Cities: Skylines II: How to Build Better Road Grids

Here's how to use framing devices and anchor roads to lay out a connected grid in Cities: Skylines II.

A strict road hierarchy can leave a dense grid feeling cut off from itself. Suburban habits like long loops and cul-de-sacs (dead-end streets with a turning circle) make it worse downtown. In Cities: Skylines II, you can keep hierarchy and still build a grid full of natural connections.

Pick a Framing Device in Cities: Skylines II

In Cities: Skylines II, a framing device is any feature you build the grid off. On hilly maps, terrain does the job. On flat land, use water and main highways instead.

Never build grid connections into an interstate or another major highway. A rural highway planned for four lanes can take a few connections without much trouble. For a flat waterfront district, the shoreline and the main highway can serve as your two frames.

Set Anchor Points Along the Edge

Start with a few straight road segments that trace your frame, such as the shoreline. These act as anchor points for the blocks behind them. Keep a little distance from the water so the road doesn't crowd the shore.

Use Grid mode to extend blocks from each anchor. In one build, blocks were 16 by 10 units, with short marker roads left in place to measure the next section. You can delete the markers once the real connections show up.

Old gravel roads and nearby grids can guide the layout too. Turn on Snap to Guide Lines to start a new road from the exact middle of a gravel road. In one build, that road was pulled out 20 units and run across to meet the grid.

Vary the Angle Between Grids

Two grids with nearly the same angle read as one stretched grid. Measure the angle where one section meets the next before you connect them. In one example the gap was only 2 degrees, so the section was rotated further.

Move It lets you select several nodes (the points where road segments join) and shift them together. Use it to pull a section a little off line. Afterward, redraw the joining curve and check that it starts at the right spot.

Decide Which Roads to Terminate

Not every road needs to cross the whole district. A waterfront road can stop partway along the shore, and a short street can end once it has served its homes. Ending roads like this pushes through traffic onto the streets you built for it.

When two roads have no natural meeting point, keep building the surrounding grid. The extra blocks usually make the right connection obvious. Run the road straight for a short distance, then finish with a gentle curve.

Use Parallel mode with a small offset, such as 8 units, to curve a terminated road into its neighbor. Avoid placing a four-way intersection right next to a major junction. Filling a narrow strip of water can also cost less than a short bridge.

If a curve into the next road makes an odd, pinched shape, stop curving and pick another connection. A short street used only by its residents can curve into a cul-de-sac street. Outside drivers then have no reason to cut through.

Give the District a Main Road in Cities: Skylines II

Local streets bring people into a district, but the area also needs one road with real capacity. Connect it straight into the nearest major intersection so drivers don't depend on a single turn off the highway. Branch a second link off it to spread traffic into the lower blocks.

Cities: Skylines II snaps roads to zoning cell length by default. Turn off Snap to Zoning Cell Length to drop a four-lane road into the middle of a block, accepting that it breaks the zoning tiles along it. At busy junctions, swap in a road with a turning lane.

Break Up Long Blocks

A grid that keeps going is easy to extend, but it grows long and repetitive. When one road is about to merge into another, try a couplet: a pair of one-way roads running in opposite directions. In one build, these were two-lane one-way roads with trees and grass.

In right-hand traffic, set the right road forward and the left road back. For blocks that run too long, a pedestrian path through the middle gives walkers a direct route. It also avoids adding another vehicle junction.

Some leftover roads only exist as measurement points. Delete them once a nearby street connects on its own. A connection placed off-center now and then adds the small imperfections that make a grid feel lived in.

Plan Service Roads Before You Zone in Cities: Skylines II

Sort out garbage access before you zone so you don't rebuild later. Put the landfill on the industrial side of town, away from homes. Plan its approach for the truck traffic the area will carry once industry fills in.

Road Builder lets you make custom roads from an existing one used as a template. In one build, it produced a one-way wide alley for the landfill entrance. A two-way section with an extra lane on each side handled the main truck route.

For the landfill itself, draw the area with only Snap to Existing Geometry turned on and add jagged edges by hand. Replace the concrete surface with dirt. Scatter stain decals across the ground, and add a few to the roof.

Zone and Detail the New Blocks

Keep housing off the four-lane roads and save their frontage for shops and offices. Noisy services like fire and police stations can go near the highway. Better Bulldozer can remove parts of an asset you don't want, such as an extra parking lot.

Small alley junctions rarely need traffic lights, so remove them. Add crosswalks where people will cross to reach a shop or school. Elsewhere, let pedestrians use the paths you built through the blocks.

Detail far less than usual at the start of a city. Early blocks will change as farms are replaced and roads are upgraded. Add only enough trees and paths to make the area readable.

What to Do Next

Once the grid is down, zoom out and look at the whole layout from above. Mark the roads you expect to upgrade to four lanes as traffic grows. Note which farms will make way for new blocks, and decide where those streets will tie into the existing grid. In Cities: Skylines II, a grid with natural connection points can keep growing in any direction.

Frame the area first, then let the growing grid show you where each road should connect or end.

FAQ

Q. Do you have to drop road hierarchy to build a good grid in Cities: Skylines II?

A. You can keep it and loosen how strictly you apply it. Give the district one higher-capacity main road, let local streets handle short trips, and link those streets to each other often.

Q. How do you stop two grids from looking like one?

A. Measure the angle where they meet. If the difference is only a couple of degrees, rotate one section with Move It until the change is easy to see.

Q. When should a road end instead of connecting through?

A. End it when its next junction would land close to a busy intersection. A street that only serves the homes along it is also a good candidate to stop.

Q. What is a couplet in a road grid?

A. It's a pair of one-way roads that carry traffic in opposite directions a short distance apart. Try one when a road is about to merge into another, since it splits a long block and adds a route through it.

Q. Which mods help with grid building in Cities: Skylines II?

A. Most of the layout work uses the base Grid and Parallel modes. Move It is handy for fine node adjustments. Builders also use Road Builder for custom alleys and Better Bulldozer to strip parts from assets.

Also check out our other guides below:

• Cities: Skylines II: 15 Tips for Your First City