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I noticed that I got some initial traffic problems at the point where the initial highway is connected to my city. At the beginning I simply elongated both roads that came from that highway, but this doesn't seem to scale.

What I wanted to do now is to create a single six-lane highway from these two four-lane roads. I'd be open to continue to use two roads in parallel here, but I didn't manage to add any way of crossing between the lanes when I tried that idea.

So, how do I merge two one-way roads into a single two-way road? Or, if my idea is really bad, what is a good way to connect the initial highway access to my fledgling city?

Here's a screenshot of the roads I want to connect, if my description wasn't entirely clear:

enter image description here

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    Seems to me the game is missing a merge road block, one(or multiple) that are able to merge 2 roads into 1, without it looking stupid. Each map uses 2 roads to connect to the outside, 3 way roads, one coming in and one out. This is what should be made available: i.imgur.com/0xYvB4q.png Not only would it look a lot better, it would not use traffic lights, as a T road solution would, keeping the traffic speed optimal. Just found a thread of the forums where people are discussing this very problem: forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/…
    – user105311
    Mar 12, 2015 at 5:26

9 Answers 9

41

The simplest, easiest and most compact way to connect the starting highway to a smaller main road is to just use a pair of one-way roads - one set from the incoming highway to the end of the main road, and one from the end of the main road to the outgoing highway.

This isn't necessarily the best junction, but it avoids traffic lights and allows uninterrupted flow of traffic on to and off of the highway - all for very little effort. I've found it to be sufficient for quite a long while after starting a city, I get much more traffic build up elsewhere first.

At the start of the game you cannot build additional highways, so for now you can use one-way 2-lane roads (see left image). This isn't great though - as well as looking a bit odd, the 2-lane road also has a lower speed limit than both the highway and six-line that it connects. It still works pretty well, but you should upgrade these links to use highway once you unlock them (see right image).

Highways at the top. 6-lane at the bottom.
2-lane version is left image. Highway version is right image.
enter image description hereenter image description here

Also, as a bonus, you can see an extra outbound highway link coming from the left for trucks leaving my industrial area.
Note how that merges with the other highway section in a way that doesn't interrupt traffic.

As said, this still isn't perfect. If you note the inbound road has a 'turn right' arrow in its right hand lane - which allows traffic to U-turn back onto the highway. In the highway version, this actually means only the left two of the three lanes will be used to merge.

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    This is what I did. But I'm convinced there might be a better way. It really seems like a developer oversight. +1 anyway.
    – geoO
    Sep 21, 2015 at 14:02
15

Using a roundabout is a solution. Not the best one, but it works quite well when the traffic increases:

enter image description here

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good road network

This worked perfectly for me! You can start out with smaller roads that connect the highway with industrial and residential areas and as the game progress and you earn more money you can bulldoze them and put the broader ones instead. I managed to afford this layout from the beginning, but I don't recommend it because it was tough!

Just don't forget to put one-way roads in the right direction. In the picture the "Y" above the ground lets the traffic into the city. The "Y" on the ground level lets the traffic out of the city.

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  • Even then it feels like there's a missing "Merge" block to merge these lanes together… That would be much easier and better looking. Mar 15, 2015 at 4:51
  • My point actually was to not merge it over there but instead have the residents take the two roads below through the commercial area when they are going to work and back home. The highway is used by industrial trucks and by citizens that in the future will work beyond the existing border. And when it comes to what looks best, I personally like a variety of intersections and try keep it as clean as possible in the beginning. This layout still works perfectly as the city grows.
    – nat
    Mar 15, 2015 at 18:43
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I used DMA57361's set up for a while and it worked fine up until ~25-30K people. Even at that point, the specific intersection in his answer worked great and had virtually no traffic at it. However, I found as my city grew, traffic started piling up down the road from this intersection and on other roads heading into the main one.

Consequently, I removed that original highway=>6-lane-road connection and extended my highway down into my city. Adjacent to my highway, on either side. I have a 2-lane one-way road acting as a service road to the highway. This gives drivers numerous entrances and exits throughout the city and spreads them out from the main road and its major branches. Traffic has been significantly reduced since I started this setup and I have been very happy with its performance.

Here is the new flow I have. The original highway connection was at the top of the picture - near where the highways start lifting up off the ground.

enter image description here

On a side note, I was inspired to this design from the BQE in NYC, which has a similar flow at various points.

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  • how many squares wide is the raised highway and exit ramp and parallel road?
    – syn1kk
    Apr 19, 2021 at 0:43
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This is how I solved the issue. I m not claiming it is very space-efficient, but it is most certainly the most elegant one I came up with. What I do is:

  • I add some one way 6 lane roads to the highway
  • I connect those to a two-way 6 lane road in different locations.

PS: You could do the same with 2 lane roads (as long as they go in 1 direction), but they can handle less traffic.

Highway to 6-lane road

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    Cant believe I'm saying this about roads... But that's gorgeous
    – nickson104
    Feb 3, 2016 at 10:59
  • I like this idea, but is that the right picture? The road configuration isn't (as far as I can tell) connecting the highway ends from the game's beginning. Feb 3, 2016 at 13:42
  • @Namfuak The two main roads leading from the south side of the intersection are basically the same as the two roads you start a game with. (2 highway sections leading in opposite directions) Feb 4, 2016 at 0:49
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I've used roundabouts to pretty good effect. It's definitely a good idea to get a least one other highway connection in another area pretty quickly.

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if the problem is that, when allowing a U turn at the entrance of the city, only 2 of the 3 lanes will be used. you might try this:

    A

=============================

                        B

The equal signs represent the 2-way 6-lane road. You connect the highway IN at A when it means the cars would enter and turn left, and you connect OUT to the highway from B, when the cars would come from the left into this exit. Use some bridges, and you'd got no U turn at the entrance.

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I have found either continuing the highway and making smaller interchanges or just a simple roundabout works quite well for a long while (usually until approximately 100k population).

-1

Use the highway. It is in the rightmost tab

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    Unless you have a mod which unlocks all the roads at the start of the game, Highways are not available when you start the game - which is when you need to build that connection. In fact that connection is the first thing you need to build. Jun 17, 2015 at 7:00
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    The connection isn't the first thing you need to build. You can build your first road somewhere else and only connect it when you're ready to begin the simulation. Still won't get highways for quite some time, though... Oct 27, 2015 at 11:20

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