Four Lane Vs Six Lane.

[Forneia]

I've been poking around with the free period. I must say that I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what the advantage of a four lane road is compared to a six lane.While I'm new to this and the last city builder I played was Sim City 2000 which has been a bit of a bumpy transition with many bad habits, I can't really say I'm seeing the value of the four-lane other than "It's cheaper". Clarification would be appreciated.

[Gnoerl]

In Cities Skylines the biggest road is not always the best possible road. Traffic is one of the most complex parts of this game. In early game traffic is easy to handle. But if you play Cities Skylines like Sim City 2000 (building just big blocks of buildings with biggest possible roads) you will get lost at early mid-game because of traffic jams etc..

First, smaller roads are cheaper - important point at the early game (if not creative mode).

But not only this, they also create less noise (good for low-pop zones - even 2 lane roads are just fine here), this benefits the health-factor a bit.

But most important: In some situations bigger roads will make things just more clunky, while small roads create a more "direct/guided" flow. The AI tends to use "big roads" (higher speed limit) instead of "small roads" (lower speed limit) to arrive their destination. With this in mind, you can "guide" your sims how to get from A to B.

You use it like in real life:

Highways -> Connector for big distances/outside connections
6 lane roads -> Main road for high-pop cities/districts
4 lane roads -> Main road for medium-pop cities/districts or first level sideroad.
2 lane roads -> Main road for low-pop cities/districts or second level sideroad.

You should have in mind that 4 lane roads (+) always create traffic lights at intersections, while 2 lane roads just use the right of way. This is something that can make a BIG difference in some situations - so it's not only the question "what are 4 lane roads good for?" it's also about "may it even better to just use a 2 lane road here?".

You don't want to have a traffic light every 10m in your low-pop area... so just use 2 lane roads. This can also be useful in smaller industrial or commercial zones... but i tend to use 4 lane roads and 2 lane roads in combination here, because otherwise loading/unloading vehicles would stop the traffic behind them.

At the end... it's too difficult to explain every single factor why you should not only use 6 lane roads, but at some point you will see it by yourself: bigger is not always better.

[onezerorising]

So first up, +1 to the post above.

To add/enlarge: Pay especial attention to the lane arrows afforded by the different road types. That is to say, when laying for example a six-lane road which is intersected by a cross-wise two-lane, the six lane will show lane arrows for left, right, and straight ahead. A four-lane road at the same intersection will show left/straight ahead, right/straight ahead (usually).

This can have serious implications for your traffic management, particularly if the sims show a prediliction for (say) left turns at the intersection - you will perhaps have straight ahead traffic backing up in your left lane.

Also, don't forget to consider the speeds attached to various road-types. A six lane (from memory) is 'faster' than a four lane and so might encourage more traffic to use it, which may be contrary to your 'grand plan'.

[Gnoerl]

+1 the post above... :D

Lane arrows are really a "little thing with huge impact". Lane arrows are a reason for me to use mods like "traffic president". Just to handle these little things to make the traffic-flow in my cities more performant - it really makes a difference how many arrows are guiding to left, right or just ahead...

I just try to avoid (direct) 4 way intersections to reduce the left-turn traffic jam in high-pop areas, so i prefer to use 3 way intersections (if possible) or traffic circles - especially in high-traffic areas.

It's just like a base guide: Less lane-arrows and/or less traffic lights = less traffic jam = more happy pop and more pleased commercial/industrial zones = better income. :D

[Forneia]

I appreciate the responses.

For clarity, there was no question about the advantage of two-lanes. My initial efforts were predominantly two-lane affairs. I have 48K Pops and an income of about 30K at the time I've decided to start anew with more understanding of how things work. (Not the least of which being how the toggle-buttons represent things. I thought Euro-roads were enabled by default. Oooops)

Also, traffic kind of eludes me as a concept because I don't drive. Last time I was on the road I got hit head-on by a pick-up at an intersection while on a two-wheel vehicle. Not really my scene, thus my inquiry.

[onezerorising]

:)

Disadvantage of four-lane roads: They come with a median. This means that delivery vehicles cannot deliver to a property on the left directly: they must find a route that will allow them access. Often a U-turn. Six-lane roads do not have a median and so will allow left-side deliveries directly, to the consternation of following traffic.

[grapplehoeker]

A 4 lane road is basically a dual carriage way, incorporating 2 lanes in opposite directions.
It has a speed limit of 50.
A 6 lane road is one way or 3 lanes in either direction, with 2 lanes to go left, 2 lanes to go straight on and 2 lanes to go right (one way) or 1 lane to go left, 1 lane to go straight on and 1 lane to go right (in either direction) and is used as an arterial road .
It has a speed limit of 60.
You may use either of these as arterial roads, and as arterial roads you should avoid zoning along them. They will be busy and that means noisy. Avoiding zoning along them will also mean you don't have any deliveries made to buildings alongside them.
Use them for quick direct access for traffic to flow freely and branch off them to the built up areas your traffic needs to get to.

[kristofburger]

grapplehoeker님이 먼저 게시:

A 6 lane road is one way and is used as an arterial road with 2 lanes to go left, 2 lanes to go straight on and 2 lanes to go right.
It has a speed limit of 60.

Not the only six-lane road in the game, try again ;)

[grapplehoeker]

ristosal님이 먼저 게시:

grapplehoeker님이 먼저 게시:

A 6 lane road is one way and is used as an arterial road with 2 lanes to go left, 2 lanes to go straight on and 2 lanes to go right.
It has a speed limit of 60.

Not the only six-lane road in the game, try again ;)

Yes, I should have stated they may be one way or not, with 3 lanes in opposing directions.
Edited above...
Or do you mean the other variations with bordered grass, noise limiting trees and bike lane/bus lanes? They're not really relevant to the point I was making. Or was there some other sort of 6 lane road?

[bradybrklyn]

I always ues two way six-lane roads for connections to highways as they can handle the most traffic and have the highest speed limit. Cims take the fastest route. The six-lane road is the workhorse of the game.

I'll use the four-lane avenues in a busy residential area and also for looks; they are fancier than any other road. It can handle most routine high density residential areas but is not sufficient as a connection to a highway and, as mentioned above, hampers deliveries in commercial areas.