SimCity 405: The Double Road

Behold the above image. What you are looking at is a nighttime shot of three roads. That's right -- three roads. On the right, a standard high-density avenue. At right, what you're looking at is two abutting high-density roads. I refer to this as the double road.

In SimCitys of the past, two roads right next to each other would result in a string of chain-link roundabouts that would aid in traffic flow but looked hideously ugly. In SimCity 5, the double road not only works but also creates a grand boulevard that gets cars where they need to go ASAP.

Episode 6: The Double Road

Posted March 12, 2013

Here's a video I put together for my YouTube channel explaining how to set up a double road and why it works.

Benefits of the Double Road

The double road is in effect two sets of one-way traffic roads right next to each other. This is like replacing the drain pipe under your toilet with a car axle -- you'll never get a clog again and when you flush the water will rush out in seconds. You will straighten out any crushing traffic problems in your city in a heartbeat -- better than a standard high-density avenue can.

You can also straighten out the quirky bus line thing where the buses follow each other around by placing bus stops on both sides of the street directly across from one another.

Residential communities love the double street. I don't know why, but they will develop it faster and denser than an avenue. Now, that might change later in the game as the density levels rise -- I haven't tested over the long-term yet -- but as a starter you can't beat it.

Drawbacks of the Double Road

First, you should notice that the double road is physically wider than it's avenue cousin. So the drawback here is that technically you are using extra space for your road. Some of you don't care about these tiny parcels of space because you're playing to have fun. I care about those spaces because I'm trying to destroy my enemies and live atop a mountain made of their bodies in Leaderville. My advice, you want one of these running in each direction.

A second drawback is that Sims driving in one direction can't make a left-hand turn. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Clearly, this prevents traffic jams, but at the same time it forces anyone trying to make a left to travel a great distance away, turn around, and come back on the correct side of the road. This is corrected by creating circles in the center of the road -- thereby cutting the drive time of land-handers in half. Again this takes up more space, but if you have two double roads crossing each other and they both use the circle, then the extra space is a valid strategic risk.

Because the roads are right next to each other, you can't intersect both of them with a cross-street. The street has to dead-end on one side and then the people would have to drive to the round about and come back down the street to continue. The only way to cross a double-road is at a circle.

Putting a police station, fire station, or hospital on the double road cuts the radius of these stations in half because in order to cross the road, they also need to use the circle. So what you'll see is that one side of the double road will be lit up like Christmas when you go to plop, but the other side will be dim to empty. Use the double road for residential and commercial properties and place your ploppables somewhere else.

Ending a Double Road

When the double-road terminates, because SimCity won't allow two intersections to be right next to each other, you'll have to branch the two roads away from one another in order to terminate the road. But this is actually a good thing and here's why: in the space where the two roads part ways, you can plop a police or fire station. Then, they can respond to crimes/fires on either side of the double road. Pretty tricky, right!