Why is there a bend at Wilshire?

[Midtowner]

No matter what N/S street you're on, at Wilshire, there's a bend. Anyone know why this is?

[thunderbird]

No matter what N/S street you're on, at Wilshire, there's a bend. Anyone know why this is?

No idea how you noticed this but that’s incredibly odd. Perhaps it was originally a major road so all the others curved to slow down intersections??

[Isaac C. Parker]

No matter what N/S street you're on, at Wilshire, there's a bend. Anyone know why this is?

https://kottke.org/18/01/us-road-gri...rths-curvature

[Mel]

It's an old Road. It's earned a bent back.

[Martin]

https://kottke.org/18/01/us-road-gri...rths-curvature

yep... this.

[OKC Guy]

My guess?

Long ago OKC had roads in a grid. Long ago areas north of OKC had a grid. None of the roads were connected as this was long ago.

Then one day as metro grew they decided to expand roads (likely OKC expanding north) and realized all the roads were just a bit west of OKC N/S roads. So they made a curve to connect them.

[Martin]

nope... it's totally a survey correction of the grid system.

projecting a two-dimensional, one-mile grid onto a three-dimensional sphere requires corrections at regular intervals. i was curious, so I read a little more about it... apparently the correction interval is once every 24 miles. 24 miles south of wilshire is equivalent to lindsey street in norman… there are no such corrections within norman city limits... i suspect that this is because the south canadian river provides a natural boundary to correct at. however, if you proceed east and west of norman, the one-mile grid intersections have a similar jog. 24 miles north of wilshire is cooksey road in north guthrie… coincidentally, i think the cimarron river provides a similar natural boundary near guthrie, but if you go east and west you'll see a similar jog in the section lines.

[KayneMo]

As others have posted, it's because Wilshire is a correction line due to laying a 2D grid onto a 3D surface. Starting at Indian Meridian Rd (N-S) and Indian Base Line (E-W), townships (36 sq mi parcel of land) are laid out to the north, south, east, and west. Every 24 miles (4 townships) north and south of the base line, standard parallels are established with two rows of townships to the north and two rows to the south. Half way between standard parallels are correction lines, generally.

For example, in the image below:
"5th Base Line" is Waterloo Rd
"Correction line" is Wilshire
"4th Base Line" is S 89th
"3rd Meridian" is Indian Meridian
The next correction line to the north is Cooksey Rd, and the next one to the south is Lindsey/Sandrock Rd.

[The Shadow]

KayneMo must work in the oil biz.
Each section is 640 acres (one square mile).
Western, Penn and May are each defined as section lines running N/S.
Therefore they all have to make an s-curve where they run through Nichols Hills (at approx. Wilshire).

[CCOKC]

This is fascinating. Thank you guys for sharing this information. Of course it makes total sense when you think about it, I just never thought about it.

[catch22]

This is fascinating. Thank you guys for sharing this information. Of course it makes total sense when you think about it, I just never thought about it.

Agree. I had never noticed this phenomenon, had to pull up a google Maps to see for myself. Fascinating indeed.

[KayneMo]

KayneMo must work in the oil biz.

No, but I did minor in Geography at OU.

[Snowman]

Hmmm, looks like the panhandle is on a slightly different grid than the rest of the state

[Dob Hooligan]

Hmmm, looks like the panhandle is on a slightly different grid than the rest of the state

Since I’m old, I’m gonna write without googling. I think the bottom line of the panhandle aligns with the top line of Arkansas and Tennessee. Which also makes it the top line of Texas, and I think that is the top line where states could have slaves. The top line of Oklahoma aligns with New Mexico and Arizona, none of who were states at the time the boundaries were drawn. Texas gave up the panhandle land in order to become a state?

[BoulderSooner]

Texas gave up the panhandle land in order to become a state?

yes they ceeded that land so they could enter the US as a slave state ..

[SEMIweather]

Hmmm, looks like the panhandle is on a slightly different grid than the rest of the state

So this map explains why there's an Indian Meridian Road about 15 miles east of Downtown, does anyone know the significance of Meridian Avenue?

[The Shadow]

As Kayne states, there is also one to the South. That's why Classen/ Porter in Norman makes an s-curve at basically The Mont. Which, in my opinion, makes that location even cooler.

[JesStang]

Since I’m old, I’m gonna write without googling. I think the bottom line of the panhandle aligns with the top line of Arkansas and Tennessee. Which also makes it the top line of Texas, and I think that is the top line where states could have slaves. The top line of Oklahoma aligns with New Mexico and Arizona, none of who were states at the time the boundaries were drawn. Texas gave up the panhandle land in order to become a state?

I think that is the Mason-Dixon line.

[rezman]

I remember wondering about this topic for years, since I grew up in the Okc area and knew about the curves in these north/south roads. Back in the late 80's I ran into a friend of mine from high school who had become a surveyor. When I asked him about this, his response was " correction lines, to compensate for the curvature of the earth". Which made perfect sense.

[bombermwc]

So this map explains why there's an Indian Meridian Road about 15 miles east of Downtown, does anyone know the significance of Meridian Avenue?

I was thinking the same thing...had always wondered what Indian Meridian was for.

[rezman]

The Indian Meridian is essentially the "zero" line from which all land was surveyed west of the Mississippi.

[Ward]

Fascinating! Great question and great answers.

You never know what you’ll learn here on OKCTalk!

[BDP]

https://kottke.org/18/01/us-road-gri...rths-curvature

I just read on twitter that the earth is flat, so this can't be true.

[BB37]

Brief History lesson ahead:

The southern boundary of the panhandle is 36 degrees 30 minutes north, and was established by the Missouri Compromise of 1820 as the northern limit of slavery in the western territories. When The Republic of Texas petitioned for annexation to the US, it had to relinquish its claims to all territory north of that line, extending all the way into southern Wyoming, as well as the eastern half of present day New Mexico. Those boundaries were codified in the Compromise of 1850. The northern boundary is at 37 degrees north, and was established with the creation of Kansas Territory in 1854..

[Snowman]

The Indian Meridian is essentially the "zero" line from which all land was surveyed west of the Mississippi.

There is like 20-ish used in the US west of the Mississippi, the Indian Meridian is only used in Oklahoma, and our panhandle does not use it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._United_States