Recumbents are not much different from a road bike. What counts when it comes to riding in heavy traffic is the width of the road. If there is enough room for safe riding then either bike will do. I used to live in Chicagoland southwest of the city. I sure became spoiled after I moved to the southwest to an area where they built the roads much wider than those in Illinois and there are fewer traffic lights. It's even comfortable to ride a 4 lane, 45 mph road when they include breakdown lanes. The same trip on a two lane road with the standard road width and the same traffic flow would be far less pleasurable. I used to ride a long wheelbase recumbent a lot. It was one that I could easily put my feet on the ground when coming to a stop. That's important if you have to stop frequently. My short wheelbase recumbent was far more maneuverable but not as easy to stop and start back out.