Roadways

[RBell]

In ho scale what is the standard width of a city street and the width of a country highway?

[Yampa Bob]

I suggest you acquire a 100' tape measure and do some field research.  Think of minimum width for the type of street, rather than standards. Some city alleys are barely wide enough for one car.

The smaller the layout, the more "selective compression" must be applied to scenics. For example, the paved roadway of the county road by our ranch is 30' in width.  In true HO scale, that equates to over 4".  If you include the total right-of-way, it is over 8". That's too much wasted real estate.

On my small layout, I generally use a uniform 1:150 scale factor for streets and other roadways,  2" for a county road, or about 1" for a private driveway. There is no specific ratio, just try to maintain a uniform perspective.

So as to not overwhelm the layout, many of my "distant" buildings are actually N scale.  This increases the illusion of distance.  A closeup centerpiece, such as the main depot, or a barn on a ranch scene, could be HO scale. In short, what I tried to achieve is Perspective and Balance.  This includes smaller cars in the 40' to 50' range.

I'm sure the rivet  counters will disagree, but I like the way my layout looks, and it complies with "Rule Number One".