While the suggestions in the article will work fine, I use an entirely different method (because I am thrifty, or maybe cheap): I use either roofing "felt", also called "tar paper", or unused asphalt roofing shingles. I turn the shingles over so that the colored/pebbled surface is down. Either material can be cut easily to shape and will sit flat with minimal gluing. The shingles can be carved up for potholes or the placement of manholes, drains, etc. And, if you need to do some "urban renewal", it is easy to rip up and discard. Unless the real road is freshly paved, it is full of cracks, patches, etc., so don't feel you have to make the road all one piece and unblemished.

Both materials can be obtain for free or next to nothing - leftovers from roofing jobs or damaged packages at construction supply stores. A few yards of tar paper or a partial square of shingles will last you a lifetime.

Cutting the tarpaper can be done with a sharp hobby knife or even scissors, but cutting the shingles is best accomplished with a sturdy blade or heavy shears. The cutting tools will get coated with "tar", but they are easily cleaned with kerosene, Goo-Gone, Dio-Sol, etc.

Mike

Mike,

That's an interesting idea, using roofing materials.  But what about the out-gassing of the materials?  Doesn't the layout room start to smell like a freshly applied roof?  Do you "age" the felts or shingles outside for a while, first?

Having a little "tar" aroma sounds like a bonus, unless there's so much material it's overwhelming. Styrene, Durham's Water Putty and spackle also work well for paved roads.

I believe there is a math error in this article. A 4x8 sheet yields 88 linear feet of road. A sheet costs $10. That is a cost of $0.11 per foot ($10.00/88ft=$0.11/ft) not the $0.88 per foot stated in the article.

I did an experiment with a 4x8 sheet of styrene here over the last three years on the SASE layout; I basically applied flat black followed by mists of gray.  The results looked great and it provided me with an easily removed base to the city.  However, once the edges were secured on all sides, we ran into serious trouble with expansion in particular once it got warm here.  As a result, my perfect streets buckled.

So i removed it and put in a 1/8th layer of plaster.  I by and far prefer a layer of plaster now.