Why U. S. Roads are Spaced One Mile Apart
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Date: 2025-01-27
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Comments and reviews: 20
sandybarrie5526
you said Imperial Measure. sorry but American has NEVER been in Imperial Measurments. you kept the feet and inches and weights and volumes that England gave you when you separated from England, after the revolution. and they were later ratified by the Congress. (The English Weights and measure were at that time based in the English city of Winchester. but England found out that France was working on a 'unified' measure and weights. later to become the Metric System. and they though about changing their weights and measure to make them 'devisable ' into the french system. they sent over a spy, (but the system was still in flux at the time, and he got it all wrong. the french brought in Metric in 1818. . Later the English (with out checking they had gotten the exact versions of Metric, brought in 'Imperial Weights and measure, with a new 'Weights & Measure act of 1824. hence the new Imperial Gallon is aprox 20% more than the US gallon. the new English Imperial inch is infact almost the same, the difference goes down to the 5th decimal point. infact An English Imperial Mile is almost an inch longer than an American Mile. (The English them moved their Weights and measure dept to Greenwich, where they also based their Zero Meridian. (the old english inch was based on the roman Inch, the height of a roman army heel) Popular Mechanic magazine did a 4 page story on this in teh 1950's, but I lost me library of them inthe 2011 Floods in my town in Queensland, Australia. regards, Sandy
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you said Imperial Measure. sorry but American has NEVER been in Imperial Measurments. you kept the feet and inches and weights and volumes that England gave you when you separated from England, after the revolution. and they were later ratified by the Congress. (The English Weights and measure were at that time based in the English city of Winchester. but England found out that France was working on a 'unified' measure and weights. later to become the Metric System. and they though about changing their weights and measure to make them 'devisable ' into the french system. they sent over a spy, (but the system was still in flux at the time, and he got it all wrong. the french brought in Metric in 1818. . Later the English (with out checking they had gotten the exact versions of Metric, brought in 'Imperial Weights and measure, with a new 'Weights & Measure act of 1824. hence the new Imperial Gallon is aprox 20% more than the US gallon. the new English Imperial inch is infact almost the same, the difference goes down to the 5th decimal point. infact An English Imperial Mile is almost an inch longer than an American Mile. (The English them moved their Weights and measure dept to Greenwich, where they also based their Zero Meridian. (the old english inch was based on the roman Inch, the height of a roman army heel) Popular Mechanic magazine did a 4 page story on this in teh 1950's, but I lost me library of them inthe 2011 Floods in my town in Queensland, Australia. regards, Sandy
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wayneyadams
Interestingly here in Miami-Dade County, some of our squares don't line up exactly from east to west so streets running on the one mile lines change numbers (actually they all change numbers) as the follow the boundaries. For instance, NW 135th Street in the east becomes NW 138th Street in the west, or NW 199th Street in the east becomes NW 202nd street in the west. The odd thing is that it only happens in the very northernmost part of the county.
The streets which run east to west are one-sixteenth of a mile apart, while the avenues which run north to south are one-eighth of a mile apart making a city block five acres. (8 x 16 x 5 = 640.
Except for a couple of cities that name their streets, you always know where you are and how to get to any point in the county.
Interestingly, when Merrick laid out the plans for Coral Gables, he marked the western boundary with a red pencil and the road is still known as Red Road. The north south boundary was marked in blue, but the name Blue Road (SW 49th Street) faded into obscurity. In fact, I'll bet most people only know it as Red Road rather than NW 57th Avenue or in Hialeah, W 4th Avenue.
By the way, if you don't know what state Miami is in, I suggest you replace one of your gender studies classes with a geography class.
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Interestingly here in Miami-Dade County, some of our squares don't line up exactly from east to west so streets running on the one mile lines change numbers (actually they all change numbers) as the follow the boundaries. For instance, NW 135th Street in the east becomes NW 138th Street in the west, or NW 199th Street in the east becomes NW 202nd street in the west. The odd thing is that it only happens in the very northernmost part of the county.
