A new Cities Skylines 2 update makes traffic "smoother and less rage-inducing"

"Traffic jams can be incredibly frustrating, not only in real life, but also in Cities Skylines 2." Those are the words of developer Iceflake Studios, which took control of the struggling city builder sequel in late 2025, and I couldn't have put it better myself. Fortunately, such problems have been high on the priority list of changes, and new Cities Skylines 2 update 'Morning Dew' promises to make the flow of vehicles around your roads "smoother and less rage-inducing." The plan is to limit the rate of awkward congestion by teaching your Cims to make better decisions, sooner.

To start with, the new Cities Skylines 2 patch notes "significantly" increase the 'cost' of making U-turns when calculating routes. This should cut down on illegal U-turns, but it'll also reduce "unrealistic legal U-turn behavior." Iceflake has pushed the cost "even higher" for U-turns that are considered fundamentally unsafe. It's also improved the ability of the driver AI to select the lane it needs to be in earlier, and switch sooner than they traditionally have done. This should result in more realistic and smooth lane merges, particularly around highway exits.

"These adjustments should noticeably improve the car pathing, resulting in more realistic traffic behavior and less traffic jams within your city," Iceflake explains. "These changes won't fix everything related to the traffic behavior, but you should see a significant improvement."

The other major adjustment in the new patch is a continuation to Iceflake's work on better-looking shadows. Depending on your settings, you should now see less instances of them flickering on and off in the distance. Another issue causing shadows to be erroneously cut off with certain camera angles, particularly when looking straight down, has been fixed. Lastly comes improved shadow cascade distribution; combine these and you should now have a "cleaner and more natural" look across your city.

Iceflake has addressed several other problems in the update. Among these is a bug fix preventing rapid depletion of natural resources on easy mode. Delivery trucks should no longer get stuck inside specialized industry buildings, ensuring their cargo gets where it's supposed to go in good time. The education overlay has also been polished, tool parameters like road elevation will carry over when switching between related tools, and there's a new filter for assets from region packs and mods in the build menu.

Cities Skylines 2 patch 1.5.9f1 'Morning Dew' is live now. "As we're heading towards summer, we are planning on releasing a major patch for you to explore and play in June," Iceflake reveals. "We will keep working with the game throughout the summer, during which we will gather more of your feedback on the changes and the suggestions you have sent us."