TRANSPORTATION
Tip #1 -- Roads and Traffic

Roads are the basic and most important method of transportation and are easy to build.  Good road layout between zones is critical to minimizing traffic problems.

Build roads in a logic fashion, such as in a grid.  Roads built randomly and which wind around the city are not as efficient, and lead to traffic problems.  Road maintenance takes money out of your city's budget every month, and it can get expensive!

Don't decrease your road maintenance budget; the roads quickly fall apart and block traffic.  You will then have to demolition the road tile and rebuild it.  If you don't notice the road has fallen apart, then you may have traffic problems you don't even know about.

TIP -- Traffic conditions accounts for 2 points on the Computer Score Sheet (item #8), and is also a portion of one 5 point item on the Judges Scoring (item Transportation #2).

Teams often submit computer city's that they don't think have any traffic problems, but in reality the traffic is very bad.  To check on traffic problems, click on the [Meet] button and then the [Transportation Advisor].   He will tell you what condition the traffic is in.

To locate your worst traffic areas,  click on the [Adjust & Review] button, then the [View Data] button, and select "Traffic & Transportation Data Map".  Look for the red areas; build additional roads or mass transit systems in these areas to reduce the traffic problems.

How many roads to I need?  How closely should they be spaced?

This is something you need to experiment with.  A zoned area must be within 4 tiles of a road or rail, or it will not develop.  The picture below shows roads surrounding a 12x20 residential area, and the middle of the area can not develop because it's too far from the roads.  If the area would have been 8x20 instead, it would have fully developed.  However, the roads surrounding an 8x20 area could have very bad traffic.