State of Louisiana, the census block pattern preserves the riparian pattern of elongated strips of land, each having access to a major water feature. Rural areas in the central part of the country usually continue the grid-type road pattern of the urban core areas, primarily because of the introduction of the township and range survey system, but also due to the general lack of topographic relief.
Suburban and rural census block configurations in the West vary from grid to irregular patterns depending on the local topography and the survey system at the time of settlement. The rural census blocks in the West tend to be larger because of the relatively low population densities as well as the lack of a dense system of roads and water features. There were a few individual census blocks delineated during the 1990 census in the West that were over 250 square miles in area.
