Streets or avenues to make a big city? what should you use?

[bigmummylover 0]

?

[bz2king 3]

Honestly, my last city i did, i didnt use 1 avenue. When zoning, I simply connected the zones together, such as:

 

____

|R|R|

|C| I |------------  -> Highway

------

 

By making "blocks" like this, sims are able to walk pretty much anywhere, then you simply connect to your highway as normal with an offshoot. Continue expanding this and you will notice traffic is almost nonexistant. I'm sure there are improved versions of this, however, from my experience, this is a great way to build a profitable city that eventually grows into a metropolis. Personally, i never take my cities over 40k simply because I feel that the "fudged" numbers start becoming far to ridiculous to manage.

 

BTW: For the industry, make sure they are downwind of the Residential and you wont have issues there either, I ran with education and got the high tech industry so pollution never really became an issue.

 

Hope it helps

[Stuart98 98]

Let's have a look at road lanes:

Dirt Road: 1 (sewage leaks from it, not sure what other differences it has from the 2 lane road, it acts like it has two to me)

LD Street: 2

MD Street: 4 (medium density support, np traffic lights)

HD Street: 4 (high density support means increased traffic, traffic lights)

MD Avenue: 4 (medium density support, traffic lights)

HD Avenue: 6 (high density support means increased traffic, traffic lights)

HD SC Avenue: 6 (+tram line)

 

So a medium avenue is just as good as a medium street, but a high density avenue has to more lanes than its equivalent street. If the 50% lane increase matters a ton to you, just add a muni bus terminal.

[Morticcia 0]

The phrase "big city" is too vague.  Is your goal 400K or 40K?   What does big city mean to you?

 

If you only have one city in the entire region, without a great works project, you may be able to get by with high density streets and buses up to a point.  If you decide to add a specialization that requires trucks, then you will most likely need avenues if you're looking for multi-million dollar paydays.

[Vaikin 10]

Honestly, my last city i did, i didnt use 1 avenue. When zoning, I simply connected the zones together, such as:

 

____

|R|R|

|C| I |------------  -> Highway

------

 

By making "blocks" like this, sims are able to walk pretty much anywhere, then you simply connect to your highway as normal with an offshoot. Continue expanding this and you will notice traffic is almost nonexistant. I'm sure there are improved versions of this, however, from my experience, this is a great way to build a profitable city that eventually grows into a metropolis. Personally, i never take my cities over 40k simply because I feel that the "fudged" numbers start becoming far to ridiculous to manage.

 

BTW: For the industry, make sure they are downwind of the Residential and you wont have issues there either, I ran with education and got the high tech industry so pollution never really became an issue.

 

Hope it helps

The reason you have no traffic is because you only have 40k population. Go for 600k and see how it goes

[Cob92 360]

Honestly, my last city i did, i didnt use 1 avenue. When zoning, I simply connected the zones together, such as:

 

____

|R|R|

|C| I |------------  -> Highway

------

 

By making "blocks" like this, sims are able to walk pretty much anywhere, then you simply connect to your highway as normal with an offshoot. Continue expanding this and you will notice traffic is almost nonexistant. I'm sure there are improved versions of this, however, from my experience, this is a great way to build a profitable city that eventually grows into a metropolis. Personally, i never take my cities over 40k simply because I feel that the "fudged" numbers start becoming far to ridiculous to manage.

 

BTW: For the industry, make sure they are downwind of the Residential and you wont have issues there either, I ran with education and got the high tech industry so pollution never really became an issue.

 

Hope it helps

The reason you have no traffic is because you only have 40k population. Go for 600k and see how it goes

 

Yeah, traffic issues don't appear much in small 40k cities. They really start once your population gets into six-figures.

[Morticcia 0]

Yeah, traffic issues don't appear much in small 40k cities. They really start once your population gets into six-figures.

