City Layout Tips: Using Road Hierarchy for Traffic-Efficient Cities

Basic Principles of Road Hierarchy for Traffic-Efficient Cities
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[@ageoflove1980]

Just make a lot of stroads, thats a combination of roads and streets so you dont really have to think about what goes where. Then, very important, ignore public transportation, cycling and pedestrian traffic as much as you can because the only thing those do is just take up valuable car traffic space. And if you ever run in to problems the solution is simple: Add more lanes. If you follow these simple guidelines you will get the perfect North American city!

[@TheDeadOfNight37]

Phoenix with 6-8 lane + turning lane roads in suburbs, half lined with strip malls with giant parking lots

[@dmitryaraslanov2959]

ahahah)) As a tourist in America, I couldn't help but notice that the infrastructure seems to be designed with cars in mind rather than people. You quite literally can't get anything done without a car, and as a result, it often feels like you can't get anywhere on time even when you have one.

[@RockandRollCockroach]

​@@dmitryaraslanov2959Im starting to think that they design everything to be wide spread here so that car and oil companies can get extra profits since people literally have no other choice by then. Just think about how easy it is, including old people, for everybody to just take trains to get from one state or province to another, but i guess that won't make them money so they shut down any other form of public transportation that could potentially decrease their incomes. It's so messed up.

[@DzudWaszki-qp4kf]

​@@RockandRollCockroachClimate Town made a great video on how car companies made America car dependant. His video is called How The Auto Industry Carjacked the American Dream. Not Just Bikes has a video series in collaboration with Strong Towns on how this style of development bankrupts cities. His whole channel is about Dutch/European urban planning vs North American urban planning. Eco Gecko has multiple videos on how American suburban sprawl is terrible for the environment and child development. (As well as videos on different approaches to planning cities) There are many people on KZbin who maks content about city design and transit and how cities around the world do things.

[@JonathanIMPROVE]

WORKS FOR AMERICA RIGHT, YOU GUYS NEVER HAVE TRAFFIC LOLOLOL

[@Rampige]

This is why it is difficult for beginners to play City Skylines. It is necessary to think over the city in advance, from the start of the game

[@chocoIade]

So true! I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning. Now that my saves are heavily modded and I start a new map I spend like an hour or more just staring at the screen, flying around the map and plan basically the whole the city in my head before I even placed a single asset 😆

[@PM-vv3uc]

Absolutely. But it makes it even more complicated now to just start a new city because you know that early mistakes can cause big problems...

[@Spido68_the_spectator]

Well, here comes my tipp to beginners : unless you're sure you won't expand in x or y direction, ALWAYS leave the door open to expansion when making a new development ! There is nothing worse than districts added on top of each other when there is lots of motor traffic. Albeit it has a charm on historic centers, villages and outer suburbs/ outskirts.

[@failtolawl]

Yea until you get a long string of traffic sitting in the left lane and crossing 3 lanes when their exit comes.

[@chocoIade]

@@failtolawl dont know if you play with mods butTMPE pretty much mitigates this problem if you enable Gameplay > Advanced Vehicle AI, and set Dynamic lane selection at around 75% or higher. It should also improve your avg traffic flow by a couple %

[@Bram06]

This is the best video on this subject so far. Very clear and concise. I think the only thing that would have made it better is if you went one step further and added pedestrian paths as another layer. They're actually really important for getting people between different neighborhoods. Having paths significantly reduces traffic.

[@CynicalComrade]

Excellent work T4rget, I really appreciate the smaller, more explanatory videos in between the main building ones

[@lordsiomai]

I applaud how much information you were able to include in only 4 minutes

[@120420]

Glad that you've been able to come back and make videos on KZbin. Your 1 of my favorite CS KZbinrs, and I still watch your City Building videos. My favorite is the one where you built your City in Snow. So very detailed and the layout was super easy to understand!

[@RobertDoornbosF1]

That snow city man, best time of my life

[@Bobbys119]

@@RobertDoornbosF1 watching someone build a city on KZbin was the best time of your life? Must be a miserable life

[@RobertDoornbosF1]

@@Bobbys119 U must be either incredibly dumb. When that city was being built, when I was watching that I was in the best time of my life.

[@Chris_schultze]

This has been an incredibly helpful explanation of hierarchy. I’ve been having some issues with my roads I think, and this has cleared up a lot of questions and thoughts I’ve thought of with the roads. Im definitely going to apply this to my city. Thanks so much for your in-depth videos! They’ve been really helpful.

[@blueghost3649]

Amazing, I’ve wanted something (updated) like this from you for a while now

[@renegade1084]

Awesome video. I’d love to see more road planning and intersection videos. It really helps, thank you

[@KnottyHarp]

It's videos like this one that motivate me to plan my cities better. Great video!

