no matter how much you try, traffic will be the end of your city

My number 1 mistake is not spreading out enough. You have 9 tiles with vanilla don't try to use 100% of each tile.

Don't be afraid to bullzone an early game neighbourhood to make room for something later on.

Walking and cycle paths are OP. Make your city walk/cycle able and your traffic will be less of a headache. You can use mini city parks to get $5 for every time a Sim uses a footpath.

The goods production path is odd.

It might be tempting to turn all of your industry zones into non-polluting specializations (agriculture and forestry), but having no non-specialized industry means that you can't produce goods locally. Commercial zones will have to import goods, and industrial zones will have to export surplus materials, which is a major contribution to freight traffic.

If you have the Traffic Manager mod, it's usually best to disable traffic lights and signs at intersections. Unlike the real world, most drivers are highly competent.

Activate the recycling policy as soon as you can. Garbage will become an issue because it is bottlenecked by the capacity of disposal facilities (dumps/incinerators), their locations, the number of operating garbage trucks, and the efficiency of traffic. A full garbage truck will return to the facility, and if transportation capacity is inadequate, distant buildings may not get emptied even if the facility itself is not fully utilized.

You’re going to restart, a lot.