If you are hitting a budget wall or causing gridlock, the exact A28 solution All Lanes Must Exit demands isn't a standard cloverleaf—it requires an asymmetric trumpet layout to bypass the central nodes while keeping your total spend under the strict $45,000 cap. Map Edge Studio designed this specific stage to break players who rely on symmetrical highway designs. The heavy traffic volume pouring in from the North Main artery will instantly back up if you force it through a central intersection, and the environmental penalties for crossing the river will drain your funds before you even connect the final lane.
To clear this stage, you have to stop building what looks pretty and start building what the game's pathfinding actually respects. This means understanding the precise math behind lane elevation, merge angles, and node spacing. Here is the exact breakdown of how to route your asphalt and beat the game's most notorious Early Access chokepoint.
Why Level A28 Breaks Your Budget
The trap is set the moment the map loads. The game presents you with four distinct incoming lanes: North Main, South Main, East Industrial, and West Residential. The visual layout practically begs you to build a symmetrical four-way interchange right in the middle of the map.
Do not take the bait. A standard road segment costs $500 per unit of length. Elevating a lane into a flyover slaps you with a $1,500 base cost plus $800 per unit. Worse, crossing the Central River incurs a $2,000 environmental penalty per bridge. If you attempt to build a traditional four-way cloverleaf, your build cost will hit roughly $52,000, instantly failing the level.
Infographic: A28 Failed Strategies Cost
The Three Failed Strategies You Need to Abandon
Before laying a single node, recognize why your previous attempts failed:
- The Symmetrical Cloverleaf: Costs $52,000. Requires four separate river crossings and four elevated flyovers. It is mathematically impossible to fund on this stage.
- The Massive Central Roundabout: Fits the budget, but causes immediate gridlock. The game's pathfinding uses strict yield mechanics. When the heavy North traffic enters the roundabout, it blocks the West Residential traffic entirely, causing a queue that backs up into the spawn zone.
- Direct Cross-River Spam: Trying to draw straight lines from every entrance to every exit creates a spiderweb of tight intersections. The braking penalty at these nodes will stall traffic to a halt within 45 seconds.
Pre-Build Constraints and Node Placement
Success on A28 requires routing the bulk of the traffic around the Central River rather than over it. You must manage the flow based on the game's hidden volume metrics.
| Artery | Traffic Volume | Optimal Routing Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| North Main | Heavy (400 cars/min) | Dedicated bypass to South and East; no intersections. |
| South Main | Heavy (350 cars/min) | Direct elevated flyover to North; late merge for West. |
| East Industrial | Light (100 cars/min) | Ground-level yield merge into Northbound traffic. |
| West Residential | Medium (200 cars/min) | Early merge into Southbound traffic before the river. |
Annotated Diagram: Node Placement
Anchoring the North-to-East Bypass
Your very first move dictates the rest of the build. Do not cross the river yet. Click the North Main exit node. Drag your cursor in a wide, sweeping right-hand curve directly toward the East Industrial entrance.
Watch the lane preview color. Do not let the preview line turn orange—if it turns orange, your curve radius is too tight and cars will brake. Keep the line solid blue, ensuring you maintain a 45-degree merge angle, then click to finalize the lane. Keep exactly 3-node spacing from the edge of the East Industrial zone to prevent braking. This single bypass handles 30% of the map's traffic without touching a single bridge or flyover.
Step-by-Step Route Construction
With the bypass anchored, you have roughly $38,000 left to connect the remaining arteries. Follow this exact build order to maximize your budget efficiency.
Analysis Report Poster: Step-by-Step Route Construction
Step 1: The Primary Arteries
Connect North to South and South to North using ground-level lanes. Keep them entirely on the west side of the Central River. By hugging the riverbank, you avoid the $2,000 crossing penalty entirely.
Draw the North-to-South lane first. Then, draw the South-to-North lane parallel to it. Because these are ground-level, straight-line connections, they will cost you less than $4,000 total. You now have the main vertical flow established.
Step 2: The Westbound Flyover
This is where you spend your money. The traffic from East Industrial needs to reach West Residential, and it has to cross the Primary Arteries to get there.
Select the elevation tool. Click the East Industrial exit node, raise the elevation to level 2, and draw a straight flyover directly across the river and over the Primary Arteries. Drop the elevation back to ground level exactly two units before the West Residential entrance. This maneuver costs exactly $12,500. By doing this as a single, straight elevated bridge, you minimize the per-unit elevation cost.
Step 3: The East Industrial Merge
You still have vehicles from South Main that need to reach East Industrial. Instead of building another flyover, use a late merge. Branch a lane off the South-to-North artery, keeping it at ground level, and merge it into the North-to-East bypass you built at the very beginning. Because East Industrial traffic is light, this shared lane will not cause a backup.
Understanding the Braking Penalty in Early Access
Since the June 5, 2026 Early Access launch, Map Edge Studio implemented a strict braking penalty for sharp merges. If you drag a lane into an existing node at greater than a 45-degree angle, the game's simulation calculates a slow vehicle speed.
The North Main artery spawns exactly 400 vehicles per minute. If your angle snapping triggers the braking penalty, forcing them to decelerate from 60mph to 30mph, the throughput drops to 250 vehicles per minute. The remaining 150 vehicles stack up.
Comic Grid: Braking Penalty in Early Access
To maintain highway speeds, always merge from the outside in. Never pull a lane sharply across the path of an existing route. When connecting the final West Residential exit to the Southbound artery, drag the node parallel to the highway for at least two units before clicking to merge. This creates a dedicated acceleration lane, allowing the AI vehicles to match speed before merging, entirely bypassing the braking penalty.
Execute these steps, and you will finish the level with a green budget counter showing roughly $41,500, with all lanes flowing smoothly.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I fix the backup on the West Residential lane? Your merge angle is too sharp. Delete the final connection node and redraw it so it runs parallel to the main highway for at least two grid units before merging. This creates an acceleration lane and stops the AI from braking.
What is the minimum budget required to clear A28? The theoretical minimum spend is roughly $39,200 if you perfectly optimize your curve radii to be as tight as possible without triggering the braking penalty. However, the $41,500 asymmetric trumpet layout is much safer and easier to execute.
Why do my cars stop completely at the central node? You accidentally created a standard intersection instead of a highway merge. Make sure you are not crossing two ground-level lanes over each other. Use the elevation tool (Level 2) to build a flyover, or use the dedicated merge tool to join lanes flowing in the same direction.