[@solarianick1495]

Very informative. Straight to the point and simple.

[@RAH3RI]

Well explained, clear illustrations, great video !

[@diegogahu3348]

This is the best explanation out there on the subject, would be great if you could expand on this theory and integrate public transport.

[@michamegged5963]

Another way to look at Road Hierarchy is to see the street as the most important. Most of the urban activity takes place on the street. On the street we meet, shop, congregate, hang out and our houses are built on the street. All the rest of the Road Hierarchy is just there to serve cars so they can move from one location to another. It does not serve any other urban function other than cars.

[@ninjainajar]

So many of the CS KZbinrs seem to make such car dominated cities, this was a surprise to me as my thoughts in playing a sim is how can we make the best city. To me that’s, pedestrian, public transport and car minimal design

[@robierap]

Plazas and Promenades DLC can help redirect planners to pedestrian and plaza plots in the meantime. The walkable additions are welcome relief!

[@gstrdms]

Exactly. This video is only "correct" if you assume that American-style planning is the pinnacle of design.

[@monsterology2421]

That is the problem (if you are planning on pedestrian based city) with vanilla version of CS, it follows the american version of city planning, it is too car-based, I try to make it similar to european cities yet I always fail to do it, it is hard to do without additional content

[@tunneller]

Great explainer!

[@teacherella1338]

One of the best videos! Short and concise!! Could you please create a layout for pedestrian-friendly cities and include mass transit? In most European countries, highways do not go through a city but rather around it. And they use a lot of mass transit.

[@armandiskandarsyah5414]

Just by seeing your thumbnail I can already understand the road hierarchy. And then you explain it by coloring each part, make it more clearer, perfect for me, thanks

[@th0rne_999]

That city in the intro is BEAUITFUL. I want to do something similar and I wish I could landscape and set up more before starting to build a city.

[@giaan4339]

thank you so much for a short but informative video!

[@gordongao4546]

Fantastic, really thorough explanation.

[@hakanaltintas1]

great job!

[@vindelqen]

very usefull thank you !

[@GabrielEsprada92-ve3fh]

best video so far about road building

[@daniaaal]

I would argue that in an ideal walkable city, highways are away from neighbourhoods as much as possible, while arterials are reduced as much as possible. Smaller roads are converted to walkable pedestrian areas while public transportation are prioritised over cars.

[@michakasprzak7528]

Damn I missed this video, good thing I checked your channel manually

[@fele09]

great video 👏👏👏

[@zicarex]

First thing I thought when I heard your voice: "Este gajo é tuga!" 😂 Thank you for the video

[@RapUnderBed]

Very cool video who mixes architect planner and games

[@ghandimauler]

One thing I've wondered: When I lived on the Canadian Prairies, they had space. They realized that a) car parking is unsightly, b) garbage collection, electricity grid, phone, etc. were unsightly, and so they built houses that may have no front drive or at most a pad to park one car on. Behind the house is the yard and at the end of the yard, there is usually a carport or garage (or workshop if you tinkered) and that opened out to a service lane behind the houses. Two rows of houses facing away from one another have a service lane which cars can go into but who wouldn't if they didn't live there (no point really, slower than the streets) and all the services go there. I haven't seen that design in a City:Skylines city.

[@adamuS_animated]

I get what you're saying, but i personally think that you should be starting a new city BY FIRSTLY putting down train stations and trams because you dont want to create an abomination of a car centric city like the ones in North America.

[@Bobspineable]

The game is a road based game though

[@Betis91]

LMAO

[@antonjust]

⁠@@Bobspineablelmao what are you saying. I guess you’re just playing casually or just creating carnage

[@sifk6163]

T4rget is my favorite Cities Skylines content creator. All of your videos are well thought out and explained. Thank you friend.

[@SMKsamuca]

This curved city até really Nice.

[@KaitouKaiju]

I keep looking at these types of videos and it doesn't sink in whenever I actually build lol

[@MusicForTheBroken]

Although CS is a visual media, it helped to have this presentation. thank you!

[@weinhel2996]

You come and go, just like my painful knees :) Miss U

[@T4rgetGaming]

Hey I'm still here. Sorry about your knees

[@seankessel3867]

You're still the man, T4rget

[@ataseven5981]

In my opinion, highways should not pass through the middle of cities and near. I think they reduces the walkability of the city and kills its spirit.

[@micah3101]

yeah but it's hard to understand for most americans

[@sigmamale4147]

Then how do you get traffic through ? By using sidewalks ? 😂😂

[@windflier1684]

@@sigmamale4147 connect them with Arterial at the outside of the city, duh

[@Yilmaz4]

@@sigmamale4147 we found an american

[@andrekumow719]

Este video está visualmente muito didatico, parabens !

