So I decided to work on a triangle road pattern, flipping them pointed up and down, with the sides parallel to each other with enough room for high density. (I wasn't very strict...)
I also attempted to stick to one side of the road building. I tried to avoid zoning in the centers and for the most part was successful, especially early on.
I didn't take a lot of time to optimize my space usage as guaging the roads takes plenty of time. You have to build a lot of guide roads to set up your triangles, at least if you have perfectionist symmetry OCD like myself.
The success of this layout is obviously sub 100K citizens. It's effeciency could also be attributed to the entry avenue. I'm going to try to tighten things up on my next map, as I have abandoned my groups region because it seems to be FUBAR in terms of traffic, commuters, and criminals; just to name a few. (definitely ready for a patch...)
On my triangles I dedicated 2 sides to R zoning, and 1/2 of one side to each C and I. By using parks in the corners I kept land values acceptable. My services are small: 4 Clinics in each map quadrant, and 2 of each fire and police stations for each half of the map. Neither are fully upgraded yet.
While not ground breaking, I hope you find this useful.
Update: After 80K people it all goes down hill. Granted I don't have buses or street cars, but I doubt that would help. Criminals at large can be a pain too, as prior I was a nice peaceful city. Now its blaring sirens constantly. Before that, as you can see I was making quite a bit of money, and had 0 problems. I think it would be very worthwhile to stay at medium density, with some high density, roads. Farm out your resources and then convert to high tech or tourism/gambling with the all the money going towards a Mass Transit overhaul.
