HO Width of Streets?
- Thread starter dlobmwm3
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I assume you mean a road with one lane in either direction and a road with two lanes in either direction. The correct answer depends somewhat on your era. Up until the 40's, a standard lane width was 8 feet so a two lane road was 16 feet wide. That would be about 2.2 inches in HO. Modern roads are about 10 feet wide per lane with a four foot shoulder so a two lane road would be about 3.9 inches including shoulders.
A four lane road would usually have at least a two foot shoulder up until the 40's, with the same 8 foot lane widths. That would be about 5 inches wide. A modern four lane road would have 10 foot lanes and a four foot shoulder so you'd be looking at about 6.6 inches wide. An interstate would have 12 foot wide lanes with 5 foot shoulders so it should be 8 inches wide.
Most modelers find they don't have the space to model roads at the prototypical width. You can go about 20% undersize and still have it look OK as long as you're careful not to have two big trucks next to each other.
A four lane road would usually have at least a two foot shoulder up until the 40's, with the same 8 foot lane widths. That would be about 5 inches wide. A modern four lane road would have 10 foot lanes and a four foot shoulder so you'd be looking at about 6.6 inches wide. An interstate would have 12 foot wide lanes with 5 foot shoulders so it should be 8 inches wide.
Most modelers find they don't have the space to model roads at the prototypical width. You can go about 20% undersize and still have it look OK as long as you're careful not to have two big trucks next to each other.
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