West Gibralter

[Speedbird48 21]

Hello everyone! I started a new city. I decided to play on the Diamond Coast map, because I live near the Puget Sound, and quite frankly, the idea of living away from a large body of water makes me a tad claustrophobic. (I manage to do this just fine in real life though, I never notice a difference when I travel...) I could have chosen the more Temperate cliff map, but the geography and the way the highway simply ended in the city made urbanization very unlikely for this city.. Because I am boring and uncreative, instead of making a unique, new name, I just borrowed the name of the first tropical (ish?) city that was once Islamic (heritage ftw)) and added either the location, (N, S, E, W) or "New" to the name. I am also a total newbie, so I was hoping some of the pros here could help me. For all practical purposes, I am playing Vanilla, even though I may download some mods down the road. I made a simple round-a-bout to connect the highway to the main arterial 8- lane road. To the left, I have my residential area. I plan to continue expanding to the left to eventually give the citizens an Ocean view, to create some high land value homes. To the right, I plan to develop what is currently an Industrial district, into the CBD of the city. To the far right, I plan to add a highway, which will lead to the fertile land at the city border, where I will make a Farming district. Along the way, I may make another Residential, a new Industrial, or even a large commercial. So how is my plan? Is my city set to succeed? Or is it going to end up with Train jams stretching for a good 50 miles and Businesses unable to operate because resources can't reach them? (*COUGH*, last big city, *COUGH*)

 

 

[Speedbird48 21]

I removed the mid density road that went through the city in the middle, and replaced it with two one way roads after taking some ideas from this thread:

 

I intend to build a highway later, I am even thinking about leaving the space for the future highway empty and building two new main roads.

 

[Speedbird48 21]

2,600 citizens! I have added a highway, not sure if its a good idea though. It feels like it splits my city. I am also starting a tramline. Not to mention a Quay!

 

 

 

[Speedbird48 21]

I don't mean to sound attention hungry, but I would appreciate replies and tips...

[Lost Gecko 481]

Zoning seems fine to me, as heavy traffic occurs between commercial and industrial, so keep them next to each other. Splitting the city isn't a bad idea as you don't want industry too close to residential, as long as access between the two is easy. Right now the highway is probably unnecessary though, but will probably be helpful as the city expands. I would also advise to avoid wild entry and exit points and focus on well-placed interchanges. Don't hesitate to leave a buffer zone between residential and commercial (or any source of noise pollution) for example with parks. Once the city is big enough, bus lines between the zoning types can help reduce traffic.

[OwiHH 240]

if you click on the bottom right camera button and press f12 you have nice screenshots without UI. greatings

[Speedbird48 21]

 

On 8/19/2016 at 4:02 AM, OwiHH said:

if you click on the bottom right camera button and press f12 you have nice screenshots without UI. greatings

Only just noticed the replies lol, I keep the ui to show info about the city Anyways, the city has grown quite a lot now, residential has had to spread to the otherside of the highway, (just so you know, the reason I have so many houses is because I am playing with realistic population) I have also started a tramline! I have two routes so far, one from Res area B, to res area C, to the Industrial area. The other route only covers res area A and leads to the main shopping center. I am trying to keep commercial next to the two main arterial roads, to insure smooth traffic. Seeing as it is barely used, I agree that the highway is currently excessive. There was a time when I considered converting it to a oneway street, but that would be too much of a bottleneck now. I have quite a lot of problematic exits on the highway that are causing a backup. As it could be problematic in the future I am hoping I can fix it sooner rather then later. Any tips?

 

[Speedbird48 21]

New intersection, buildups are still there, but at least they do not stretch onto the highway...

Here are all the places with problematic intersections.

The city has developed a skyline! I am gradually replacing low density with high density as demand increases. Homes and shops closest to the main road (I call it Broadway) get upgraded first. Not sure if its the best idea though. I am also not sure how to replace industry with office, now that we have a university...

Oh! And we have a Soccer stadium! One match was cancelled (probably because I turned the stadium off and on again just to see what happens...) and we lost the other one, but one day we will win...

 

That's all guys! This city really is growing fast! I would like to fix the traffic problems before they become serious though, and I think now is the time to try and install Network Extensions. Does First person camera break saves? I have had experiences with it doing that...

[Speedbird48 21]

Well, I tried this round-a-bout intersection, it possibly made matters worse. Even with traffic lights disabled. I am at a loss guys, what can I do to solve this problem before my city grinds to a halt? Is there a way to restrict the highway to thru traffic only?

[Qorten 49]

Less on- and offramps on your highway, less traffic lights, more roundabouts, especially on avenue/avenue-intersections and intersections with 5 or more possible directions.

Also, on that roundabout in the screenshot and any road if possible, try using longer stretches between intersections.

 

 

[Speedbird48 21]

On 8/28/2016 at 3:33 PM, Qorten said:

Less on- and offramps on your highway, less traffic lights, more roundabouts, especially on avenue/avenue-intersections and intersections with 5 or more possible directions.

Also, on that roundabout in the screenshot and any road if possible, try using longer stretches between intersections.

 

 

Sorry, I did not get a notification. How do you recommend I implement round-a-bouts?

 

Anyways, time for an update. The city really has grown! I have implemented a metro system, designed to be similar to London's Circle Line. No screenshot yet, it runs across the boundary of the city. I bought some extra land to allow expansion south of the highway, decided to move the CBD to there. No progress yet though!

 

Another shot of the skyline

This intersection has inexplicable buildup, I am assuming from the unnecessary traffic light, lets see what happens after its gone...

Unfortunately, shopping centers are being starved of resources, I am unable to figure out why. Should both the Southbound and Northbound highways connect to the main roads?

[Speedbird48 21]

I tried building a round-a-bout intersection at one of the busier points. It did more harm then good tbh.

[Speedbird48 21]

Actually, I take that back. By switching the direction of the round-a-about, and removing all signal lights, it has seriously improved traffic! Half of my shopping district still can't get enough goods, but oh well.

With traffic no longer being an issue, I decided its time to turn my attention back to my public transport system. Here it is in its current state:

 

I have not yet built a train line, but considering the disaster my last cities rails were, I did not want to rush it. How do you guys recommend I go about this? I am also now able to build a harbor. A harbor is something I also don't want to rush, as it can do hell to traffic. Most of my coastline is occupied by residential, but even so there is an available highway connection and a 6 lane road. This is the proposed area to use for the harbor.

With a raise in demand for Industry and office, I decided to build a new CBD.

Personally I am quite proud of this intersection, I am thinking about making this the start of the new CBD, gradually building southwards. What do you think?

 

 

[Ploefke 53]

If you build a new CBD, you could improve the layout of the district, based upon your experience with your previous CBD. Basically, it is always a good idea to improve.