I have had traffic jams in cities of 5K.  I had major jams in my current city when it was 14K.  And that is with a regional bus system and one streetcar depot and almost all avenues.  The residential traffic is shoppers, workers, and those pesky community college students.  The city entrance traffic is mostly those going to the in-progress arcology.   The city had about 34K with that tourist apartment building by the end of the evening yesterday.

 

The arcology was finished just shortly before I went to bed, and then I destroyed almost all of the electronics industry.  We'll see tonight how my traffic is.

[g5todd 5]

i avoid avenues at all costs....the main reason is no left turns unless its at an intersection....and sims cant cross the street

[bz2king 3]

Well if you read the post, I said that I never go very far because I never try to get a larger cities because of the fudged numbers.

 

I'll take one of my cities that far and see what traffic does, I am kinda curious now as to what would happen

[Stuart98 98]

I just got rid of the fudged numbers to fix that problem. Only problem now is that while all of the buildings updated their requirements for the non fudged numbers, the achievements didn't. Somehow I'm doubting that I'll be getting anything other than suberbia any time soon...

[Cob92 360]

Yeah, traffic issues don't appear much in small 40k cities. They really start once your population gets into six-figures.

I have had traffic jams in cities of 5K.  I had major jams in my current city when it was 14K.  And that is with a regional bus system and one streetcar depot and almost all avenues.  The residential traffic is shoppers, workers, and those pesky community college students.  The city entrance traffic is mostly those going to the in-progress arcology.   The city had about 34K with that tourist apartment building by the end of the evening yesterday.

 

The arcology was finished just shortly before I went to bed, and then I destroyed almost all of the electronics industry.  We'll see tonight how my traffic is.

 

All I can say is that the kinds of traffic jams you get in 5K cities and the kind you get in 600K cities are worlds apart. Imagine a city where the traffic is so bad that people can't even exit driveways, where the fire trucks are barricaded inside of the fire station, where people sit in traffic not just for hours, but for days and weeks on end. That's the kind of traffic we deal with in big cities in this game.

[snwboardn 18]

I like the avenues for trading... Other than my trade depot I never build on avenues, it helps out immensely. Personally I see absolutely no reason to go over 15,000 people for a trading city. 

[Morticcia 0]

 

Yeah, traffic issues don't appear much in small 40k cities. They really start once your population gets into six-figures.

I have had traffic jams in cities of 5K.  I had major jams in my current city when it was 14K.  And that is with a regional bus system and one streetcar depot and almost all avenues.  The residential traffic is shoppers, workers, and those pesky community college students.  The city entrance traffic is mostly those going to the in-progress arcology.   The city had about 34K with that tourist apartment building by the end of the evening yesterday.

 

The arcology was finished just shortly before I went to bed, and then I destroyed almost all of the electronics industry.  We'll see tonight how my traffic is.

 

All I can say is that the kinds of traffic jams you get in 5K cities and the kind you get in 600K cities are worlds apart. Imagine a city where the traffic is so bad that people can't even exit driveways, where the fire trucks are barricaded inside of the fire station, where people sit in traffic not just for hours, but for days and weeks on end. That's the kind of traffic we deal with in big cities in this game.

 

I understand.  My point is that traffic problems can rear it's head in a village, as well as a city.  It's counterintuitive.  Having traffic in a 600K city is to be expected.  It isn't in a starter 5K village with ample streets and avenues. 

 

Do you have a university or a CC in your large cities?  In all of my cities the higher ed clogs up the streets.  Aside from the bottleneck entry issues, higher ed seems the biggest problem in my cities.  I haven't taken the tourist route very far.  From those screens someone posted with all the taxis, I can only imagine how that will go.  It's ridiculous.  Damn I can feel a rant coming on, so I'll just end this.

[Epic-Nemesis 4]

 

 

Yeah, traffic issues don't appear much in small 40k cities. They really start once your population gets into six-figures.

I have had traffic jams in cities of 5K.  I had major jams in my current city when it was 14K.  And that is with a regional bus system and one streetcar depot and almost all avenues.  The residential traffic is shoppers, workers, and those pesky community college students.  The city entrance traffic is mostly those going to the in-progress arcology.   The city had about 34K with that tourist apartment building by the end of the evening yesterday.

