Port Henry Opens for Business

We had our first game set in Port Henry last night - not a ton of details about the city played a large part as a lot of the game was taking Icons for a spin for the first time. However, our heroes did stop a vile communist villain from destroying the Port Henry Nuclear Power Plant from going kaboom and that's a good thing. Unearthly Adventure Comics #251 is in the record books.

I have been getting a better idea of the city with an eye towards adventure opportunities. You can see the marked up map above, a bit different from the previous version. Some highlights:

• I pushed the map further east to add some additional islands. One is going to be home to one or more amusement parks, another will be a prison. There's probably room for a monument on one of the islands.
• I'm contemplating Port Henry being consolidated from multiple cities, a pattern often observed in cities. New York consolidated its five boroughs at the end of the 19th century, Chicago incorporated Hyde Park and Jefferson Township. Many of Bosotn's neighborhoods were once independent communities (such as Roxbury, Charlestown, etc.) North of the river is a bit of a rougher area, with various ethnic/racial neighborhoods, the home of the fishing fleet (which is infested by organized crime), etc. The two large islands might also have been an individual city at one time. 
• The city has a grid which allows for 16 blocks per mile. Many areas have longer avenues which are two blocks long (hence the numerous rectangular blocks). The numerous highways in blue range from thirty to sixty feet above the city streets. 
• I've added an elite area on the west side of the lower bay, with numerous mansions. Picture something like Newport, Rhode Island's Cliff Walk. 

It's interesting getting a feel for the city as I make additions and changes. For example, I removed a number of streets to make room for mansions. In areas close to the water I began making use of side streets and breaking the grid pattern, assuming these were old parts of the city. Especially interesting is making additions that I know won't actually work out. For example, I can picture a number of places where traffic jams are destined to happen. Areas underneath highways will be rather unpleasant and the highways themselves break up neighborhoods.