Yeah, plus the W-S project cost $100M for about a mile of 421 reconstruction. With how long it was closed and how little impact it seemed to have while it was closed, it really calls into question the necessity of keeping some of these aging urban freeways around, because at least in W-S clearly most of the city was easily able to move on. NC147/Durham Freeway seems like it has the best chance on paper of getting removed at some point now that I-885 is done. I-240 in Asheville should really be removed as well, but unfortunately the DOT will be doubling down on it by building a new and extremely expensive interchange as part of the I-26 project. That is expected to be the most expensive infrastructure project in NC history (though its price tag will eventually be absolutely clobbered by the planned I-77 South Express Lanes project in Charlotte).
I agree with you. I put “smaller” in quotations, hoping someone would notice the difference in density shown in the Wikipedia screenshots. 
North Cambridge, MA
Minuteman Bikeway and connected bike routes:
Charlestown
Newly completed Bill Russell Bridge:
I was watching Young Indiana Jones today, which was filmed in Wilmington in the '90s. This one episode has all of this Edison stuff which is obviously filmed in downtown Durham, standing in for Menlo Park, NJ. Small world.
Downtown Hickory maybe just a pass through city on the way to Asheville on I-40 but worth a stop. They have a great little downtown with restaurants and shops.
I’m not sure if Cary or the Fenton owners built this road but they did a really good job with the design of Quinard Drive.
I really love how there are on and off street bike facilities 
(on-street bike lanes and MUP). We need more streets like this throughout the region.
Your reminder to keep Western NC in your travel plans this fall they need the tourists and it keeps the money in state too. Asheville is seeing every month improve but it is still light on the weekdays. Bitlmore Village is coming back the Grand Bohemian is back open, the McDonalds in rising again anew, other shops are open as are a few restaurants there. More work is to be done but it is coming back. Blue Ridge Parkway is now open to Mt Pisgah south and one final stretch needs to be paved which will happen in the next week or so and then it will reopen all the way down to Cherokee. BRP to the north towards Grandfather Mtn is still closed. I did see where a landslide had taken place south towards Mt Pisgah but now repaired. Downtown looks as good as ever. And the food is fantastic as always in Asheville. So elevate your altitude to elevate your attitude. https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm
Okay a few more from Asheville with a couple from Biltmore Village. Plus the mountain views from the Parkway that never fail to impress. The River Arts district very hard hit seemed to move uphill and New Belgium is brewing again (bottom floor of the plant was flooded) Visit Asheville and Western NC and drop money.
I get to play @John today. Life brought me to Miami Beach and we had a day to hang out and see the area. Given I’ve actually been here many times and I’m typically seeing family, it was nice to walk around. Note, I always seem to come at the extreme low season and my photos have no one in them.
It so nice that along the main drive, Ocean Drive, there is plenty of public space and I hadn’t seen these nice bike lanes before.
Miami Beach, a heavy tourist area, has a big resident population. It’s all “missing middle” housing and single-family homes, they exist, but are rare.
You also have interesting hot spots like Española Way. It’s real nice that you have a cluster of old, historic buildings with restaurants spilling into the streets where only pedestrians and food delivery robots are allowed.
Another pedestrian-only street is Lincoln Road. This is a street with restaurants and retail for several blocks. We made a quick stop so I don’t have any good photos, you can look it up on street view but here are 3 things Raleigh could take note. This fountain/wave pool was awesome.
There were also dogs who would take your picture.
Even rabbits who also knew how to use a camera. What a magical place.
Of course, Miami Beach is not on the same level but the Raleigh I want to see should embrace infill development, reuse of our historic buildings, and less car dependency. It’s always inspiring to travel!
I loved Young Indy so much. My prized treasure was a series of Young Indy Choose Your Own Adventure books. I died more times than I can count.
You got to actually hang out with @John? Or I believe he’s in Raleigh now?
Anyway, we enjoyed the tour of Lincoln Road and others when we were in town hanging with @John.
I sure hope that you grabbed a sandwich at La Sandwicherie. Their sandwiches are delicious and their operation on that tiny sliver of retail space is something to behold and emulate in downtown Raleigh. In fact, I think that there are LOTS of lessons to be learned by Raleigh from South Beach’s walkable urbanism. It’s an incredibly walkable places with lots of experiences in support of both tourists and residents, and the amount of walkability for residents is just tremendous. FWIW, Miami Beach only has buses and trolleys and yet it hasn’t been a barrier to providing urbanism because it has a substantial number of residents and visitors “on the sidewalk” daily. Even in low season (now), and with mostly its residents, South Beach supports 3 Publix, Trader Joe’s, Fresh Market, Whole Foods, several CVS/Walgreens, 3 Ross, Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Best Buy, Target, 17 screen Regal Cinema, Macy’s, Apple, Gap, Nike, H&M, Zara, and on and on and on. The key is residents, and that’s why I am all-in on proposed projects that maximize the number of residents added to downtown Raleigh.