Cities you wish had grown more

[Alex]

Since I-5 is only 4 lanes in Mount Vernon, you want it to grow?
A town with 2 ways in and one way out and you want that to grow too?

[ComputerGuy]

If they did grow, they'd be recognized for road improvement, thus improving their transport!

[Alex]

Not necessarily. Many areas have grown with little to no improvement. Look at Poinciana, Florida. Outside of the roads built for the developments, no other road improvements were made or new roads built. Outside of a private toll road to Interstate 4 being a possibility, nothing is planned despite further expansion of the community to the south (where there are no other connections).

The reasons why many of our freeways have failing grades, is that growth has far outpaced infrastructure improvements. With funding becoming more and more of an issue, the gap between growth and improvements is not likely to improve.

The quote button keeps doing modify on me...

[ComputerGuy]

Hmm...you have a good point, aaroads. I change my mind...I wish that North Lakewood (my area) would grow so it could split from the hands of Marysville, Arlington and Stanwood.

[golden eagle]

I would have liked to have seen Cairo, IL become a decent sized metropolis.  Kind of a Pittsburgh with larger rivers - probably with fewer but larger bridges.

Other candidates for me would be Hays, Kansas, and North Platte, NE, both to provide more excitement on the long drives west on I-70 and I-80.

Other opinions?

I thought the exact same thing about Cairo on my recent trip to and from Chicago. When you think about how American cities developed in the early days, they were mainly along water. With two major rivers intersecting here, I see no reason why Cairo didn't develop into something much, much bigger.

[mgk920]

Several that I can think of:

-Superior, WI - Occupies a HUGE area of flat land (contrasting with now much more populous Duluth, MN - located right across the harbor and all mountainous) and a gorgeous natural harbor, much better than Chicago's.  They had dreams of becoming another Chicago back in the mid-late 19th Century, but it stagnated.

-Ashland, WI - A smaller version of Superior.

-Appleton, WI - Had Wisconsin's municipal boundary law been a bit friendlier, my hometown would now have at least twice the population and several times the land area than it does now within the existing metro area.

-Calumet, MI - Once had over 10K population (during the glory days of the area's copper-mining industry) and at one time may have been in line to become Michigan's state capitol.  Imagining what it would be like now if it had.

Mike

[florida]

Daytona Beach, FL to complete the trifecta of metropolises across the I-4 corridor. Maybe, if only I-95 was built a bit closer to town instead of ~6 miles out. Also, the original planning for Palm Coast to have become the state's largest city...that would have been interesting to see.

[agentsteel53]

I don't wish for any city to grow.  We have enough humans already!

[City]

I don't wish for any city to grow.  We have enough humans already!

Actually:

Bigger cities = bigger skyscrapers = more residents living in tall apartment housing skyscrapers = more farmland in rural areas = more food for everyone.

___

So, let me think...

-Vineland, Millville, and Bridgeton, NJ could grow into each other and be annexed by one city Oh, and there is a glob of farmland around the area!

-Cape May and Atlantic City, NJ: Both are nice coastal areas, and it would form a good reason to widen the busiest toll road in the US. I still can't believe that it has some sections with four lanes! 

-Sailsbury, MD and Dover, DE: They aren't that big, and if they were nicely sized cities, it could bring extra use of the Bay Bridge, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Oh, and it would bring the Delmarva Peninsula a nice economy.

-Harrisburg, PA: The city is not big enough, IMO, to be the state capital of Pennsylvania. Make it, meh, 175,000-300,000ish.

-Burlington, VT: That would make Vermont a bigger state (pop. wise), and probably cause a half to three quarter loop around the "city". It'd also make Lake Champlain a big tourist attraction. That equals a big economy.

-Hannibal, MO: Right smack dab in the middle of farmland, would make I-72 six lanes, and make me happy.

-Lincoln/Omaha, NE:  (does that explain the drive through NE?) Make a boredom lifter, that's for certain.

