Zoning & traffic loophole in SimCity 3000

Contributor/author(s): Jonathan Hart

While considering possibilities for city design one day, I considered the zoning rules carefully. What I read was sims move from a building to a transit square to a zone. The loophole in the system is where the sims don't go from a road to building, but instead a road to a zone. Consider that you can lay out a small city block around a single road square instead of a road around a block.

 Ex:

I I I I I I I I I I I I I
I I I I I I I I I I I I I
I I R R R R R R R R R I I
I I R R R R R R R R R I I
I I R R C C C C C R R I I
I I R R C C C C C R R I I
I I R R C C D C C R R I I
I I R R C C C C C R R I I
I I R R C C C C C R R I I
I I R R R R R R R R R I I
I I R R R R R R R R R I I
I I I I I I I I I I I I I
I I I I I I I I I I I I I

(The D in the center is my symbol for a road)

This is a very efficient city block with the perfect transportation system (assuming industries are high-tech). To expand your city beyond one block, you need to make all separate zones continuous through the whole city, or your city fails completely. What you do is place two or more of each block next to each other and connect each zone to it's corresponding type.

 Ex:

 IIII - IIII
 RRRI - IRRR
 CCRR - RRCC
DCCCC - CCCCD
 CCRR - RRCC
 RRRI - IRRR
 IIII - IIII

What happens is that all your residential area in the city is one zone, and likewise for other zones. A single road will connect one building to the rest of the city in ONE step. If done properly, your city will have NO traffic problems at all. One thing to watch out for is broken zones - parks or utilities extending from one zone's edge to it's other edge in more than one place.

See also
Realism tricks for buildings and general aesthetics
Reducing number of junctions: less traffic
Eliminate traffic and mass transit costs
Hiding industrial buildings, keeping benefits