[@scarypineapple8608]

Looks pretty! Would there not be a traffic nightmare with those 8 roads coming together in the centre?

[@shuylife]

This is always the hardest part for me. I can build a city that's happy and making money until it gets too big and than traffic starts ruining everything. Anyway, useful tips here thank you!

[@stevenyee850]

Hi Target, what tool do you use to map the colored road segments? I'd love to use that to make graphics for transportation planning.

[@Kris.G]

The problem for me are junctions between 2, 3 and 4. Especially in industrial areas there will always be heavy traffic and I'm not really sure what to do.

[@thomascastelein5476]

Make several smaller industrial zones. That way you can prevent all traffic coming to the same spot AND everybody has work nearby so the residents don't have to drive to the other end of the city, put your industrial zones at the edge of your city as much as possible. Office zones count also as industrial zones

[@Kris.G]

@@thomascastelein5476 Thanks for your reply. Do you connect these zones to cargo stations?

[@Vladislav_Yakovlev]

Наконец-то мы увидели наглядное пособие. Не на примере самой игры, где по итогу хрен пойми что получается, а схематично. Зашёл, взглядом окинул и понял, что есть что.

[@mikew6311]

Hey @T4rget! What did you use to illustrate the road hierarchy? 1:47

[@T4rgetGaming]

Photoshop

[@PatSmashYT]

The best way to do it is to have the motorways end right before entering the city. Then connect the motorways with arterial roads and watch them inevitably become stroads. Then build new motorways inside the city but don't connect them to any outside motorway, also impose a massive toll on every motorway in the city

[@michelecarroll6355]

Who ever is reading this... have a great day! 😅💋

[@Ad-vm1vz]

💯💯💯

[@bluelambda]

I have gained approximately 2 more braincells from this video 10/10

[@Gredran]

*me using the basic dirt road, 2 lane and four lane* mmhmm mmhmm. Jk lol. I’m here for the tips! I may not internalize them all but maybe it’ll help unclog my traffic jams lolz

[@RobedLogic]

ill tell you right now the thumbnail road layout is traffic heaven.

[@griff-lecuyer]

Can you create a video that explains how to take inspiration from real-life locations?

[@cosmus2584]

Dá para perceber que és tuga pelo sotaque hahaha. Obrigadão pelo vídeo, estou a tentar construir uma cidade mas só quando ela fica grande é que um gajo percebe que não pesca nada disto XD

[@shipstuffandwhatnot]

hierarchy kind of makes cities seem divided, i prefer to only add collectors and arterials when they're necessary. If most of the traffic is cargo traffic, i'll upgrade it and maybe add a bypass. if its mostly commuter traffic, i'll add public transit. my moral: dont use hierarchy, upgrade connections when needed

[@Spido68_the_spectator]

You can easely fill the gaps with trees, tiles, snack trucks, benches and stuff. I have a city with strict hierarchy creating superparcels and the gaps are filled by 2 or 3 rows of trees on each side of the arterials. Plenty of pedestrian paths to have people walk or bike around quickly. All in all, there is a LOT more greenery than my old way of doing, which was having some main roads (usually being the bigger ones) without too much intersections, and a ton of streets around in grid, organic grid or free form fashion. With all being zoned, it's concrete jungle ! Also causes problems in the end too if not carefull with land use.

[@BlackwatchCrazySix]

My spin on the road hierarchy is similar to yours, except that arterials are for highway connections to roads and mostly that only in my case. Collectors take up the "main district roads"and local roads fill in the rest.

[@lordsiomai]

That sounds like a more natural city growth as we see in real life

[@picadogames1657]

Hierarchy does not necessarily divide itself. You can still connect the same hierarchy on the other district with grade separated crossing. The point of hierarchy is to make sure the high-cap roads to be fully utilized by reducing intersections

[@askers_]

​@@lordsiomaicities are planned by civil engineers that use road hierarchy. You're just wrong.

[@melissaauguste3620]

Hi. I'm wondering what software or website you used to make the map @0:40 ?

[@T4rgetGaming]

Photoshop

[@topdopwoww]

FINALLYYYYYYYYYYYY

[@vikingnusantara]

Applyingnroas hierarchy in cs 2 is a must because the traffic is as crazy as real human

[@misfitplays9355]

Is there some place I can download this map listing the 5 planning tips like in the video?

[@Seizuqi]

I literally plan the city, start building, but then i have been playing for over an hour and then i do something else, when i come back i have almost forgotten the plan lmao, or decide to change it or start over...

[@Ausfailia]

Having a highway run through a downtown area seems a bit backwards

[@_balas]

what about top side of the city? Will you make some rail connection?