-Cheyenne, WY: Wyoming is the smallest state in the US. Why not make a big city to fix that?

-Casper, WY: Same reason as above.

-Billings, MT: It's... eh... in the middle of farmland, and it'd make a fun stack for a beltway called I-290! 

-Cour d'Alene: Idaho's french named town should be big, shouldn't it? 

Whew, that was a lot.

[agentsteel53]

I don't wish for any city to grow.  We have enough humans already!

Actually:

Bigger cities = bigger skyscrapers = more residents living in tall apartment housing skyscrapers = more farmland in rural areas = more food for everyone.

or we could just use more condoms.

[City]

I have more cities that should grow.

-Laredo, TX: The southern terminus of Interstate 35 should be bigger. It would be an even bigger trade hub with the Mexico and US, as well. A partial loop around the city would possibly form. Maybe I-135, with both termini at the Mexican Border?

-Brownsville, TX: This area has a freeway in it already, but it needs a full fledged connection to the interstate system. US-281 or US-77 would be a nice expressway to fix that. Plus, it'd be a bigger trade hub with the US and Mexico.

-Amarillo, TX: A beltway would be awesome around this city. x27 or x40 anybody? The growth would stimulate the Texas Panhandle's economy, to "boot"!   

-Lubbock, TX: Same reason as above.

-Midland/Odessa, TX: It'd be nice to see such an unknown city burst into life and be a prospering metro area.

-Abilene, TX: Same as above.

Whew, that was a lot of Texas cities. I'm not done yet, though:

-Colorado Springs, CO: It deserves to be bigger. It'd be very nice to witness it grow to be very big. Oh, and an x25, as well.

-Marquette, MI: I wish the Upper Peninsula of Michigan had a nice population with it. This is the biggest city there, and it is only around 10,000 people. Why not 250,000? And that would make an extension of I-43.

-Green Bay, WI: It'd make I-43 more useful.

-Ephraim, WI: It'd make that area a much nicer place to live. On the shore of the actual Green Bay, it'd be scenic, alright.

Whew, that was a lot of typing!

[agentsteel53]

-Marquette, MI: I wish the Upper Peninsula of Michigan had a nice population with it. This is the biggest city there, and it is only around 10,000 people. Why not 250,000? And that would make an extension of I-43.

-Green Bay, WI: It'd make I-43 more useful.

-Ephraim, WI: It'd make that area a much nicer place to live. On the shore of the actual Green Bay, it'd be scenic, alright.

the main reason why these towns are so charming and scenic is because they aren't teeming with humans.  Let's keep 'em the way they are!

(I oughta go into the admin panel and change your name to "Hellhole" )

[agentsteel53]

oh, and Colorado Springs is home to the Focus on the Family morons.  There's far too many of them already. 

They even have their own highway exit green sign.  Someone needs to accidentally run an 18-wheeler off the road through that sign.

[mgk920]

So, let me think...

-Harrisburg, PA: The city is not big enough, IMO, to be the state capital of Pennsylvania. Make it, meh, 175,000-300,000ish

It would be if Pennsylvania's municipal boundary laws were better - the City of Harrisburg proper covers a microscopic percentage of its metro area.

Mike

[Scott5114]

-Amarillo, TX: A beltway would be awesome around this city. x27 or x40 anybody? The growth would stimulate the Texas Panhandle's economy, to "boot"!   

Have you ever been to Amarillo? I was just there this week... it's somewhat odd, a city out in the middle of nowhere, really, and has no real downtown I could pick out (at least from I-40 or I-27). The weirder thing is, it just stops and starts, not like most cities that just peter out. You cross Soncy Road, and bam, you're either in Amarillo or out of it. Really unusual.

[golden eagle]

I have more cities that should grow.

-Laredo, TX: The southern terminus of Interstate 35 should be bigger. It would be an even bigger trade hub with the Mexico and US, as well. A partial loop around the city would possibly form. Maybe I-135, with both termini at the Mexican Border?

