RenLUG City Standards

Welcome to the official guide for building within the RenLUG City! Here you’ll find the standards we use to ensure our collaborative displays are cohesive, modular, and easy to integrate. From MILS-based terrain and ballasted train tracks to street widths, sidewalk styles, and modular connections, this page outlines the shared framework that brings our city to life. Whether you’re building your first structure or designing an entire city block, these guidelines help make sure your creations fit seamlessly into RenLUG’s collaborative displays. Let’s build a better city together!

Standard Road Plate Designs

NOTE: see RenLUG standards below, as some of our road striping is slightly different than these.

Roads and Sidewalks

RenLUG’s collaborative LEGO city displays are designed to be modular, consistent, and easy to expand. Our standards are based on a system developed by Smudge on Rebrickable, which adapts the official LEGO City Road Plates (set 60304) into a MILS-compatible, builder-friendly format. This approach ensures that every member’s module can seamlessly connect with others, while still allowing space for creativity and scene-specific customization. This modular road system that accommodates both 4-wide and 6-wide vehicles on our city streets.

Note: Members are responsible for the road section in front of their own builds. While the overall look should stay consistent, builders are welcome to adapt the road to include driveways, crosswalks, intersections, or other special features that enhance their scene. Just make sure transitions to neighboring modules remain smooth.

Road Standards

RenLUG’s modular road system builds on the design of LEGO City Road Plates (set 60304), but the baseplates are enlarged by 2 studs to enhance detail and functionality. Roads are constructed on 32×32 baseplates and include both the road surface and sidewalks.

Standard Road Module Features:

Total Width: Enlarged by 2 studs compared to the LEGO plates, allowing for:
- 1 stud for an edge lane striping (typically white, but occassionally yellow) along the outer lane edge.
- 1 stud for a curb or shoulder beside the sidewalk. (dbg to match the road color).
Lane Width: Two 6-stud-wide lanes for 4-wide and 6-wide vehicle compatibility.
Road Surface: Dark bluish gray tiles or plates, with the white center stripe already integrated from the original LEGO road plates.
Intersections have special striping considerations: No stripes are used in the center of any intersection, only the outer 2 stripe positions are used.
- 4 way intersections with 4 crosswalks have no stripes
- 4 way intersections with 0 to 3 crosswalks do not have the center two stripes in either direction, only the outer most stripe positions are used.
- 3 way aka T-intersections have no stripes on the two center positions. They do have stripes on the two outer positions, to narrow the non-striped area to just the road width. The outside stripes may be inside a crosswalk depending on which version you build.
- Stop stripes are not used
Sidewalks: 6 studs wide on each side (see sidewalk standards below).
Elevation: MILS standard, raised one brick plus one plate.

Customization Guidelines:

Builders are responsible for the road section in front of their builds and may adapt it with driveways, crosswalks, or other features, as long as the module connects cleanly with neighboring sections.

Sidewalk & Street Light Standards

Sidewalks are an essential part of RenLUG’s city layout, providing pedestrian space and visual consistency across modules. Sidewalks are intergraded into the road plates! Each standard sidewalk section includes:

Width: 6 studs wide along each side of the road.
Surface Color: Tiled in light bluish gray.
Edge Tiles: A clean border using 1xX tiles (typically 1×4 or 1×8) along the outer and inner edges.
Center Tiles: Filled with 2×2 or 2×4 tiles for the main walking surface.
Jumper Plates (Optional, but Highly Recommended)
- Jumper plates are strategically placed on sidewalks to allow easy attachment of minifigures or street furniture such as benches, traffic signals, fire hydrants, mailboxes, and other urban details.
- For ease of packing and transportation, most members remove these street elements before stacking road plates. The jumper plates remain in place, making it quick and easy to reattach and rearrange the details for events or displays.
Street Lights: (Optional, but Highly Recommended)
- Street lights should be embedded in the sidewalk at the center of the baseplate, placed on studs 16 & 17. This positioning requires the use of two 1×2 tiles and should be located one stud in from the roadside edge of the sidewalk.
- The standard street light element is found in LEGO® City Road Plate set #60340.
- For packing and transport, most members detach the street light at the black connector, leaving the light bluish gray base in place. This method maintains a clean, finished look to the sidewalk – even if the street light is temporarily removed.
- Alternative Street Light Placement Locations:
  - If you’re not using 1×2 tiles to perfectly center the streetlights, the preferred alternative placement is on studs 17 and 18 – this puts the lights one stud to the right of center.
  - Avoid placing them on studs 16 and 17, as that shifts them one stud to the left, which is the same side as the street drains. To keep the layout balanced and visually clean, offsetting the lights to the right is the recommended approach when exact centering isn’t possible.
Street Drain (Optional Detail)
- A single street drain, made using a 1×2 grate, is placed near the left curb at studs 3 and 4, following the placement style of classic LEGO® baseplate roads.
- Drains can be added to one or both sides of a road plate, but should always remain on the left side. This ensures that no two drains ever appear directly across from one another, preserving a realistic and intentional layout.
- Some members enhance this detail by building a “functional” street drain with a curb cut on the street-facing side.
- See example photos below for inspiration.
Alignment: Sidewalks should line up with neighboring modules to ensure uninterrupted pedestrian paths.

Builders are encouraged to add personality through accessories, greenery, and other minifig-scale details, as long as the sidewalk remains clear and connectable.