The streets which run east to west are one-sixteenth of a mile apart, while the avenues which run north to south are one-eighth of a mile apart making a city block five acres. (8 x 16 x 5 = 640.
Except for a couple of cities that name their streets, you always know where you are and how to get to any point in the county.
Interestingly, when Merrick laid out the plans for Coral Gables, he marked the western boundary with a red pencil and the road is still known as Red Road. The north south boundary was marked in blue, but the name Blue Road (SW 49th Street) faded into obscurity. In fact, I'll bet most people only know it as Red Road rather than NW 57th Avenue or in Hialeah, W 4th Avenue.
By the way, if you don't know what state Miami is in, I suggest you replace one of your gender studies classes with a geography class.
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alwolschleger7242
Suprised you didn't use Detroit as your example of clashing between the survey grids and pre-existing systems, especially since you used 8 Mile as the foil for the video. Detroit was established in 1701 by the French, who laid out narrow parcels originating from the Detroit River. Then Augustus Woodward after the 1805 fire laid out his plan for Detroit, which involved the radial spoke roads (the most prominent of them, now Michigan highway M-1, of course, he named after himself) eminating from Campus Martius that you briefly mentioned at 0: 38. Around the same time, the U. S. Government donated 10, 000 acres (the Ten Thousand Acre Tract) just northwest of the existing city to the Territory of Michigan explicitly to parcel out and sell to fund public improvements, which ended up being centered along and oriented/surveyed in a grid perpendicular/parallel to Woodward Avenue against Woodward's wishes and plan. Then finally once growth got out far enough, it bumped into the U. S. rectangular 1 mile survey grid.
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Suprised you didn't use Detroit as your example of clashing between the survey grids and pre-existing systems, especially since you used 8 Mile as the foil for the video. Detroit was established in 1701 by the French, who laid out narrow parcels originating from the Detroit River. Then Augustus Woodward after the 1805 fire laid out his plan for Detroit, which involved the radial spoke roads (the most prominent of them, now Michigan highway M-1, of course, he named after himself) eminating from Campus Martius that you briefly mentioned at 0: 38. Around the same time, the U. S. Government donated 10, 000 acres (the Ten Thousand Acre Tract) just northwest of the existing city to the Territory of Michigan explicitly to parcel out and sell to fund public improvements, which ended up being centered along and oriented/surveyed in a grid perpendicular/parallel to Woodward Avenue against Woodward's wishes and plan. Then finally once growth got out far enough, it bumped into the U. S. rectangular 1 mile survey grid.
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jdshultis
I had an online disagreement with someone when I expressed surprise the California uses rolling roadblocks. He said that when a crash happened they didn't have time to set up a detour. That struck me as odd. and then I realized why we didn't understand each other. I live in eastern S. Dakota, where, if you need a detour off of a major road, you get off at the next exit, travel up to a mile in a direction perpendicular your original direction, and then turn back in your original direction of travel at the next road, because we have the mile-by-mile road grid here. He, OTOH, lived in an area where that didn't exist, and it never occurred to him that no detour planning was needed in some places because an alternative path is easily found, just as I had no realization prior to that discussion that some places do NOT have that option due to mountains or other things preventing the mile-by-mile grid from existing.
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I had an online disagreement with someone when I expressed surprise the California uses rolling roadblocks. He said that when a crash happened they didn't have time to set up a detour. That struck me as odd. and then I realized why we didn't understand each other. I live in eastern S. Dakota, where, if you need a detour off of a major road, you get off at the next exit, travel up to a mile in a direction perpendicular your original direction, and then turn back in your original direction of travel at the next road, because we have the mile-by-mile road grid here. He, OTOH, lived in an area where that didn't exist, and it never occurred to him that no detour planning was needed in some places because an alternative path is easily found, just as I had no realization prior to that discussion that some places do NOT have that option due to mountains or other things preventing the mile-by-mile grid from existing.
