How do you handle the highway-entrance?

[Dennis[DK]]

How do you handle the highway-entrance into your (new) city? I find it quite difficult to find a suitable way to make it efficient, realistic, nice and pretty, especially with the initial tools/options you have.

[the man who sold skanvord]

One-way roundabout? 1 road to the city, 2 exits to & from highway.

[Dennis[DK]]

OK, is that possible with the initial avaliable roundabout? How is that possible?

[Twelvefield]

I don't really worry about the beginning, which for me is about generating funds. After there's enough, it's no big deal to tear down everything and rebuild it properly.

[GOTH!KA]

Roundabouts. Draw a small road with the first available road to unlock dirt roads. Delete it. Then get the dirt roads, make a plus (+) with them. Make each arm at least 15 units long. Then get the one-way road and use the curve tool to join the arms together, 15 units up, 15 units across. Delete the dirt plus in the middle. Connect to high way. Boom. Perfect entrance. I then have smaller roundabouts on the ends of the road connected to the main roundabout. Its the best way to manage traffic flow and future proof your city.

[Viperswhip]

Always a two lane-one way round about, large, with spokes, another smaller round about in the middle with commercial, spokes going out to the industrial and residential areas. It works really well. I kind of repeat the theme depending on the map.

[^6Hani Nachmias]

First, a roundabout, when the population is larger and it can't handle the traffic I switch to six lane roads.

[Sonic]

The best way is not to concentrate every trafiic, coming from the highway, to only one mainstreet alone. Several entrances into the city solve the problem. For different parts of the city also use several highway exits. Just a roundabout alone comes very quickly to its limits.

[Vincent Guo]

Try this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwj2ZiiFSs

[Blake Walsh]

Usually I leave space to extend the highway stub into a true highway passing through the city. Extending the stub into a proper highway is a good way to deliver truck traffic and immigrants deep into the city. It is acceptable and sensible to use an underground highway and I once calculated that it is cheaper to do so; when you build a highway on the surface, that is non-tax paying land. Tunnels costs 6x as much upkeep as their surface equivilants, but you free up all those surface tiles for tax-paying buildings, and the maths add up to the tunnel being the much more cost-effective option.
The main argument against using an underground highway is that you don't get to watch the traffic except in underground view, which isn't as satisfying.

But anyway, at the start of the game before you have the resources to build a highway, and before high density, it really doesn't matter what connection you use with the highway - normal 2-way small roads will be fine. You can also draw a one-way road connecting the two stubs and use a 2-way road to connect to your city. It will tide you over until high density.

[Aenarion]

As others have said, there are basically two options:

(1) Roundabout
(2) Extend the highway stub into a proper highway with numerous junctions for access to surface streets.

[Irkie500]

I usually do a "bell" type roundabout. I start with drawing down, then to the left say 10 units, down 10 units then right 10 units, forming a bell shaped road. Mirror this method for the outgoing road, and then create the roundabout in the middle. Traffic flows smoothly in and out, and upgrading to 6 lane roads or highways will last you up to around 50k people.

[Dennis[DK]]

Thanks for the advices!

[UndeadHunter]

I suggest you to use your highways with T exits, never do a cross, neither with roundsabouts. I have no transit with this strategy, even with 200,000 citizens in my city. And i prefer separated one-way roads to each side (and them I do a roundabout with avenues).

[Aenarion]

Originally posted by UndeadHunter:

I suggest you to use your highways with T exits, never do a cross, neither with roundsabouts. I have no transit with this strategy, even with 200,000 citizens in my city. And i prefer separated one-way roads to each side (and them I do a roundabout with avenues).

This is such terrible advice. Four-way interchanges reduce congestion significantly. If you use two three-way interchanges instead the highway connecting them is a bottleneck with loads of unnecessary conflicts.

For instance, this interchange complex was originally two three-way interchanges, and the highway between them was at a standstill. I solved the problem by building long parallel ramps so M6 traffic doesn't have to give way to M10 traffic, basically turning it into a four-way interchange.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=574985872

[azxcvbnm321]

Don't stress out too much in the beginning. I ended up redoing my original entrance later on. Just make sure to leave some room.