Had Enough

[GmanUK1965]

I remember the main reason for quitting CS1 was the traffic jams and the same goes for CS2. They completely baffle me. I've played this game for a week just dealing with traffic jams and getting nowhere. So it's not the many bugs in this game (I've not experienced many) but the traffic jams which all are beyond me, that have finished me off

[edumacacion]

my traffic flow in city skylines 2 is pretty good. granted I only have 30000 citizens. Im playing with unlock all and im not building very much on each road so people aren't stopping in the middle of an intersection to go home. the traffic to me is the game. the game is a worse case scenario for traffic and you have to figure out how to plan your city to avoid traffic. real city planners have played this game and they managed to get great traffic stats. the question is how does everyone get to one place and how do I get them there faster. traffic accidents are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ though but I suppose there ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in real life too.

[john.glossop]

If your road network is too simplistic, it will jam all the time. You need to structure your roads in three layers - Arterial, Feeder and local. For Arterial and Feeder, don't use roundabouts or traffic lights - use interchanges, so that traffic can flow freely. Arterials need to be as wide as you can afford - up to highway standard 2 lanes each way. Feeders can be either highways or 4 lane local roads.
Make sure your buses and tramways are routed so that they don't interfere with car traffic (and vice versa) - dedicated bus lanes and tramways are best, here.
And finally, if you think that your city warrants it, use trains and (preferably) subways.
Don't forget that roads don't need to be on the ground - especially Arterials and Feeders - they can be above, or below, the ground (or any combination thereof).
And don't forget to provide plenty of off-street parking, to keep your roads clear.
One thing I WOULD like to see introduced, is Clearways. For those who don't know that term, I'm talking about streets and roads where parking is not permitted at the curbside, but to make that work, you must have lots of off-street parking. Remember, on many roads, your lanes are cut by 2 (one each side) just by cars parking on the street.

[GmanUK1965]

I have a town (hasn't reached city status yet) with 16000 cims and it seems to be running fine with 5,000,000 in the bank and gaining 50,000/h but it has several traffic bottlenecks (didn't plan the road network very well) which I do not know how to rectify without uprooting most of the town for better road network but still not sure how I would do that. So I put that town a side for a bit and started a new town and taking my time in planning.

The new town has 2000 cims so far and one traffic jam on the main road which has four lanes. The line of cars goes right back onto highway

[GmanUK1965]

The road that the main road connects to has only 2 lanes so maybe I should try changing that to four lanes too

[john.glossop]

Go to Community>Home (on this site - in blue - above)
Under Community Activity, In the "FIND HUBS" box ( on the right), and type in "Cities Skylines". You'll get a short list. Select Cities: SkylinesII.
That will take you to the CS2 home page. Under "All", Patch Notes 1.1.7 etc is to the left. On the right, currently second item down, you'll see "Guide", and under that is the title "The Ultimate Traffic Guide"
Open that, and you'll find expert advice as to just how to manage your road network to your advantage.

[Yebashenko ✅♿]

Originally posted by GmanUK1965:

I remember the main reason for quitting CS1 was the traffic jams and the same goes for CS2. They completely baffle me. I've played this game for a week just dealing with traffic jams and getting nowhere. So it's not the many bugs in this game (I've not experienced many) but the traffic jams which all are beyond me, that have finished me off

Just check on YT City Planner Plays, he posted a full guide for roads in Cities, including landscaping, etc.
Road hierarchy is very important - Highway - 3 lanes - 2 lanes - 1 lane
Jungtions every 10 meters are killer as well, try doing something like a closed communuty with main roads leading to it, it should solve many problems.

[Smokie]

Road infrastructure isn't the only reason or way to solve traffic. Nobody mentions the city layout. For example if you create one huge industry area and one big downtown area and then clump a bunch of high density between it with only one or two ways between the areas. I solved many traffic problems by just rezoning, changing density in the area, creating new commercial areas, new neighbourhoods. Although correct road infrastructure can solve all traffic issues.
Not only that the AI does seem wonky. They make u-turns anywhere they want, lane changing happens only on certain nodes so everyone wanting to make a lane change does it at the exact same spot in the road. There isn't really efficient ways to control lights, lane changing, yielding vs. stopping. Some mods can help in this area but the game sucks and crashes with mods. I am with ya, I quit until they fix this dumpster fire.

[sternenstaub70]

Originally posted by GmanUK1965:

I remember the main reason for quitting CS1 was the traffic jams and the same goes for CS2. They completely baffle me. I've played this game for a week just dealing with traffic jams and getting nowhere. So it's not the many bugs in this game (I've not experienced many) but the traffic jams which all are beyond me, that have finished me off

if your traffic jams, then it's mainly a problem of your city layout, not a problem of the game.

