1874 Plat Map for Olive Township, Clinton County, Iowa

Olive Township, Clinton County, Iowa (1874)

The University of Iowa has graciously posted the 1874 plat map collection for the entire state.  I've taken the liberty of cleaning the above plat map for Olive Township.

Holy Sepulchre Cemetery of Omaha Map

Holy Sepulchre Cemetery Map

Holy Sepulchre Cemetery Map. Omaha, NE

UNO Main Campus Expansion Part 2

New Dorm Towers at UNO

This is the other new dormitory complex I designed in Google Sketch-Up.  Unlike the existing student housing at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), this new dorm complex would be a traditional dorm tower.  However, these two new towers would retain the attractive apartment style floor-plan which all UNO housing features.  The towers would also sit on a massive 4 level parking garage.  UNO is infamous for its lack of parking, and the recent construction of a new community engagement center on an existing surface lot has made the problem worse.  The new towers would add more student housing on the main campus and help alleviate some of the parking woes.

UNO Main Campus Expansion

Top Down Map View of New Dorm & Parking Garage

This is something I finished over a year ago while I was living on campus at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).  I lived at Maverick Village for 3 years and watched as UNO transitioned from a commuter school to a traditional state university.  UNO continues to expand and needs more on campus housing to maintain the transition to a traditional university.  One of the glaring deficiencies at UNO is parking.  For students living on campus, they lack a cafeteria on the main campus.  That is, residents of University & Maverick Village have to travel to South Campus at Scott Hall to get food.

My proposed project is an expansion of student housing on main campus with a cafeteria and a new parking garage.  The new dorms will be connected in an all-in-one building to encourage student interaction.  The current setup at Maverick and University Village lends itself to students staying cooped up in their rooms and only getting to know people in their building.  This setup will be more in line with traditional dormitories while maintaining the suite style design that's attractive to today's student.  The ever present parking problem at UNO would be aggravated by constructing the new dormitories.  Therefore, I propose first building a new parking garage on the north lot to replace the parking lost and add additional parking stalls.

College Football Fan Base Map

This is something I've been working on periodically over the last few months.  I browse 4chan's sport boards and a map depicting college football fan bases comes up quite frequently.  The map itself is internet famous yet is terribly inaccurate.  So, I've taken the liberty to update it.

My Updated College Football Fan Base Map

Papillion Creek Wetland Restoration

I've grown up in and around the Papio Creek Watershed and have a personal connection to the area.  I am an avid hunter and conversationalist.  I've watched as urbanization has crept into the watershed and destroyed pristine wildlife habitat.  After talking to one of the few remaining local farmers, I learned that the floodplains used to be home to the great Papio Creek Wetlands.  Thousands of birds annually used this critical stopover while migrating.  Unfortunately, the Creeks have been impounded by a massive flood control system of dykes that have dried up almost all of the wetland.  As a result, the creek itself has irregular water flows and has become heavily polluted.  Today, the floodplain is used primarily for agriculture and industrial waste.

What I propose doing, is blowing strategic holes in the dykes in the proposed area, and letting the creek retake its floodplain. Wetlands would help clean up the water coming out of the Omaha metro before it enters the Missouri River. It would also help regulate the flow of water, meaning more stable flows.  This would help native flora and fauna-including the endangered Topeka Shiner-and provide a slice of 'nature' in the middle of the city.  Obviously, as a waterfowl hunter, I have a penchant for ducks and geese.  The restoration of this habitat would benefit them greatly, and who knows, if geography allowed it, perhaps a slice of the wetlands could be reserved for hunting waterfowl.  Many Omaha area hunters have to travel a long distance to find suitable public hunting grounds.

The shaded areas are where I propose restoring the Papillion Creek Floodplains back to their original state.  Existing Infrastructure (power lines) is marked in yellow. 

Omaha Mass Transit

Omaha is a fast growing mid-sized city in the heart of the country.  The city itself has just over 400k residents and the metro is about double that size.  Currently, Omaha is a very car-centric city and congestion is a minimal problem.  You can travel anywhere in the city in under 20 minutes.  As Omaha continues to grow, we will eventually hit a sprawl wall.  Congestion will increase and the city will need some form of public transportation system to alleviate the added stress to the city's infrastructure.

Our city needs to start planning and thinking about how it will deal with future problems brought on by growth.  There is presently no need for any type of public rail infrastructure in the city.  However, once the metro area passes the 1 million population barrier, the city should expect rapid growth, as the city will suddenly appear on large multinational corporations' radar.  The 1 million population mark will bring an influx of jobs and people that Omaha's current infrastructure will be unable to handle. 

I've taken the liberty to draft 2 different plans for public rail in Omaha.  The first plan is a heavy rail (subways) based concept.  The second utilizes existing rail corridors and light rail while minimizing the use of heavy rail (subways).

NOTE: Both concepts utilize 'alternate routes'.  These are routes that would NOT be built, but could be if one of the original proposed routes was deemed to costly or impractical.  For example, on the 1st proposed plan, the Pink Line is an alternate route for the Red Line.  If the Red Line was deemed impractical, than the Pink Line would become 'Plan B'.