If you have a small town main street, and it has parking down one side only (see first photo), is the painted centerline placed in the middle of the street as measured from curb to curb (see A), or is the centerline moved over because of the parking spaces on the right side of the street as in B?
and I think I see a mistake I made in putting a parking space where the brown car is sitting (see arrow). There probably wouldn't be a parking spot there would there?
Jarrell
IN GENERAL:
1) The center line would mark the seperation between thru (traffic) lanes, since the parking lane is not a traffic lane, the center line would be shifted over to 'B'2) Many places have a parking spot at the head of a T-intersection - just don't block the marked crosswalk.
chutton01 IN GENERAL: 1) The center line would mark the seperation between thru (traffic) lanes, since the parking lane is not a traffic lane, the center line would be shifted over to 'B'2) Many places have a parking spot at the head of a T-intersection - just don't block the marked crosswalk.
Oh boy, didn't think that through too well. The error is where the red taxi (behind the brown car) is parked because that's right in the middle of a crosswalk. And that's going to throw off the spacing of all spots behind the red one.
Thanks for the opinions and advice.
First I’d like to say that it looks really good so far.
To answer your question, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a road with parking only on one side unless there was no sidewalk on the other side and some other reason the road was not wider, like the railroad is right next to it. In the real world this road would probably be wider or else one way only.
When I make a scene like yours and the road is not wide enough I just pretend that it is and make it compressed. I would put the line down the middle, and make the lanes and parking a little narrower than scale. In the first picture the blue car looks like it’s hogging the road because it is past the middle.
Lay a piece of string or paper down the middle and see how it looks, then move if over to the side and see if it looks better or worse.
Next question, there usually isn’t parking at the end of a road but I have seen it in crowded cities where every space is needed.
Some of our older Eastern cities have narrow streets where there is only room for a parking lane on one side.
Tom
I would not have parking where the red and brown car are, and maybe not where the black car is. The blue car would be in the left turn lane and the parking areas would be for through traffic.
South Penn.
Just to confuse the issue ......
http://www.vintag.es/2014/05/streets-of-usa-in-1950s.html
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Just to confuse the issue ...... http://www.vintag.es/2014/05/streets-of-usa-in-1950s.html
Ja Bear, this one was part way down in those photos. Two different types of parking on the same street and, it looks like... just enough room for two cars to pass each other.
Thanks for the link.
For a city street, I usually plan on 20 ft wide for the travel lanes and 8 ft wide for the parallel parking spaces. Angled parking takes a lot width of street and a lot more vehicles to make it look like a busy business district.
If there is no room for 2 cars to park between the 2 cross walks, you can have one space and yellow curb No Parking from the parking space to the crosswalk. Maybe put a fire hydrant there.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
jacon12Ja Bear, this one was part way down in those photos. Two different types of parking on the same street and, it looks like... just enough room for two cars to pass each other.
Keep the cars where they are; add a cop writing tickets - plenty of folks park where they shouldn't.
A few years ago I discovered an interesting resource for vintage street and parking information: the WPA during the Great Depression conducted detailed "traffic studies" for cities and towns and presented their findings in hand-bound books (another WPA project!) with maps and drawings for what streets needed angled parking versus parallel, size of lanes, improved signage, and other such detail. This was part of an overall rationalization of traffic and road design on a national basis.
A WPA traffic study might be found on the shelves of the local public library and if not, the office of city engineer may well have a copy. I bought mine at a used book sale for 25 cents.
Dave Nelson
Do you really need a center line?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
These days most Cities and States have VDOT requirements that cover everything from the type of paint , spacing, locations, sign placement "line of sight", curb types, gutter types, shoulders, Asphalt depths, stone depths etc................... Here in Va there is a very large book that details the road , right of way etc..
B is the correct option. To add more realism there should be fire lane curb painted, stop signs, parking and no parking signs, street name signs, signals etc...
Don't forget to add a double parked delivery truck and somebody going around that as another car approaches (who's chicken?). You may need a wrecker.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Some intersections have pipe barricades with signs to prevent some pedestrian movements. You could have the crosswalk as marked and put barricades on each side of the street to prevent pedestrians from crossing where the red car is parked.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Interesting pics Bear. Looks like one of the buildings is on fire in the picture Jarrell posted!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
That's going to be a nice scene Jarrell! The detail on the buildings is excellent.
I do agree that the cars shouldn't be parked where the pedestrian crossings will be.
How about making the street one-way so you can have parking on both sides?
jacon12Thanks for the link.
No worries Jarrell. The photo I thought that possibly portrayed your situation best was 2 down from the one you picked, with the church in the background. It would appear that it is a two way street with parallel parking on one side only.
MisterBeasley Do you really need a center line?
From the photo posted, it doesn't look like a center line is needed - none in the photo.
Problem solved!
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Great work! Your scenery looks quite realistic. Doesn't the centerline also matter based on location of the town and amount of traffic flowing through?
Here I thought modeling rural scene was challenging!
kasskaboose Great work! Your scenery looks quite realistic. Doesn't the centerline also matter based on location of the town and amount of traffic flowing through? Here I thought modeling rural scene was challenging!
Much obliged for all the replies. I've uprooted the parking meters that had the car parked in the middle of the crosswalk, and of course when you move one theres a dominoe effect, all of them have to be moved. I've decided to have a 'dashed' white centerline, traffic going both ways and parking on the one side only.
The street and sidewalks are much too clean though, have to dirty them up some.
Looks like a lot of people answering in this thread have never been in downtown Boston or NYC's Lower East Side.
Traffic lanes and parking lanes and stop lines can get pretty approximate.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
Oh boy, didn't think that through too well. The error is where the red taxi (behind the brown car) is parked because that's right in the middle of a crosswalk.
Just hang a ticket on the windshield, and go run some trains.
I have seen many streets where parking is only allowed on one side. Many towns have streets that go back to the horse and buggy days and were not made as wide as modern standards call for. Therefore it is perfectly prototypical to have streets that only have space for parking on one side and others where there is no on street parking at all. I live near the little burg of Utica, Oh and all the businesses have parking in the rear because there simply isn't room for parked cars and two lanes of traffic. Since real estate on our layouts is prescious, sometimes fudging an inch or less on the width of our street widths can make all the difference in the world. Limiting parking is one trick. Another is to make streets one way. Still another if it is a street near the back edge of the layout and running parallel to the aisle, you can narrow the street more than would be practical without compromising appearance. Remember, nobody is going to have to drive on our streets so if we cheat a little bit on width where it won't be noticeable it's no big deal.