Road hierarchy...

[Agent Chieftain]

Am I doing this right? The road connecting straight from the highway entrance/exit is a two-way 6 lane, which would be my arterial. The other large roads connecting off the sides of it are two-way four lane roads, which should be my collectors. And then two lane dirt roads would be my locals.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3380486415

[MarkJohnson]

Looking good, but I always hate dirt roads. It's just a PITA to upgrade them.

Hierarchy is overrated IMHO, I like using a couple road types, otherwise the hierarchy tends to funnel traffic down a single road and create choke points from traffic funneling in the priority road.

Most of this is nitpicking, but you will find your way after a short while and have a metropolis up in no time.

[OneJasonBradly]

Yup, what you have drawn is a hierarchy design for sure.

[james]

I prefer using dedicated turn lanes with asym roads

[beatles42o]

Originally posted by james:

I prefer using dedicated turn lanes with asym roads

any help with that?

i struggle with traffic, it seems no matter how many routes i make, 75% of traffic is stuck in one lane no matter what i do.

[OneJasonBradly]

Originally posted by beatles42o:

Originally posted by james:

I prefer using dedicated turn lanes with asym roads

any help with that?

i struggle with traffic, it seems no matter how many routes i make, 75% of traffic is stuck in one lane no matter what i do.

There are many reasons for single laning. From traffic flow too slow for the volume in that lane to lane forcing. Lane forcing is where traffic is being pushed out of their lane of choice due to an intersecting street claiming the lane for turning purposes. Single laning can also happen when all the intersecting streets are the same causing a common lane for this and that. Which can confuse the agents.

Common lane single laning issue
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1829703708
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2410668033

Lane forcing.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2374541543
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qjcg39CgSc
Here I move through traffic (that is traffic not wanting to turn at the intersection) to the middle lane of the six lane bidirectional street.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9GLjJygzIA
Crude understand on Heiarchy and how speed control creates the quickest route choice, rather than always choosing the shortest regardless of where it goes through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzk8cmTWq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJQuR1Y4DF8

[mbutton15]

It's as good a place to start as any. As already mentioned, your layout preference will evolve over time.

There are a couple of principles I try to stick with when building roads.
Firstly, the faster the road the further apart junctions should be on it.
Secondly, I try to avoid crossroads. So my layouts are full of T-junctions.
And a bonus, I only zone against small roads. All my medium/large roads are for access only.

[james]

Originally posted by beatles42o:

Originally posted by james:

I prefer using dedicated turn lanes with asym roads

any help with that?

i struggle with traffic, it seems no matter how many routes i make, 75% of traffic is stuck in one lane no matter what i do.

I do use TM:PE to dictate the lane changes so this doesnt solve for the certain vanilla issues but the concept of dedicated turn lanes exists outside of TM:PE and can aid in traffic. Here's some quick screenshots of some of my current intersections

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3382360902
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3382360895
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3382360885
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3382360873
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3382360861
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3382360846

[numbat]

Originally posted by beatles42o:

i struggle with traffic, it seems no matter how many routes i make, 75% of traffic is stuck in one lane no matter what i do.

Do you use TM:PE? If yes, there is a setting on one of the tabs to turn on the advanced AI, and to set the lane change aggressiveness. I had the same "one lane" issue until I turned this on, and set the slider to around 85%. That fixed it for me.

I do tend to implement lane mathematics more and more, as well as asym roads, but the above setting has changed the way I look at traffic now.

Cheers,
Chris.