Cities Skylines 2 Roads Guide

Road management techniques and tips that can help in the development of your city.

In Cities Skylines 2, Roads play a significant role in keeping the residents happy. As your population increases, you will notice an increase in the traffic flow on all the roads. This can result in a problem later on if you don’t plan the road structures.

You don’t have to worry as I will guide you not just on building roads but changing their directions and managing traffic.

How to build and maintain roads in Cities Skylines 2

You can head to the progression tab and check the first icon, which relates to the Roads. There, you will find the Basic Road Services unlocked, which you can use to build the roads. This way, you can form a road network that navigates through all parts of your City.

However, you must learn all the Road Types to create an effective Road Network in Cities Skylines 2. This will include 4 Road Types: Small Roads, Medium Roads, Large Roads, and finally, the Highways.

You should set up the Road types according to the city requirements. If your residential area is bigger, you can set up small roads. This way, people can use those roads for walking, which will cause minimum noise pollution.

Similarly, if your residential areas are near commercial zones, you can integrate Medium Roads. This will maintain the traffic flow and also allow pedestrians to move safely.

The Large Roads are designed mostly for commercial areas that have a steady and constant flow of traffic. These roads must be planned carefully as they can choke up quickly if you avoid multiple pathways.

Lastly, Cities Skylines 2 Highways serve as the backbone of your City. These will allow the residents to travel freely without any congestion. You will set up the highways later, but these will contain the highest traffic.

In terms of Traffic flow, you should always consider placing Highway interchanges at zones, which include commercial or industrial zones. This way, you can effectively handle the traffic flow while utilizing the road placement in significant parts of your City.

How to change road direction in Cities Skylines 2

There may be situations where you accidentally build a one-way road in place of a two-way road. Luckily, the game allows you to adjust and change the road directions.

If you want to change the direction of a one-way road, you can follow the following steps.

  • On the bottom Panel, you will observe the Road icon as the fourth one starting from the left side.
  • After clicking on the road tool, you can access eight different road tools.
  • You can go with the first road tool option, Replace Mode, and there will be nine other options.
  • Select the fourth option, which says Two-Lane One-Way Road.
  • Once you click on this option, you can drag it and drop it onto that part of the road where you want to change the directions.

Similarly, you can use this same process to reverse road direction as well. That will be the case for you if you build a one-way road in the wrong direction. You can head to the Replace tool mode and select the option to reverse the road direction.

However, you must check the direction while placing the new road options. You can do that by observing the arrowheads and then building the new road accordingly.

How to make the best layouts of Roads

You can use the Grid formation tool to make the best patterns of roads in Cities Skylines 2. Using the Grid tool, you can select any road option and then drag and drop it.

In short, the Grid tool allows you to optimize the traffic distribution of any zone but also gives you the added incentive of creating the best layouts in Cities Skylines 2.

Furthermore, you can also use parallel roads to distribute traffic flow. This way, these stacked roads can be used as a substitute for highways near those areas, which comprise residential zones and commercial zones.

Similarly, the one-way highways are the best options you can deploy in your City.

How to improve traffic flow on your Roads

Structuring your Roads should be among your top priorities if you want a fluid traffic flow in Cities Skylines 2. Moreover, as your City upgrades, the traffic flow is bound to increase, so you can use different ways to free the traffic on those busy roads. These will include:

Adding Parking Lots

Adding parking lots to various parts of your City, especially near the commercial zones, can help release traffic tension. This way, the cars will avoid parking on roads, and the traffic flow will be much better on your roads.

Build Roundabouts

You can also install Roundabouts on Medium and Large roads to create a constant flow in terms of traffic. As a result of adding roundabouts, your roads will be free of traffic signs. The traffic flow will be averted in a single direction, causing less congestion.

Multiple Highway Connections

If you are interested in increasing your road network connection, then you should have multiple highway connections in your city. Installing these in your City will allow the residents to get to the Highway roads more efficiently instead of using the traditional roads leading to other parts of the City.

Public Transportation System

Introducing the Public Transportation System can help you keep fewer cars on your roads and decrease traffic jams.

Lastly, it would be best if you also took time to maintain your Roads. This can be done by spending your achievement points on the Advanced Road Services option in the Development Nodes progression tab.

You can set up the Road Maintenance Depot, which will be able to address the road maintenance issue.

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Decade-long gaming enthusiast turned guide author, sharing insights on SegmentNext to improve your gaming experience.