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PeloquinDavid
The rectangular survey system can only be a rough approximation on the surface of the (slightly oblate) spheroid that is the earth.
Because of that fact, you'll often see surveyors' corrections (and sudden road turns - especially on north-south roads) every now or then to account for the fact that the northern length of rectangles formed by successive lines of LATITUDE that shape townships (or sections) are slightly shorter than the southern length. (Otherwise, their east and west lines would systematically deviate more and more (as you move away from your north-south baseline) from the actual LONGITUDINAL lines.
These differences get more significant at higher latitudes (as the lines of longitude converge more rapidly as they approach the poles.
The upshot is that a lot of surveyed townships (and sections) are inevitably NOT 36 (or 1) sq. miles in area, respectively.
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The rectangular survey system can only be a rough approximation on the surface of the (slightly oblate) spheroid that is the earth.
Because of that fact, you'll often see surveyors' corrections (and sudden road turns - especially on north-south roads) every now or then to account for the fact that the northern length of rectangles formed by successive lines of LATITUDE that shape townships (or sections) are slightly shorter than the southern length. (Otherwise, their east and west lines would systematically deviate more and more (as you move away from your north-south baseline) from the actual LONGITUDINAL lines.
These differences get more significant at higher latitudes (as the lines of longitude converge more rapidly as they approach the poles.
The upshot is that a lot of surveyed townships (and sections) are inevitably NOT 36 (or 1) sq. miles in area, respectively.
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rileynicholson2322
I think it's pretty crazy to have a 12 minute video about the US survey project and potential downsides without even mentioning the Indigenous people who already lived in and claimed various types of ownership over these territories. A significant motivator for the whole project was getting settlers out into these territories as fast as possible to prevent legal recognition of indigenous claims in the area (which had already happened prior to the American Revolution) from being practically enforced, effectively selling their land out from under them.
Talking about the whole subject like these were basically empty lands and using using words like hero seems a bit out of touch in 2025, even for a 12 minute video that can't go into any real nuance. You don't have to go into depth, just acknowledge the subject.
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I think it's pretty crazy to have a 12 minute video about the US survey project and potential downsides without even mentioning the Indigenous people who already lived in and claimed various types of ownership over these territories. A significant motivator for the whole project was getting settlers out into these territories as fast as possible to prevent legal recognition of indigenous claims in the area (which had already happened prior to the American Revolution) from being practically enforced, effectively selling their land out from under them.
Talking about the whole subject like these were basically empty lands and using using words like hero seems a bit out of touch in 2025, even for a 12 minute video that can't go into any real nuance. You don't have to go into depth, just acknowledge the subject.
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noahm2695
Appreciate the breakdown of the US system. People around the world mock our Imperial system, but it was the first that was properly organized for mapping and parceling out the land. The French improved on measurement systems by making everything base 10 (metric, and I like that too, but that came later after this system was established in the US. But metric doesn't work for everything, who describes their height in meters or centimeters It's always I'm 6'-3, not I'm 1. 905 meters tall. Also, who wants a work week of 10 days, that's the most absurd thing I've heard, glad that never had any traction.
Anyway, back to the point. Imagine the immense size of the US, this was done with archaic methods of measuring, all in all an impressive feat.
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Appreciate the breakdown of the US system. People around the world mock our Imperial system, but it was the first that was properly organized for mapping and parceling out the land. The French improved on measurement systems by making everything base 10 (metric, and I like that too, but that came later after this system was established in the US. But metric doesn't work for everything, who describes their height in meters or centimeters It's always I'm 6'-3, not I'm 1. 905 meters tall. Also, who wants a work week of 10 days, that's the most absurd thing I've heard, glad that never had any traction.
Anyway, back to the point. Imagine the immense size of the US, this was done with archaic methods of measuring, all in all an impressive feat.
