but are impressed to see the great improvement of your region since last time. Its nice to see all your details who all togheter makes a very realistic region picture. Last time i couldnt realy like the way you had those curvy roads, but now that you have chanced to the NAM roads its turning out realy great. Nice work.

[Haljackey]

Looking great as always!  I love the mosaics and all the road curves.  It looks so realistic!   

[Jmouse]

Indicating update areas on the map is a great idea, Jon - it's hard to keep track of where everything is in so many MDs. You're still ruler of the rural kingdom - 39.02 is about as close to perfection as anything I've ever seen. The comparison between 39.03 and .04 is stunning - I liked the old way until I saw the new one! I'm especially fond of the little villages nestled in the "Vs" of intersections.

Of course, 39.09 takes the prize - just the right amount of density in town with a visible but natural change across the river. And the rural atmosphere isn't easy to capture - I've tried it dozens of times and still come out with the same disappointing results.

Very nice update...
Joan

[Sciurus]

It's splendid!! Just splendid, and the mosaic!!! Oh! What a mosaic!!

Guillaume