How to relieve congestion on my bridges?

[Velo222 1]

I have a region tile that contains my "main city". That is, it's the biggest city in my region so far. And I made a river that runs through the center of my city tile from top to bottom. The problem is, I had really high congestion on my first bridge that I built across this river, so to solve that problem, I simply built another bridge. However now, both bridges are congested, and I really don't want to keep on making bridges, as it would be an eye-sore to me -- having like 16 bridges over my river would look really dumb to me lol.

My "advisor" said that I could upgrade the bridge to accomodate for higher volume, but I see no such option? Is it even possible to "upgrade" a bridge in Simcity 4? So, my main question, is how can I relieve the congestion on my bridges without having to build too many of them? I already have two passenger ferries (or whatever you call them) transporting people by boat as well.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Blurque 9]

You could lay a subay system, it's also possible to lay them under water. This just relieves the traffic volume of all your roads, so also the bridges.

If you want to "upgrade" a bridge I think you will need to delete the bridge and build a new one with a road with more capacity (an avenue insted of a normal road for instance).

Hope this is what you meant.

[Velo222 1]

I forgot about dragging avenues and highways over the river to make the bridge! Thank you for reminding me lol. Maybe that is what the advisor means, I completely forgot. I did know about subways going under-water, and I have one already, but I will maybe put some subway entrances by the ends of my bridges too and just make some more? Thanks for the reply that is what I was looking for. I will definitely "upgrade" my bridges now with avenue and highway bridges

[AIX 270]

I forgot about dragging avenues and highways over the river to make the bridge! Thank you for reminding me lol. Maybe that is what the advisor means, I completely forgot. I did know about subways going under-water, and I have one already, but I will maybe put some subway entrances by the ends of my bridges too and just make some more? Thanks for the reply that is what I was looking for. I will definitely "upgrade" my bridges now with avenue and highway bridges

Yes, that is exactly what the adviser meant. Was it a road bridge you had to begin with?

Subways would be a great option once your city gets larger and more dense. When I have large crossings, I make sure it is fully covered with bus and subway lines. I also recommend putting parking garages near the subway stations in your residential areas to encourage sims to "park and ride". I have seen that trick reduce road congestion 3-fold.

[Velo222 1]

Yes, that is exactly what the adviser meant. Was it a road bridge you had to begin with?

Subways would be a great option once your city gets larger and more dense. When I have large crossings, I make sure it is fully covered with bus and subway lines. I also recommend putting parking garages near the subway stations in your residential areas to encourage sims to "park and ride". I have seen that trick reduce road congestion 3-fold.

Ya I just had a road bridge. I don't know why I didn't think about starting the bridge with an avenue or highway, I just had a brain fart I guess lol. So I will make some "highway bridges" now. That should help a lot I bet, I havn't gotten back into the game yet though to actually do it. That is a good idea with the parking garages too, I will try that. It's good to see people still play this game and have some good ideas. I've enjoyed Simcity since the original one, but Simcity 4 seems to have a lot of traffic problems that are hard to fix for me.

I was relieved to see that subways could go under-water too.

[Cob92 360]

Yeah, just bulldoze the old bridge and build one of a bigger network in its place. You could also set up a ferry, or run a rail or subway line parallel to the original road.

[N G T 3]

Yeah, also try rail connections, subway and other public trans. Itll lower the commute time even more

[Joe 90 358]

If you think bridges are an eyesore, you can use tunnels instead, with a bit of judicious temporary terraforming.

Make an entrance point at either end (either a small hill or a trench), and raise the level of the land along the tunnel route, so the tunnel will be underground all the way. This may mean you need a temporary land bridge across the river. Then build the tunnel (a slope mod might help with this step). Once the tunnel is built, reinstate the river by lowering the land bridge - the tunnel will remain in place and functional.

[Moskva 75]

I honestly dislike the tunnel technique, depending on river depth, it could turn out in impossible inclinations to drive for sims, or still would look weird... You know i am a "realism-nazi" or at least i try! I also never used the subway to connect the avenue tunnels under normal terrain, i preferred to dig into terrain with mayor instruments by myself... However i think someone also made a mod that allows roads to run underwater as well. Want my advice? Highway bridge for the win .

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You gents (and ladies?) are missing the obvious. What's wrong with ferries?

[AIX 270]

You gents (and ladies?) are missing the obvious. What's wrong with ferries?

I normally only use ferries for large bodies of water. I don't see too many river-crossing ferries as most of them have been closed over the years.

[jacksunny 741]

In large cities, it isn't uncommon to see quite a few bridges crossing a river.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Agreed. Sometimes out of necessity. Try can keep them nice looking. I am partial to the small steel arch.

[apeek 190]

I just exceeded 3 million and my MHW bridge is overcrowded... go fig.  I already have several other bridges of various types and an extensive subway system.  That tunnel trick sounds interesting, but I'm afraid it will permanently disfigure the terrain.  Aside from rolling out more bridges, is there another solution I'm missing?  Does anyone know how to tweak bridge capacities in iLive reader?  I suppose I could bump up the capacity of all highways with the Traffic Simulation tool, but that's a last resort.  Thanks in advance.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Did you try running a subway line under the bridge?