-Brownsville, TX: This area has a freeway in it already, but it needs a full fledged connection to the interstate system. US-281 or US-77 would be a nice expressway to fix that. Plus, it'd be a bigger trade hub with the US and Mexico.

-Amarillo, TX: A beltway would be awesome around this city. x27 or x40 anybody? The growth would stimulate the Texas Panhandle's economy, to "boot"!   

-Lubbock, TX: Same reason as above.

-Midland/Odessa, TX: It'd be nice to see such an unknown city burst into life and be a prospering metro area.

-Abilene, TX: Same as above.

Whew, that was a lot of Texas cities. I'm not done yet, though:

-Colorado Springs, CO: It deserves to be bigger. It'd be very nice to witness it grow to be very big. Oh, and an x25, as well.

-Marquette, MI: I wish the Upper Peninsula of Michigan had a nice population with it. This is the biggest city there, and it is only around 10,000 people. Why not 250,000? And that would make an extension of I-43.

-Green Bay, WI: It'd make I-43 more useful.

-Ephraim, WI: It'd make that area a much nicer place to live. On the shore of the actual Green Bay, it'd be scenic, alright.

Whew, that was a lot of typing!

Laredo is growing pretty quickly. It's almost near a quarter-mil, up from around 175K from 2000. Brownsville is also growing at a nice clip. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Brownsville has been talked about as a southern terminus for I-69, which makes sense since U.S. 77 is already at freeway standards in that area.

Lubbock benefits by having a major university there, so it will, no doubt, get bigger.

[Chris]

I like cities located at major rivers.

So I think it would be cool to have a bigger;

* Jefferson City, Missouri
* Cairo, Illinois
* Portsmouth, Ohio
* Keokuk, Iowa
* Dubuque,Iowa
* Quincy, Illinois
* La Crosse, Wisconsin
* Sioux City, Iowa
* Pasco, Washington

[agentsteel53]

Cairo is an utter ruin, despite being in a significantly advantageous position at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.





would you vote for a man named Street Preacher?



a building in fine shape.



Commercial Ave., the town's main drag.

Cairo is clearly a town that grew too much.

[Chris]

Bulldoze it, and rebuild it 

The location is just perfect. US 60 and US 62 even run through Illinois here for like 1 mile.

[TXtoNJ]

RE: Cairo, IL - It probably has to do with the apocalyptic earthquake that devastated the area while it was first being settled.

[golden eagle]

But very few people were living there then. Still, places like St. Louis and Memphis grew to where they are now. Even Cape Girardeau, MO, a little bit north of the Ohio-Mississippi junction, managed to develop into a fair-sized community.

[agentsteel53]

the earthquake was in the 19th century, no?  Like 1818 or something.  A lot of those industrial buildings seem to date back to about 1900-1920. 

[Terry Shea]

oh, and Colorado Springs is home to the Focus on the Family morons.  There's far too many of them already. 

They even have their own highway exit green sign.  Someone needs to accidentally run an 18-wheeler off the road through that sign.

Well thanks for being open minded and not offending anyone.  What have they ever done to you?

[TXtoNJ]

Re: the earthquake - more like that's probably why St. Louis became the trade center for the Mississippi, leading to Cairo's greater demise with deindustrialization.

The New Madrid Fault is the only thing that's not strategic about its location. And how not strategic it is.

[Landshark]

I've always wondered how cities on the Great Lakes like Chicago and Detroit grew so big while Muskegon with the best natural harbor imaginable has remained a city of about 40,000. 

It is because of its location, facing west, on a peninsula.   There are closer, east facing Great Lake ports and there isn't large local natural resource extraction taking place to increase port demand.  Milwaukee was positioned to be a Great Lakes railroad terminus for western and pacific railroads.  Cleveland was positioned to take advantage of nearby natural resources from western Pennsylvania.  Chicago's growth is obvious being at the lower elbow of the great lakes and also being the best connection between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system.