[@michaelweir9666]

Meanwhile, me, adding another commercial/suburban hybrid zone in a perfectly square grid of roads, with several random blocks dedicated to parks and services...

[@lawrencegomez3991]

What application did you use to build the city skylines?

[@6ixss]

I have some questions. can you help? 1 What about Only trucks Lane? lanes just only Garbage trucks can go... is that possible? 2 What about Traffic/Sound pollution? most of times i separate House area, with Commercial area.. just to have 0 sound pollution. Is that good for residents ? 3 What happens if you drop Road "Budget/taxes" to 0% ? 4 When i build one way road, with a small cut to exit the city, some cars are coming to the city and then just take that "cut" turn and leave. does that have impact on my city?

[@Vanderlinde230]

Is it ok to have multiple arterials as different parts of your city

[@maxine3978]

That's some nice american urbanism you got going on ova' there

[@corcorsma]

You have a very nice voice to listen to 😅

[@HunkMine]

How I build in city skylines if very few highways and streets. Roundabouts everywhere and a ton of cut through. It just works

[@SanyaPlayed]

This reminds me Venus Project

[@pumpkinbananas2983]

Logically I understand the road hierarchy but when I start building all hell breaks loose & the city gets even worse 🤣😂

[@anwinbestgames]

Really nice ty! I'm also building a city on my channel, what do you think of it?

[@Goat_gamering]

How could this work in a non car centric city tho?

[@demonie4539]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤ love this

[@demonie4539]

We need another series with a brand new city 😊

[@MarvinHuber_KSP]

Wait, shouldn't rails have priority one? They should at least be infront of the arterial

[@Zanzimmm]

are you active in any type of social media besides facebook?

[@T4rgetGaming]

Twitter. I'm not on all the time but I'm more prone to read comments and mentions there than on FB

[@Zanzimmm]

@@T4rgetGaming any thoughts about instagram?

[@T4rgetGaming]

Has potential but I barely have time to make content for KZbin, let alone another content-based platform

[@yobson]

i love u

[@jimbosarmoreddivision]

I like the explanatory content but respectfully you changed the colors of the road so many times it was difficult to keep up with.

[@JoeLeetz]

I could have used this 8 years ago

[@gstrdms]

A very car-biased approach you have is to only make Arterials and Collectors part of the grid, while virtually all your "streets" are completely isolated in their own subdivisions. This is the typical American suburban/"urban" school of planning. Consider that you should strive for most of your citizens to not have to rely on cars for transportation. This means gridded streets that connect to their arteries and collectors, as well as having streets host mixed-use zoning. I give this plan a C.

[@mephInc]

I always start my cities with this in mind........then it all falls apart

[@pizzaatje2265]

Now I won’t have to use mods to keep people from leaving😊

[@tychobotter]

But is this not a american-car centric way to think about roads?

[@T4rgetGaming]

How so?

[@michamegged5963]

Highways on top, streets (were people are) on the bottom. Serving cars, not people.

[@T4rgetGaming]

Having a well-planned road layout =/= Serving cars before people. In fact, I think that's quite the opposite.

[@arionthedeer7372]

hi :)

[@dragonsyc2000]

Hard to believe this is just a cities:skylines channel. Thought it was a citiy planner something like government thing...

[@_Diktator]

Yeah, but this is basically a video about how the US cities are designed. It's not the only way to do things, and it's certainly not the best way. Most certainly, it's not traffic-efficient.

[@zanderallan4373]

I hate cities skylines cuz the cities are so American in Scotland there would never be a highway in a city unless it’s quite literally the high ways that connect cities

[@bach5ar772]

Anyone from skyline game want to build a good city?

[@emmanuelfrechet3080]

This is how it is in America but if you want to build an European style city, you have to let some anarchy in your roads

[@stepanek7404]

or just slap another lane and call it a day

[@SpoonsXownXsinceX92]

A European guy talking about American solutions as the solutions. Bizarro World. This is 'car-efficient' but not money, time, enjoyment of the city effective. Crazy.

[@T4rgetGaming]

How do the basic standards of road hierarchy and infrastructure in Europe differ from the ones explained in this video?

[@agvstixn]

he sounds Indonesian

[@sierranexi]

This is more of an American suburban sprawl type of planning, which is problematic in the real world. Works in theory, not reality

[@user-gs8fh3xi3i]

I clicked to find out what the **** the ??? Was

[@josheli3749]

Except my fucking garbage trucks do not reach anywhere and dead bodies just pile up

[@marco1941]

Who wants to zigzag like those collectors? Looks annoying for the residents.

[@pyrotechnick420]

Thanks for wasting time describing to us what a highway is lol

[@varlunmulland3992]

No roundabouts, thumbs down!

[@hq8945]

Completely wrong.