Cities Skylines 2 traffic management is a constant and very frustrating battle. You make the perfect grid system. You install roundabouts, interchanges, and subway tunnels for pedestrians. You carefully set the road maintenance budget to prioritize rush hours. And then you sit back and watch the whole thing implode. In some cases, it’s because the pathfinding AI has thrown you a curveball. In other cases, it’s because proper Cities Skylines 2 road management is a dark, arcane art, seemingly understood by only a few visionary elders. Channeling this wonderful, prophetic magic, one CS2 player has created a revolutionary solution to inner-city traffic. If Colossal Order’s latest has been driving you wild – pun very much intended – this one’s for you.
Cities Skylines 2 roads are the connective tissue that holds the entire city building game together. Get them right, and everything, from the economy to the education system and all your central services will hum along harmoniously. Get them wrong, and it’s armageddon. Cities Skylines 2 mods have done a good job so far of fixing some oddities in the traffic and pathfinding AI. Likewise, CS2’s creator, Colossal Order, is making strides when it comes to the performance problems that affected the game at launch. Now we can finally drill down into the finer points of traffic management. One Cities Skylines 2 player deserves an award for urban planning.
CS2 YouTuber ‘Piccana’ has created a series of videos on creating the perfect, high-volume interchange for handling inner-city traffic. Their latest video, however, might be their finest – a huge demonstration of how to build a complex, multi-lane, multi-storey(!) highway system that serves a metropolis-sized downtown area.
You start with four two-lane roads set 90 degrees from one another. Then, you lower the terrain to create a huge central section. Combining slopes, ramps, dedicated left and right-turn lanes, and alchemy, you eventually have an interchange that feeds multiple highways going in every direction, without any traffic build-up at all. Check it out below.
Given the lifespan of the original game, it’s early days yet for Cities Skylines 2, but Piccana’s interchange system is one of the best builds I’ve seen so far. If you’re having congestion trouble, this is the ideal solution. We also have a comprehensive guide to Cities Skylines 2 traffic, and how you can manage it whether you’re a bustling town or a booming metropolis.
Look ahead to 2024 with all the Cities Skylines 2 DLC that is on the way. You might also want to try some of the best strategy games available on PC.
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