 

The arcology was finished just shortly before I went to bed, and then I destroyed almost all of the electronics industry.  We'll see tonight how my traffic is.

 

All I can say is that the kinds of traffic jams you get in 5K cities and the kind you get in 600K cities are worlds apart. Imagine a city where the traffic is so bad that people can't even exit driveways, where the fire trucks are barricaded inside of the fire station, where people sit in traffic not just for hours, but for days and weeks on end. That's the kind of traffic we deal with in big cities in this game.

 

I understand.  My point is that traffic problems can rear it's head in a village, as well as a city.  It's counterintuitive.  Having traffic in a 600K city is to be expected.  It isn't in a starter 5K village with ample streets and avenues. 

 

Do you have a university or a CC in your large cities?  In all of my cities the higher ed clogs up the streets.  Aside from the bottleneck entry issues, higher ed seems the biggest problem in my cities.  I haven't taken the tourist route very far.  From those screens someone posted with all the taxis, I can only imagine how that will go.  It's ridiculous.  Damn I can feel a rant coming on, so I'll just end this.

 

If you zone your RCI close together it can free up alot of traffic problems. Especially in high density low wealth areas where sims/building are sky high. You want to keep them of the road and walk to work and shop.

[g5todd 5]

its all in city layout and mass transportation...in my electronics city the population is on the average 200k and 180k of them ride the buses...so I have no issues with traffic

 

and the only street light I have is where the train has to cross the main road

[g5todd 5]

ugh double post

[Cob92 360]

 

 

Yeah, traffic issues don't appear much in small 40k cities. They really start once your population gets into six-figures.

I have had traffic jams in cities of 5K.  I had major jams in my current city when it was 14K.  And that is with a regional bus system and one streetcar depot and almost all avenues.  The residential traffic is shoppers, workers, and those pesky community college students.  The city entrance traffic is mostly those going to the in-progress arcology.   The city had about 34K with that tourist apartment building by the end of the evening yesterday.

 

The arcology was finished just shortly before I went to bed, and then I destroyed almost all of the electronics industry.  We'll see tonight how my traffic is.

 

All I can say is that the kinds of traffic jams you get in 5K cities and the kind you get in 600K cities are worlds apart. Imagine a city where the traffic is so bad that people can't even exit driveways, where the fire trucks are barricaded inside of the fire station, where people sit in traffic not just for hours, but for days and weeks on end. That's the kind of traffic we deal with in big cities in this game.

 

I understand.  My point is that traffic problems can rear it's head in a village, as well as a city.  It's counterintuitive.  Having traffic in a 600K city is to be expected.  It isn't in a starter 5K village with ample streets and avenues. 

 

Do you have a university or a CC in your large cities?  In all of my cities the higher ed clogs up the streets.  Aside from the bottleneck entry issues, higher ed seems the biggest problem in my cities.  I haven't taken the tourist route very far.  From those screens someone posted with all the taxis, I can only imagine how that will go.  It's ridiculous.  Damn I can feel a rant coming on, so I'll just end this.

 

Higher ed is not the driving force behind traffic jams; it is commuters and shoppers, especially those that travel between cities. When I reorganized my city, I moved the community college to a different road and the traffic problems in front of it stopped.

[Morticcia 0]

 

If you zone your RCI close together it can free up alot of traffic problems. Especially in high density low wealth areas where sims/building are sky high. You want to keep them of the road and walk to work and shop.

 

I have actually tried this and I have had traffic problems.   It seems once you reach a certain threshold your screwed.  Then again I am not putting down multiple bus and streetcar depots.  I've kinda stopped striving for larger cities so I'm not seeing the same type of difficulties these days.

[Morticcia 0]

i avoid avenues at all costs....the main reason is no left turns unless its at an intersection....and sims cant cross the street

I have no problem getting sims to cross an avenue.

