otowner

I don't think that I have ever seen I4 that empty

Positive words for another GC? Wow, I am amazed!

Both fly from MCO direct to London Gatwick. I have often had to take this route and then change airports to Heathrow while in London to move on to further destinations, quite annoying. About 5-6 years ago, there was a complimentary shuttle between the two airports (and they would transfer your luggage for you). Now, you have to claim your bags and find your own way between the airports and check in your luggage. Or at least I had to do that last December when I went through.

Looks like Universal Studios.

And here I was starting to have a tiny bit of respect for B&G...

I am not sure if anyone has posted this anywhere, but there is an interesting and lengthy article about the development and symbolism of Orlando in the March 2007 edition of National Geographic Magazine. I just picked it up today and thought it was a good read.

Early? Wasn't the opening originally scheduled for Sept 15, 2006?

Driving around town, it is apparent that our leaders build for the present rather than the future. I took the 417 from Sanford down to 528 yesterday and it couldnt be more apparent. If you guys have ever been to any of the Texas cities, you will see what building for the future means. Granted they have lots of open space, but it still takes some ounce of thinking to develop that space into a solid transportation network.

It seems to be moving quicker than the Florida Hospital Expansion

Is that the Target Center? I know which building that is, dont remember the name. The is one of my favorite buildings in the US, looks magnificent especially driving into the city on I35.

So then did you mean by your first post that this has 13 more floors to go or that it still has 8 to go and you just thought 28 + 8 = 32?

Another good view of the Vue is driving in towards downtown north on Orange Ave. You can see it at a pretty good distance now.

I think you missed the point of the previous post...

I like how in the 4th to last picture, the Regions Bank and the Citrus Center peak through in between the Solaire and the other two buildings, it creates a great visual effect to indicate density in the area. Also, driving east on I4 right before the 408 exit, the view of downtown is improving. Solaire clearly rises above Citrus Center now. That shot will look great with 55W and the Vue added in. In my opinion that is actually one of the best areas to get a shot of downtown. I am always stuck in traffic there, maybe I'll snap a photo next time.

I agree with you, they both appear identical. I thought we had a modified version posted earlier in this thread somewhere. Also, after reading the article and seeing the proposed connections, it does not appear that those two renderings represent the project accurately. I believe that modified rendering is a better representation. Lots of concrete crossover bridges are ugly, but lucky for us that newer bridges over I4 in Orange County are getting that green/cream color coating to them. I believe the Turnpike/429 interchange in West Orange County is a good model to go by, except this new interchange will have downtown as the backdrop versus the rolling green hills of the 429 interchange that look reminiscent of a Windows XP Screen Saver.

I anticipate that the visor will be lit up similar to the Waverly.

It means that lots of changes are on the way...

I don't know if someone posted this, but if you go to the 55west website and click on the red construction updates link, you can view some aerial pictures of the site (go to Jan 2006 updates). http://www.fiftyfivewest.com

I think he means that those areas would not have developed or be developing in the ways that they have because the people who decided to stick around in those areas would have moved out to sprawlville a long time ago if we had all freeways. I definitely see Jaybee's point, but at the same time I think sprawl is almost inevitable for a metro area, if not now then later. Freeways/toll roads may encourage that, but fundamentally it is an issue of land. If there is open land, then the tendency of people is to keep expanding and spreading. The US has historically had an abundance of land. If you look at other countries, the situation is not quite the same. I was born in Mumbai and that city is pretty well contained on Mumbai Island. Only recently have newer areas began to develop that might be considered sprawl. India is a large nation as well with plenty of land, but the concept of sprawl has not been a key factor in its history the way it has in the US. As I type that, I am suddenly reminded of a quote from "The Matrix" about humans being like a virus, moving from area to area and using up every available resource before spreading to another area.

I went to Dr Phillips, I attended prom my junior year at the Omni Rosen Hotel on I Drive, and senior prom at Disney's Contemporary Resort. Where was yours held at, bic?

Is the SR429 expansion from 535 down to I4 completed and open to traffic now?

bic, can you re-estimate based on the current progress?

well then technically, they just have to throw a rock through a window and they've met the requirement

it will probably take them that many days to demo the existing structures

just out of curiosity, how much money do you think it would take to buy the Florida Turnpike? what about the 408, 417, 429 and 528?