Posted by:
jd
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
You can see this easily in farm areas, and still in the recently built up areas of DuPage County. The north/south roads are lined up along township boundaries, which are a six mile by six mile chunk of land. The roads follow the meridians heading north; so since we are west of the Greenwich meridian and north of the equator our roads jog slightly to the east every 6 miles, as we near the north pole.
Follow Lemont Rd. north from I55 and it becomes Main Street, then Highland Ave, then it ends in a housing development. It jogs and renames every 6 miles. The same for Cass / Midwest / Summit / Villa, or Fairview / Meters / Westmore / Addison Rd. etc.
The clearest example of this to the naked eye is along North Avenue from Austin to Harlem. Harlem was straightenwed to true N/S years ago, and they just realigned Oak Park Ave. a few years ago to get rid of that sharp bend because the Italian Beef place kept getting cars in their front window.