Note that each grid square is 1 mile by 1 mile. Long history of that, it is an interesting historical rabbit hole.
An interesting historical note is that across much of the west, each of those mile square sections was divided up into 16 pieces at 40-acres, which IIRC was the smallest unit of land you could purchase from the federal government.
You'll still find a lot of old homestead remnants across the west -- I used to climb through a few of them on a ranch I spent time at as a kid.
Also, if you look closely, many of the boundaries are just dirt path, not maintained road. And some don't have roads - it just appears that way from above because one crop/field ends and another starts.
But, yeah, the amount of roads, even just basic gravel or dirt double-track, is pretty amazing. I knew some of it existed, but didn't quite realize it spanned the entire middle third of the US until just now.
But, yeah, the amount of roads, even just basic gravel or dirt double-track, is pretty amazing. I knew some of it existed, but didn't quite realize it spanned the entire middle third of the US until just now.