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As a highway designer, sidewalks (at least here in the MIlwaukee area) are generally 5 inches thick. The typical walk width is 5 feet, with a joint troweled in the new walk every 5 feet. A contraction joint is generally placed every 100 feet. The difference is that the trowelled joint is about an inch deep, and the construction joint is all the way through and there is a 1" thick felt material placed here. This is to allow for the concrete to expand and contract with the temperature. Yes, concrete and steel expand just like any other material. The reason for the five foot joints is as explained by other readers, that is to control cracking. The darn stuff cracks wherever it wants to, and we try to "encourage " the locations. This sometinmes doesn't work, and it cracks where you least expect it (usually a foot away from a joint). The walk is then sawd out and replaced. The replacement is never the exact color as the original, so you may want to vary the color of a few pieces. Roots and frost will over time crack a few more, so these are replaced as needed. <br /> <br />You can scribe the joints as noted by others, with every 20th (100' spacing) painted black to represent the felt. Also, if your walk is abutting the curb, felt is placed here also, so a thin black line between the back of the curb and the walk would be prototypical. As mentioned by others, the 1/32 thickness is about right, although since you will be viewing this from above, you could cheat with thicker material, as there is a concern about scribing right through the thin plastic. Hope this helps, have fun modeling!
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