  Edited April 9, 2013 by Morticcia  

[Morticcia 0]

 

All I can say is that the kinds of traffic jams you get in 5K cities and the kind you get in 600K cities are worlds apart. Imagine a city where the traffic is so bad that people can't even exit driveways, where the fire trucks are barricaded inside of the fire station, where people sit in traffic not just for hours, but for days and weeks on end. That's the kind of traffic we deal with in big cities in this game.

 

I understand.  My point is that traffic problems can rear it's head in a village, as well as a city.  It's counterintuitive.  Having traffic in a 600K city is to be expected.  It isn't in a starter 5K village with ample streets and avenues. 

 

Do you have a university or a CC in your large cities?  In all of my cities the higher ed clogs up the streets.  Aside from the bottleneck entry issues, higher ed seems the biggest problem in my cities.  I haven't taken the tourist route very far.  From those screens someone posted with all the taxis, I can only imagine how that will go.  It's ridiculous.  Damn I can feel a rant coming on, so I'll just end this.

 

 

Higher ed is not the driving force behind traffic jams; it is commuters and shoppers, especially those that travel between cities. When I reorganized my city, I moved the community college to a different road and the traffic problems in front of it stopped.

 

 

I always have higher ed traffic.   This city has a pop of 12K, and the uni is on a high density streetcar avenue. And this is the third shift, not even the first shift when the traffic is tons worse:

  Edited April 9, 2013 by Morticcia  

[Griffon 19]

I liked that circle road in @Morticcia's last post, how well does that work?

 

here is what I normally do, I place 1 avenue straight through my city and 1 going the other way like a giant + and I found you can keep traffic off it if you only have medium density streets attached to the avenues, although all your other streets get really backed up, but it's not so bad if you think about how backed up the traffic going in and out of your city would be, especially if your depending on trucks to export your goods

 

what I think about them is you need both streets and avenues, the traffic problems are tripped if you build all avenues in your city, I found that out when I took over an abandoned city, as soon as I replaced a few of them with streets the traffic cleared up (could also be cause I solved the problem by deleting the roads) and you also don't want just streets because they don't have the capacity to really handle traffic, although someone said municipal buses could fix that problem, only low and medium wealth people use the buses and even though I have a ton of buses with tons of riders I still have traffic problems, most of my traffic is people commuting in and out of my cities, I rarely have traffic problems inside my cities

 

if we could build overpasses without using the terrain to build them I think traffic problems could be more controlled

[jas19illini 2]

Hey Morticcia, than roundabout u have in ur screenshot......change the four avenue tie-in points where they connect to the roundabout to a medium density street. JUST where they connect to the roundabout though. Then make the rest of the road a high density street (or u cud try an avenue, haven't tried that yet).

[Vaikin 10]

Hey Morticcia, than roundabout u have in ur screenshot......change the four avenue tie-in points where they connect to the roundabout to a medium density street. JUST where they connect to the roundabout though. Then make the rest of the road a high density street (or u cud try an avenue, haven't tried that yet).

Gotta love stop signs. The connecting points should definitely be stop signs(gives the roundabout 100% right of way).

[g5todd 5]

 

i avoid avenues at all costs....the main reason is no left turns unless its at an intersection....and sims cant cross the street

I have no problem getting sims to cross an avenue.

thats at an intersection thou.. they wont jay walk like they do on high density streets

 

EDIT....maybe a patch fixed it but ya your right I noticed tonight they would cross even without and intersection

[5uper_Mania 6]

Avenues are like, highway access from previous SC games, when used properly.

[jas19illini 2]

Hey Morticcia, than roundabout u have in ur screenshot......change the four avenue tie-in points where they connect to the roundabout to a medium density street. JUST where they connect to the roundabout though. Then make the rest of the road a high density street (or u cud try an avenue, haven't tried that yet).

Gotta love stop signs. The connecting points should definitely be stop signs(gives the roundabout 100% right of way).

Bingo!