Traffic Lights DECIMATE Traffic in Cities Skylines. - Intersection and Interchange Light Setups

Traffic Lights DECIMATE Traffic in Cities: Skylines. - Intersection and Interchange Light Setups

➤Traffic lights can add tons of additional dimension to your experience in Cities: Skylines. Today we'll set up a 4 way lighted intersection, a Single-point Urban Interchange (SPUI), and a Partial Cloverleaf (ParClo).

➤Map:

➤Mods Used:

➤Interchanges:

➤Road Used:

0:00 Get Lit
2:01 Setting Up the Light
6:08 The Result (Four Way Light)
8:23 SPUI Light Setup
10:10 The Result (SPUI)
11:28 ParClo Light Setup
14:52 The Result (ParClo)

#citiesskylines #traffic #yumbltv

[YUMBL]

Thank you for the tips everyone, but not allowing traffic to turn right to merge with through traffic was intentional. In the US we have “right on red” in that situation. Right turns are allowed on red as if it were a stop sign.

I also wanted to leave the possibility of reallocating a left to a straight on a whim using lane arrows. Keeps it flexible ;)

[ColinTheMC]

Quick tip for anyone: If you’re lazy like me, you can use TMPE’s default light cycles on the SPUI, just delete one of the off ramp turning cycles and add it to the other one. SPUI has become my go to since watching your video on it.

[achillesa]

A tiny little thing on the four way light: if you turn off right turns during the straight phases (and only allow them during turn phases), you can have pedestrian green lights parallel to the straight lanes. Now, I know you can technically do both at the same time with little penalty in this game, but I like my pedestrian traffic to look realistic. Also, the right turns can work during both turn phases so even though it's only one lane it gets double time compared to the others so it all evens out.

Love the interchanges by the way! And thank you for spreading the greatness of the traffic light!

[kokololipop]

Feels like yumbl and Biffa is having a traffic flow "dance" battle. Love it. Keep up the good content <3

[hfbdbsijenbd]

Thank you for doing these. I thought I was losing my mind because roundabouts kept being pushed as the end-all of traffic management when that wasn't my experience in the game at all. If I find myself wanting to place a roundabout, I'm always better off putting in the actual effort to do timed lights, separate out a lane or two, or do some sort of interchange.

[CJLloyd]

Thanks for all this tutorials, YUMBL! They're really informative and enjoyable.

On another note, would you agree with this statement?: IRL, roundabouts are actually supposed to make everyone slow down and improve safety, not necessarily to handle large volumes of traffic. Since CS doesn't care about safety, the primary advantage of the roundabout doesn't translate into the game, and thus other solutions were always going to be better. Figuring out that roundabouts are not so good at handling large volumes of traffic is really just finding out that you've been trying to use them to solve a problem they were never meant to solve.

[dycedargselderbrother]

A note on lane management: options after the intersection are also very important. If a large proportion of the traffic is using the same lane at the next intersection, it might stack up in the same lane with the other empty at the current intersection. There are band-aids, like the suggested manipulation of speed limits, but the ultimate solution is to improve flow at the subsequent intersection(s). Lane connectors often don't help as much as one might think as they tend to introduce conflicts at subsequent nodes. It's like pushing the lump of dirt around under the rug.

[LeeHawkinsPhoto]

Great parclo configuration! I like that it's simple, and timed to be continuous flow.

One thought on the SPUI though...and this may be more of a limitation of what's achievable in Cities: Skylines, because I definitely have issues with SPUI intersections not working 100% correctly...but one major advantage of a SPUI is that it's able to be slimmed down to take up less space than even the smallest diamond interchanges, yet still handle a TON of traffic as you demonstrated. Sadly, it seems that SPUI intersections I've built end up leaking traffic through on red lights, which is obviously not realistic. I'm curious if you've experienced the same "leaking" problem I have and what you've done to solve it...or if making the interchange take up more real estate is the solution.

Also, I love when someone demonstrates that the simple old-fashioned solutions are often the really awesome solutions like you did with the parclo. Thanks for keeping it real(istic)!

[Jameman]

10:56 I see you are a man of culture as well. The PARCLO is a wonderful interchange. I use it all the time

[VestedUTuber]

Regarding dedicated turn lanes, I'd actually say it's more important. I've had default lights that were fixed simply by setting up dedicated lanes.

[sandyf]

Tell me I'm not the only one who finds the SPUI timelapse being kinda in sync with the music so satisfying!

