Initial road connection

[Tisifoni12]

Recommendations for that first connection to the road from the motorway/autobahn/interstate ?

I tend to make a couple of roads that diverge, usually inelegantly, from where the road connection cimes in. Then I have to add some sort of link road between them.

Would I be better having the two incoming roads connect to a road passing at like 90 degrees, or have the two incoming roads splice together into a narrower road ?

 

[Weyird]

I'm not quite sure what tou are describing... a picture or a screenshot would work well.
I have a couple of different statts:

1) I usually do something similar to ImperialJedi (watch his videos on YouTube about how to start a city),
2) or I use a trafic circle which splits off into industrial or residential areas,
3) or I just merge the incoming and outgoing highway into one street which becomes the town's main road.
4) Sometimes I elevate the highways and build a traffic circle under it with on- and off-ramps to the highway.
Which one I choose usually depends on how busy I expect that particular connection to become before I build further highway connections. Number 1 and 4 allow for the highway to be extended throughout my city like an artery that delivers traffic to a specific part of the city.

 

[Tisifoni12]

Here are the sort of solutions I've come up with:

Here it's kind of adapted to the terrain and the link road closest to the double roads coming in has been added for the photo. One road heads off to an industrial zone and the other to the 'town'. The main link between them has commercial development and services.

Here I had the incoming double roads meet a main road linking an industrial area to the main settlement. Those junctions have since been extended with roads leading off.

 

[Tisifoni12]

It does seem, looking at the connection to the motorway/autobahn/interstate again, as if there are two incoming roads when there only need be one, with two slip roads off each of the 'halves' of the mw/ab/is.

Can one just ignore one ?
Why are there two, is it accommodate left or right hand driving ?

 

[Mahasona]

For simplicity I usually build a roundabout for the hightways and city roads to connect to, but (thanks Weyird) I'll try Imperialjedi's ideas - here's the link to his start video

 

[Tisifoni12]

Since my last post I zoomed in and found the roads in and out are of course each one way (as pointed out in the video kindly referenced above), but the only road you get immediate access to (also pointed out in the video above) is a two way road. Er, like why ?

There's a mod map based on the island of Skiathos I've been playing around with which has twinned one way roads doing the in / out. The in game provided one starts with three lane one way in / out roads to the motorway/autobahn/interstate. That seems a little huge . . .

Thank you for your advice guys. I will try different approaches.

 

[Tisifoni12]

The Big Hexagon:

I should probably make it one way . . .

 

[Tisifoni12]

Low density housing on the Greek island of Niarchos:

I could have put the minor roads closer together. Greek housing has a smaller footprint than the tropical builds.

 

[Person012345]

Slap down a road somewhere, delete it, this unlocks one-way roads. Use these to feed either the loose highway connections into a roundabout, or (if I'm using a map with a through-highway) create an interchange that leads into my city. As soon as highways are unlocked, replace the roads.

 

[Person012345]

Eg.

 

[Promethian]

I plan around making the initial connection a highway that runs from there to wherever. I use simple one ways until everything unlocks. From there I use my usual on/off ramps and such as I normally would with a highway.

 

[SchwarzKatze]

delete it,

Just use the upgrade tool. No need to rebuild the road.

 

[Glitcher]

I was going to link ImperialJedi's video, but it seems others beat me to it. It's always a good idea to leave some open space around the starting highway intersection in case you want to expand your highway network that way. Don't close it off by zoning homes or businesses there. Basically THIS is exactly the sort of thing you want to avoid.

 

[Person012345]

I was going to link ImperialJedi's video, but it seems others beat me to it. It's always a good idea to leave some open space around the starting highway intersection in case you want to expand your highway network that way. Don't close it off by zoning homes or businesses there. Basically THIS is exactly the sort of thing you want to avoid.

Eh, really I'd say the better advice more generally is not to be shy about demolishing people's beloved family homes with them still inside. If you need space, eminent domain that s***.

 

[Glitcher]

Eh, really I'd say the better advice more generally is not to be shy about demolishing people's beloved family homes with them still inside. If you need space, eminent domain that s***.

Oh, I don't mind bulldozing family homes if it seems necessary. But if you can get away without it and avoid lowering your population, so much the better. It all comes down to planning ahead, hence my mantra of spreading out development.

I recently watched an extreme example of liberal demotion in this video where the player unlocked a few milestones to access assets, then destroyed his entire town and started again with full services. It was a staggeringly inept move that landed him $250'000 in debt, all because he wanted to rebuild with better highway access. So to the OP, if you visualize where you want to expand your highway from the beginning, you won't make the same mistake he did.

 

[Person012345]

Oh, I don't mind bulldozing family homes if it seems necessary. But if you can get away without it and avoid lowering your population, so much the better. It all comes down to planning ahead, hence my mantra of spreading out development.

I recently watched an extreme example of liberal demotion in this video where the player unlocked a few milestones to access assets, then destroyed his entire town and started again with full services. It was a staggeringly inept move that landed him $250'000 in debt, all because he wanted to rebuild with better highway access. So to the OP, if you visualize where you want to expand your highway from the beginning, you won't make the same mistake he did.

Of course I'm not suggesting you demolish your entire town, but blowing up a few city blocks isn't going to upset anything, you can easily rebuild them elsewhere. But yes, if money is a concern (since I tend to just sit around watching stuff for ages at 1 speed, I usually end up collecting a bunch of money and it's not really an issue for me) then specifically planning ahead makes more sense, but usually I end up building wherever and if I need to build a highway through your suburb later on, well sorrynotsorry. I find it good practice not to be shy about doing it.

 

[MotownCountry]

The Battery

lots of youtube vids about it. from what i've seen, it's a good starter system...

 

[talisman56]

This one by ConflictNerd? I've tried it a couple of times and it's worked well to get a city started.

 

[MotownCountry]

yes. thanx Talisman!

 

[28rommel]

... It's always a good idea to leave some open space around the starting highway intersection in case you want to expand your highway network that way. Don't close it off by zoning homes or businesses there. Basically THIS is exactly the sort of thing you want to avoid.

I agree with this.
Always plan ahead, especially with future development of your highways (your entire highway network plans for that map).
On most maps (but not all), you will probably want to eventually extend (with more highway road) that initial highway connection given to you when starting a new game. Know the direction this route will take, and do not build in this wide strip of reserved land.
I sometimes use the cheap dirt road (if I can afford it) that I lay-down as guides (in both directions) for where the highway will eventually run. These dirt roads do not need to be connected to any roads you are currently using in your city. They are just un-connected guide markings to help you plan around, and so that you don't build too close to the future highway. Remember that highways produce noise pollution, so try to keep structures (most importantly residential) a small/moderate distance away from them.

PS: I use the dirt road, because they are cheap to build and less with the ongoing upkeep expense for their existence. If you do this, just remember that the highway road that you replace with and lay-down later, will be slightly wider than the temporary dirt road that is currently there.