In CS1 the last city I played, I turned off despawning from the very beginning - and guess what, even with more than 150k population (that's a lot in CS1) I had barely jams, at least none which started completely blocking all streets.
And if ever a jam happened I checked what all of a sudden is causing it and tried solving the issue. In worst case I demolished what I last built or built a bypass or some other kind of workaround.
In CS2 things work very similar, and theoretically even better for players since there is are no huge truck jams near industry areas as they happened often in CS1.

As others already stated, road hierarchy is essential.
But it's also important to keep distances short.

It's not very helpful if residentals are in one corner of the map, industry in a different one, and the same with offices and commerce and there is only one single main road connecting each of those areas.
Then it's inevitable that jams happen.

[Zerotheliger]

yeah i dont get why people keep complaining about traffic it works fine. people need to understand that american cities are ♥♥♥♥ and alot of planning needs to actually go into road networks

[martinolund]

Originally posted by GmanUK1965:

I remember the main reason for quitting CS1 was the traffic jams and the same goes for CS2. They completely baffle me. I've played this game for a week just dealing with traffic jams and getting nowhere. So it's not the many bugs in this game (I've not experienced many) but the traffic jams which all are beyond me, that have finished me off

You just don't know how to be an effective traffic manager. There are some really good guides on these things out there, go read em, and become the best ever traffic planner in the world, that is your goal. Enjoy the hunt.

[GmanUK1965]

Yeah, that's about right "I don't know how to be an effective traffic manager"
Every time I see a traffic jam and try to guess how to rectify it and so far my guessing has been incorrect which leads to heavy sweating with headaches and the feeling that my head is going to explode with not knowing what to do next

[Wenatchee Willie]

Originally posted by GmanUK1965:

Yeah, that's about right "I don't know how to be an effective traffic manager"
Every time I see a traffic jam and try to guess how to rectify it and so far my guessing has been incorrect which leads to heavy sweating with headaches and the feeling that my head is going to explode with not knowing what to do next

I have found that the majority of traffic jams will usually sort themselves out eventually, providing you have the necessary transit infrastucture in place.

[GmanUK1965]

Can somebody explain this please? I do agree that my traffic management might be diabolical.

Previously after starting this post I changed the main road from the highway into a one way four lane road and set up another one way road leading to highway. I have noticed there are cars coming into the town, drive past some empty ground then leave viz the other one way road back to highway

Why is this?

[Haystack]

Don't know or give a damn about CS2 but in CS1 I build DLC Industry first and keep it isolated from City traffic by road system. By the time I have completed the Industrial and the metro the hard coded built in moving vehicle limits have kicked in and city traffic jams are no longer any issue. Traffic in the industrial areas is a mess but who cares? No one ever goes sight seeing there anyway. City traffic is always Great !

[Whooda]

Hahaha, some of these replies are either just criticisms of the game or a longer version of "get good" and that sucks so here's some actual tips my dude;
Cims tend to prioritize being on faster roads so they will go out of their way to make it onto a highway. Later on it's a good idea to separate the highway from your main road with on/off ramps but until you can afford both the space and cost it's best to keep your main road a 6 lane two way in my experience. Unlock the first road upgrade asap so you can control where lights/stop-signs/crosswalks are and possibly ban turns at some intersections remembering to give traffic another way to go.
Make intersections as far away from each other as you can stand to and never zone anything directly on the main road. Leave yourself plenty of room near it because you'll need space later (I always forget this and find I've built myself into a corner)
I have found it helps to expand slowly once you've hit positive income. Make some changes then let traffic cook for a while, if things start to back up you can always move/dezone/demolish those changes as a last resort.
It also might help to fix your lane mathematics, sometimes you may need to add a lane in before or after a busy turn using asymmetrical roads. If that doesn't work add a side road somewhere that might redirect traffic away from or around the clump of cars. Industry and high density make a lot of traffic and should have direct access to, preferably, a highway connection or your main road at the start.
Eventually mass transit can help if you can figure out where people are trying to drive to instead of walking, just remember this will cause pedestrian traffic to gather near stops so don't put them directly on main roads if you can avoid it.

That's pretty much everything I know about fixing traffic, there's also no shame in trying things out in a sandbox like setting using a map with all the tiles unlocked and infinite cash until you can get traffic management down, it's a single player simulator game after all not a competitive shooter. There are also traffic mods that can help but I'd recommend you understand the basics first.