AHC: Upper Peninsula has city with population over 1M in 2017

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

.

[Figueira]

"City" here means urban area?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

"City" here means urban area?

It means a municipality, like NYC, LA, Houston, et cetera

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Cities don't just spring up for no reason. About the only way to get even a 100K sized city there would be to have Canada be part of the U.S. and as a result have  Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan be the bigger of the two Soos.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Why couldn't there be a mid-sized big city on the level of Toledo up there?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Why couldn't there be a mid-sized big city on the level of Toledo up there?

Why would there be?  As I said, cities don't come into existence for no reason.   Until the Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957 there was no road link between the upper and lower peninsulas. There never was a rail link. Between the two Soos, while a rail bridge was built in 1880, there wasn't a road link until 1962.  The transportation difficulties alone make the development of a big city in the UP extremely unlikely.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Why couldn't there be a mid-sized big city on the level of Toledo up there?

Why would there be?  As I said, cities don't come into existence for no reason.   Until the Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957 there was no road link between the upper and lower peninsulas. There never was a rail link. Between the two Soos, while a rail bridge was built in 1880, there wasn't a road link until 1962.  The transportation difficulties alone make the development of a big city in the UP extremely unlikely.

The UP is just centrally located in the Great Lakes region though. In some alternate universe, that fact could help power a city to a 150k-200k population.
Transportation is the biggest problem though. A smaller US focused on the Great Lakes and building up infastructure there might help...

[Mike Thick]

Why couldn't there be a mid-sized big city on the level of Toledo up there?

Why would there be?  As I said, cities don't come into existence for no reason.   Until the Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957 there was no road link between the upper and lower peninsulas. There never was a rail link. Between the two Soos, while a rail bridge was built in 1880, there wasn't a road link until 1962.  The transportation difficulties alone make the development of a big city in the UP extremely unlikely.

The UP is just centrally located in the Great Lakes region though. In some alternate universe, that fact could help power a city to a 150k-200k population.
Transportation is the biggest problem though. A smaller US focused on the Great Lakes and building up infastructure there might help...

It isn't just transportation -- the geography is swampy in the East and rugged in the West. The soil and climate are really not on your side either.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Why couldn't there be a mid-sized big city on the level of Toledo up there?

Why would there be?  As I said, cities don't come into existence for no reason.   Until the Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957 there was no road link between the upper and lower peninsulas. There never was a rail link. Between the two Soos, while a rail bridge was built in 1880, there wasn't a road link until 1962.  The transportation difficulties alone make the development of a big city in the UP extremely unlikely.

The UP is just centrally located in the Great Lakes region though. In some alternate universe, that fact could help power a city to a 150k-200k population.
Transportation is the biggest problem though. A smaller US focused on the Great Lakes and building up infastructure there might help...

Detroit is far better placed as being centrally located on the lakes with Superior and Michigan-Huron above and Eire and Ontario below.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Why couldn't there be a mid-sized big city on the level of Toledo up there?

Why would there be?  As I said, cities don't come into existence for no reason.   Until the Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957 there was no road link between the upper and lower peninsulas. There never was a rail link. Between the two Soos, while a rail bridge was built in 1880, there wasn't a road link until 1962.  The transportation difficulties alone make the development of a big city in the UP extremely unlikely.

The UP is just centrally located in the Great Lakes region though. In some alternate universe, that fact could help power a city to a 150k-200k population.
Transportation is the biggest problem though. A smaller US focused on the Great Lakes and building up infastructure there might help...

Detroit is far better placed as being centrally located on the lakes with Superior and Michigan-Huron above and Eire and Ontario below.

the best route would seem then to be increasing the importance of Lake Superior, and making ports like Duluth bigger then?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Why couldn't there be a mid-sized big city on the level of Toledo up there?

Why would there be?  As I said, cities don't come into existence for no reason.   Until the Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957 there was no road link between the upper and lower peninsulas. There never was a rail link. Between the two Soos, while a rail bridge was built in 1880, there wasn't a road link until 1962.  The transportation difficulties alone make the development of a big city in the UP extremely unlikely.

The UP is just centrally located in the Great Lakes region though. In some alternate universe, that fact could help power a city to a 150k-200k population.
Transportation is the biggest problem though. A smaller US focused on the Great Lakes and building up infastructure there might help...

Detroit is far better placed as being centrally located on the lakes with Superior and Michigan-Huron above and Eire and Ontario below.

the best route would seem then to be increasing the importance of Lake Superior, and making ports like Duluth bigger then?

Nah. That'd make Duluth bigger, but there's no reason it would help out a UP city. Maybe if the St. Mary's River had been more of an obstacle and Lake Michigan-Huron had been two lakes without easy passage between then a large city at the northern tip of Lake Michigan would've been a natural transportation hub, but that would've also increased the importance of Detroit and Toledo and shrunk Chicago considerably.