Ya see, the thing ya need to understand about Union City, the absolute first thing, is how to get around this place. Don't let the population size fool ya. The City is BIG. It's not big like New York or LA big, doesn't have the density, but it's spread out to Hell and back. That's important if ya have to get from point A to point B in a hurry, like if UCPD is crawling up your ass, or if ya have to blow town with the quickness.
Quirks of the Road
Guess the best place to start is with the surface streets and the interstates. Look, ya gotta understand, this is a town built by the railroad, so yeah, the rails are the priority. So some of the streets aren't in what ya'd call "prime condition," yanno? That's mostly surface streets. The Feds pay a large chunk of interstate maintenance, which means ya probably won't lose a tire on them. Something that always confuses newbies in the City is that numbered streets and avenues run parallel to each other. Now, don't ask what genius thought this was a good idea, or if there's some significance to it. Could be there is, could be there isn't. No clue. But make sure ya have a spare tire or four, because the potholes and road debris are enough to make ya think this is some poor, podunk berg. Mayor's office has been bleeding funds from road maintenance for decades so things only get fixed when they're too big to ignore. What's the wheel tax money go on then? Damn good question. Highway 6, or Durant Road, is the closest thing the City has to a "main street." Oh, and it's referred to as West Durant once ya get past 90th or so, like most of the bigger streets, so don't get confused if ya hear that.
The interstate is gonna be the bet if ya gotta get somewhere in a hurry. There're three that form a circuit around Union City, and any place ya can't get to directly from one of them is gonna take ya a good bit longer. Up on North Side, and looping around to the west, ya have I-680. If, and I hope ya never do, but if ya ever need to head out to Grand Meadow, 680 will get you most of the way there. Lot of stories about the 680 bridge crossing the state line over the river, mostly from the numerous suicides and accidents over the years. Ya take them with a grain of salt, it's just that there are enough otherwise sane people that talk about a person stepping in front of their car causing crashes in the middle of the night, with no body ever found, that ya try to avoid being up there after dark, yanno?
Down South Side, ya got the "big dog," I-80. No matter the time of day or night, 80 never stops. It's a straight line from Union City to either coast if ya just stick to 80, so outside of the rails, that's how the majority of commerce comes in and out of town. Downside to that, and this isn't something that everyone needs to know, so don't go repeating it, there's a lot of sex trafficking, and worse, that gets conducted. UCPD and the Feds tried a few years ago to shut down the illicit stuff, but the money always ends up elsewhere, and they don't consider a few kids being trucked cross country to be worth the time when there's the War on Terror. Anyway, unless ya enjoy being stuck in bumper to bumper, avoid 80 at the end of the work day. If ya gotta cross the river at night, trust me, stick with 80.
Now, more or less connecting the two, well, after you take a small detour to get back to 680, you have I-480 running parallel to Downtown. All the major streets have their own exits, and ya can get pretty much anywhere down there from 480, including the University campuses. It can take ya over the river, too, but try to avoid any detours into Downtown too far east. Place gets a little rough and a car can get stripped if left alone.
Still the Fastest Way to Travel
Up to the north east of North Side, easily reachable by 680 or 480, Durant Airfield is the main airport in this part of the country. Ya probably came in this way, but here's the rundown in case ya missed anything. Originally built back in the 20s, the airport covers several hundred acres of land and is able to accommodate anything from privately owned Cessna-types on the backfield, to 777 jumbo jets. All the major American airlines, including American Airlines, have a hub up there. If ya gotta get to Denver or Chicago, and can't make the eight hour drive, this is how ya do it.
Probably unrelated to anything ya need to know, but Durant is also how most the mail gets to town. Postal, major package handlers, and what have ya, all fly their cargo planes in this way, unload, and truck it out. Anything terribly large still comes in by rail car, but if ya need to order something online, it'll be up there.
Sure, sure, there hasn't been a major accident since at least the 70s. Unlike the streets, the airport is kept in good condition. Like anywhere else, Durant has had its fair share of minor issues, especially worker strikes. When the economy started tanking, and no one could afford to fly, layoffs across the board caused a lot of friction, and even the people that kept their jobs had to fight for any sort of fair compensation package. But yeah, nothing that caused anyone to die, not since that 747 smashed into the tarmac back in '78 and killed a couple hundred. That was a rough time for this town.
Ridin' the Rails
Obviously ya can't talk about Union City without mentioning the railroads. They're half the reason for the town being what it is today. Now, most people know about Union Pacific, and all the contributions Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, and by extension the Durant family, have made to Union City. But ya need to know, the Durants have a bit of a reputation in the City, and it ain't just for their vast fortune. Dr. Durant came from old money, and he used that to fund the early construction of a Transcontinental railway after the Civil War. Like any rich guy, he made some enemies, and a pair of them, the Ames brothers, tried to ruin him and his family for control of Union Pacific. Now, no one really knows the particulars of the whole thing, outside of the family ya can imagine, but in the end, Durant retained control and the Ames brothers died in the poor house. That's why Durant Road is the main street, and Ames Avenue is one of the seedier parts of North Side. Richer, and more powerful a family is, the more rumors swirl, and the Durants are the most powerful Union City family. Don't worry, ya come to town for a visit, ya probably don't need to know anything else about them.
So the railroad comes and goes in every direction in town. Biggest concentration is Downtown. That's where the train station for passenger cars is located. If ya can't drive out of town, and flyin' don't suit ya, trains are a cheap, if slow, way to go for it. Ya do hear of people going missing from the train station, or not arriving at their destinations, but there's no proof that anything unseemly is happening there. If uh, if ya have an interest, there are some ladies and fellas that hang out at the station, lookin' to welcome a traveler. Oh? Wasn't tryin' to offend, just letting ya know.
A good bit of freight gets handled Downtown, but the majority of the train yards are South Side. Part of that is so tourists see a cleaner Downtown, where Union Pacific has its offices, and part of it is to have boxcars loaded with livestock be closer to the stockyards. Yeah, ya can't miss when ya get close to the stockyards. The smell will hit ya a couple miles away. Freight trains bring in millions of tons of coal and millions of gallons of natural gas & oil every year, which gets sent everywhere else in the country. Cars get shipped from dealerships around the country on the rails as well, with semis supplementing that if the demand gets high enough.
Fair driving warning; ya will get stuck waiting for a train at some point. Most major streets have elevated rail bridges or have their own bridges going over the tracks, but a lot of side streets don't. Especially Downtown and South Side tracks. Just keep that in mind, if ya head that way in a rush.
----Jon De Luca, $5 tour guide
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