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allenwiddows7631
Another example of a mile roadBase Line Road or Baseline Street, depending what city you’re in, which is a secondary thoroughfare along the San Bernardino Base Line in Southern California. It crosses through most of the cities in the Inland Empire. It changes to 16th St in Upland, then changes back to Baseline in Los Angeles County. It ends as a main road at the junction with Foothill Blvd in La Verne, but continues on and off as a discontinuous residential street through the San Gabriel Valley, still roughly following the San Bernardino Base Line before disappearing as 1st St in Azusa.
US 81 in the Midwest is sometimes called Meridian Highway as it follows the line of the Sixth Principal Meridian of the Public Land Survey.
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Another example of a mile roadBase Line Road or Baseline Street, depending what city you’re in, which is a secondary thoroughfare along the San Bernardino Base Line in Southern California. It crosses through most of the cities in the Inland Empire. It changes to 16th St in Upland, then changes back to Baseline in Los Angeles County. It ends as a main road at the junction with Foothill Blvd in La Verne, but continues on and off as a discontinuous residential street through the San Gabriel Valley, still roughly following the San Bernardino Base Line before disappearing as 1st St in Azusa.
US 81 in the Midwest is sometimes called Meridian Highway as it follows the line of the Sixth Principal Meridian of the Public Land Survey.
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Mysha-d5x
The weird thing is: After the Honey Influencer Scam, you'd think influencers would think twice before doing that to us again. Yet, we see Ground News being toted by idiots around the globe (Well, probably the US) as the next best thing since sliced bread.
That's rather curious, as it is a way to get us to spend more time watching GT, and since the number of hours in a day is limited, that means those influencers are effectively asking us to spend less time watching their own specific content: That is: They are advertising for us to stop watching them.
Sure, it might be GN is useful for THEM, but the one thing they wouldn't want us to do, is get GN ourselves. GN advertising is the exact opposite of what they want.
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The weird thing is: After the Honey Influencer Scam, you'd think influencers would think twice before doing that to us again. Yet, we see Ground News being toted by idiots around the globe (Well, probably the US) as the next best thing since sliced bread.
That's rather curious, as it is a way to get us to spend more time watching GT, and since the number of hours in a day is limited, that means those influencers are effectively asking us to spend less time watching their own specific content: That is: They are advertising for us to stop watching them.
Sure, it might be GN is useful for THEM, but the one thing they wouldn't want us to do, is get GN ourselves. GN advertising is the exact opposite of what they want.
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mrewan6221
Much of Australia was laid out in metes and bounds. Yet we've successfully moved to metric for land measurements. Old records remain as they were until they're involved in parcel division or merger. New titles _might_ be created. If they are, they'll be in metric.
Metes and bounds could still work in metric, although the normal practice is to say as defined on Deposited Plan xxxxx or something similar. All original plans are held by state government agencies, even when the land is owned freehold. Prevents false ownership claims. (There might still be some land held under the old system, but it's very little)
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Much of Australia was laid out in metes and bounds. Yet we've successfully moved to metric for land measurements. Old records remain as they were until they're involved in parcel division or merger. New titles _might_ be created. If they are, they'll be in metric.
Metes and bounds could still work in metric, although the normal practice is to say as defined on Deposited Plan xxxxx or something similar. All original plans are held by state government agencies, even when the land is owned freehold. Prevents false ownership claims. (There might still be some land held under the old system, but it's very little)
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pardn
How did surveyors account for rough topography When measuring from point A to point B with a hills and valleys in between, did they measure a path up and down the land a distance of X miles, or did they draw a perfectly straight line that cut into the ground and through the air with the endpoints calculated buried hundreds of feet below ground or floating overhead If they did the former, than it would not be a perfectly square grid pattern when viewd from above, but if they went with the latter than the actual travel distance over land between A and B would be greater than the distance between A and B.