[BruceRichardsonMusic]

This is high value content, and thank you for taking the time to demo the light setups in detail. Should City Skylines ever implement "wrecks" into the traffic AI, I think a lot more assumptions about high-velocity roundabouts would be quickly exploded. They're just not meant for that. People complain the AI actually works against flow, but not to the degree that a realistic wreck aftermath would. Those 60 mph three-lane roundabouts would be wreck city.

[ItsIdaho]

I found a small trick I love to use in high density crossroads. I use 5 "second" long light periods, right turn always green and each of the periods has everyone going straight (both directions so twice) and then everyone just turning left (here I can alternate if the straight traffic volume is smaller and turn on both the left and straights.

It works miracles in my 200k population town.

Edit: I call them "5 Second bursts". Eventually if there is a period where longer no traffic passes through. I often just remove a straight/turn only and merge them into single straight+turn. Or I can change the higher traffic Volume periods to 10 or 15 seconds. Eventually as the city progresses it will turn into multi light intersections, where the "straight through"(often off the highway directly into the city) will get the longedt phases.

I hate roundabouts. Unless you use the bypass road that goes straight over (it's a mod, forgot the name but you have a 6 lane road where the middle 2 lanes go up and over the roundabout in the middle and the 4 lanes turn into the roundabout. That works fine aswell. But a pain to set up.)

[caseycornett]

Thanks for the ParCLO. I have been using it in many different ways. You mention lane math and I think with lane connectors and such the right hand turns can go with the straight through traffic. It can cause weaving issues on the bridge though if traffic is using the interchange to switch to the opposite direction on the freeway.(which for whatever reason seems to happen frequently in this game)

Great video love your content both on youtube and your steam assets.

[everythingiswonderful.ever]

YUMBL, I watched a stream of yours from a month ago where someone was arguing with you. You were explaining why communication skills matter in order to properly persuade others, using Not Just Bikes as an example of the opposite. I wanted to say that you did a great job explaining your standpoint, and I completely agree with you in that obviously the "burden of proof (persuasion)" is on the accuser/claimant. The premise of the opposing argument is the equivalent of closing your eyes while driving - that it is the responsibility of everyone else to not collide with you. Obviously ridiculous. Keep up the great work!

[gnexjeff]

As always, a great walkthrough video. For certain lower traffic density standard 4-way intersections with protected left turn lanes/lights, I leave the left turn light green while the straight/through path lights turn green. This makes the left turn lanes "yield on green" which still gives priority to through traffic but allows left turns to continue when there are breaks in the through traffic.

[krisculin]

I LOVE the partial cloverleaf you posted on the workshop. I actually made a few minor modifications to it (local only) and I use it in nearly every city I build now. The traffic management for it is absolutely amazing. I use a 6-lane overpass instead of the split 3+2 on each end and use TM:PE to setup the lane assignments. On occasion there might be a slight pause for left-turning traffic but it does not happen very often. I also setup a pedestrian bridge so that the crosswalks don't interfere with the traffic.

This was a great video. I've tried both regular and timed traffic lights at major 4-way intersections, but they tend to clog up and cause my traffic flow % to go down dramatically. Just turning off all traffic lights seems to keep my traffic float in the mid to high 80's (averaging 85-88%). I've tried using the 3+2 asymetrical roads but even using those it still causes backups. I guess I could try a 4+3 or 4+2 and see if that works better (with 2 straight-on lanes). I'll have to play around with the configuration and see what really works best, I suppose.

[lifeoftheparty]

i love that the biggest war in the CS community is some very polite gentlemen showing and teaching eachother the pros and cons of different traffic setups politely

[HornetsNestRebel]

I love using timed traffic lights. They save so much space.

Something I like doing is making a six-lane arterial function more like an expressway with ramps and a few traffic lights when needed. The third lane gets used as a right-in/right-out auxilliary lane. It's fun to get creative with no-left-turn signs and right-turn-only signs. This "expressway" style arterial saves a lot of space over divided highways.

[shaneintheuk]

I love the relaxed presentation style. It makes me want to listen.

The simulation can’t cope with 5-3 roads on a roundabout without massive customisation using TMPE. This means traffic lights are a much better option in the game. Maybe it will be fixed in CSL2.

After my tests I decided to use lights instead of my usual roundabouts. I found I didn’t manage road hierarchy as well and I’m struggling at 30k population.

It’s interesting that my failings make lights less effective and I think it’s because roundabouts are harder to build so I plan a bit more.