The lateral velocity distribution of flow in the shear layer of open channel is required to many problems in river and eco-environment engineering, e.g. distribution of pollutant dispersion, sediment transport and bank erosion, and aquatic habitat. It is not well understood about how the velocity varies laterally in the wall boundary layer. This paper gives an analytical solution of lateral velocity distribution in a rectangular open channel based on the depth-averaged momentum equation proposed by Shiono & Knight. The obtained lateral velocity distributions in the wall shear layer are related to the two hydraulic parameters of lateral eddy viscosity (λ) and depth-averaged secondary flow (Γ) for given roughened channels. Preliminary relationships between the above two parameters and the aspect ratio of channel, B/H, are obtained from two sets of experimental data. The lateral width (δ) of the shear layer was investigated and found to relate to the λ and the bed friction factor (f), as described by Equation (26). This study indicates that the lateral shear layer near the wall can be very wide (δ/H = 14.6) for the extreme case (λ = 0.6 and f = 0.01).