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How did surveyors account for rough topography When measuring from point A to point B with a hills and valleys in between, did they measure a path up and down the land a distance of X miles, or did they draw a perfectly straight line that cut into the ground and through the air with the endpoints calculated buried hundreds of feet below ground or floating overhead If they did the former, than it would not be a perfectly square grid pattern when viewd from above, but if they went with the latter than the actual travel distance over land between A and B would be greater than the distance between A and B.
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RichardArpin
Canada land is still divided up on the imperial mile - we still went metric. Hence people like my dad (who was a surveyor, as I am, still use distances interchangeably. Many of our construction projects are still designed in ft and inches, and some supplies are in imperial (lumber and fasteners, but others are in metric, such as cubic meter for concrete. The worst is site plans though, they are all in metric, and then the buildings themselves are planned in imperial, and so trying to compare a site confirm dimension from the one plan to the other is a pain.
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Canada land is still divided up on the imperial mile - we still went metric. Hence people like my dad (who was a surveyor, as I am, still use distances interchangeably. Many of our construction projects are still designed in ft and inches, and some supplies are in imperial (lumber and fasteners, but others are in metric, such as cubic meter for concrete. The worst is site plans though, they are all in metric, and then the buildings themselves are planned in imperial, and so trying to compare a site confirm dimension from the one plan to the other is a pain.
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Giaayokaats
8: 48 you see a similar situation on the Canadian prairies, especially in Manitoba, as in Green Bay. Most settlements that predate 1880 were organized as river/lake lot settlements. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, the Canadian government ordered that the prairies be surveyed according to the sectional system. This caused major tensions with the local population and was one of the major underlying causes of the 1885 Northwest Resistance. Interestingly, you can still see where the larger river lot settlements meet the sectional system with satellite imagery
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8: 48 you see a similar situation on the Canadian prairies, especially in Manitoba, as in Green Bay. Most settlements that predate 1880 were organized as river/lake lot settlements. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, the Canadian government ordered that the prairies be surveyed according to the sectional system. This caused major tensions with the local population and was one of the major underlying causes of the 1885 Northwest Resistance. Interestingly, you can still see where the larger river lot settlements meet the sectional system with satellite imagery
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skibbidigamer931
I love the uniformity on the extreme corners of the country Seattle/San Diego/Miami, the northern eastern portion of this country has a definite end but the geography doesn’t have a wall like effect like the others because the Atlantic coast is curvy Maine is empty, Boston would be the example but it’s a mess, DC is the closest proper city but NYC with its flaws and all is the 4th corner for me because it’s 96% grid and many parts of the outer boroughs like Brooklyn and Staten Island have the right orientation of PLSS coincidentally.
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I love the uniformity on the extreme corners of the country Seattle/San Diego/Miami, the northern eastern portion of this country has a definite end but the geography doesn’t have a wall like effect like the others because the Atlantic coast is curvy Maine is empty, Boston would be the example but it’s a mess, DC is the closest proper city but NYC with its flaws and all is the 4th corner for me because it’s 96% grid and many parts of the outer boroughs like Brooklyn and Staten Island have the right orientation of PLSS coincidentally.
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BryanTorok
The problem with Ground News is that it has its own built in bias. In my opinion it places news sources one or two columns to the right of where they should be. Thus, mildly right news sources are shown as far right and strong left sources are shown as mildly left or center. The vast majority of people who work in journalism or news are a product of the strong left controlled college and university educational system. Contributing to that is nearly all have liberal arts degrees while almost none have degrees based in hard science and math.
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The problem with Ground News is that it has its own built in bias. In my opinion it places news sources one or two columns to the right of where they should be. Thus, mildly right news sources are shown as far right and strong left sources are shown as mildly left or center. The vast majority of people who work in journalism or news are a product of the strong left controlled college and university educational system. Contributing to that is nearly all have liberal arts degrees while almost none have degrees based in hard science and math.
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calvinsmith6681
Fun fact: Michigan actually messed up its baseline. One surveyor started surveying east of the meridian and another west of it. It turns out one of them (I can't remember which one) was incorrect, but as land had already been surveyed using the incorrect point of beginning, it was preserved. So, Michigan has two points of beginning: one for the townships east of the meridian and another for townships west of the meridian. The two points of beginning are immortalized by massive stone pedestals at Meridian-Baseline State Park.
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Fun fact: Michigan actually messed up its baseline. One surveyor started surveying east of the meridian and another west of it. It turns out one of them (I can't remember which one) was incorrect, but as land had already been surveyed using the incorrect point of beginning, it was preserved. So, Michigan has two points of beginning: one for the townships east of the meridian and another for townships west of the meridian. The two points of beginning are immortalized by massive stone pedestals at Meridian-Baseline State Park.
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jpatrickmoore5158
West of downtown Portland, Oregon is the Willamette Stone. Ironically, it's located on private property, but the owners granted an easement to the State of Oregon, and there's a walkway and staircase that drops down from Skyline Drive to the state heritage site. The baseline is alternately aligned with Baseline Road, Burnside Road and Stark Street. The meridian has a short section of I-5, 65th Avenue and Meridian Road alone its length, and the border of Clackamas and Washington Counties for a short distance.
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West of downtown Portland, Oregon is the Willamette Stone. Ironically, it's located on private property, but the owners granted an easement to the State of Oregon, and there's a walkway and staircase that drops down from Skyline Drive to the state heritage site. The baseline is alternately aligned with Baseline Road, Burnside Road and Stark Street. The meridian has a short section of I-5, 65th Avenue and Meridian Road alone its length, and the border of Clackamas and Washington Counties for a short distance.
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admiralcapn
Another issue with the system is that while on a local level continuous square grids work, on a continental scale the line of longitude are getting closer together. So the number of sections available east/west at the bottom of Kansas is far greater than the number of sections available at the top, falling between the same meridians. I honestly don't know exactly how this was accounted for, but you can still find correction curves in those roads as one grid system adjusted to meet another.
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Another issue with the system is that while on a local level continuous square grids work, on a continental scale the line of longitude are getting closer together. So the number of sections available east/west at the bottom of Kansas is far greater than the number of sections available at the top, falling between the same meridians. I honestly don't know exactly how this was accounted for, but you can still find correction curves in those roads as one grid system adjusted to meet another.
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city_beautiful
Is this Grid Survey System the reason why in books and films, distances are quoted in blocks Like, 3 blocks north, turn west for 6 blocks and it's on your left.
I always wondered this because it seemed so consistent, and I guess it is.
Am I right in also remembering something about this being the reason American house numbers are four-digits That the first house on the road is numbered based on it's location in the grid, and then the houses are numbered sequentially from there.
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Is this Grid Survey System the reason why in books and films, distances are quoted in blocks Like, 3 blocks north, turn west for 6 blocks and it's on your left.
I always wondered this because it seemed so consistent, and I guess it is.
Am I right in also remembering something about this being the reason American house numbers are four-digits That the first house on the road is numbered based on it's location in the grid, and then the houses are numbered sequentially from there.
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GBA811
I have to admire the planning the United States had, as simple thing as Land Ordinance Act did, had tremendous impact on development of the country, creating a society with low concentration of land on few people, Latin America can only dream about a land reform.
Now, this 1x1 square is perfect for built trams lines, the US should use on its favour to became less car dependent.
I personaly use this layout for my cities in Cities Skylines, I don't see why it can't be used in real life.
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I have to admire the planning the United States had, as simple thing as Land Ordinance Act did, had tremendous impact on development of the country, creating a society with low concentration of land on few people, Latin America can only dream about a land reform.
Now, this 1x1 square is perfect for built trams lines, the US should use on its favour to became less car dependent.
I personaly use this layout for my cities in Cities Skylines, I don't see why it can't be used in real life.
reply
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