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The core of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area can be visualized roughly as four quadrants:
The northeast quadrant is locally referred to as "north of the river" or "the Northland". It includes parts of Clay County, Missouri including North Kansas City, Missouri. North Kansas City is bounded by a bend in the Missouri River that defines a border between Wyandotte County, Kansas and Clay County, Missouri running approximately North-South and a border between North Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Missouri running approximately East-West. The sharpest part of the river bend forms a peninsula containing the Kansas City Downtown Airport.
The southeast quadrant includes Kansas City, Missouri and surrounding areas in Missouri. Sometimes called "the southland". It includes the Grandview Triangle, a freeway interchange known for traffic delays.
The southwest quadrant includes all of Johnson County, Kansas, which includes the towns in the area known as Shawnee Mission, KansasShawnee Mission, Kansas is a name created by the United States Postal Service to describe an area of Johnson County, Kansas that contains numerous towns. The following towns are included in this area. Countryside Fairway Lake Quivira Leawood Lenexa Merria. Interstate 35Interstate 35 is an interstate highway in the central United States. Like other interstates, it is commonly referred to as I-35. Its odd number indicates that it is primarily a north-south highway. It stretches from Laredo, Texas at the Mexico border to D runs diagonally through Johnson County, Kansas from the southwest to downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
The northwest quandrant contains Wyandotte County, Kansas and parts of Platte County, Missouri. Wyandotte County, Kansas, sometimes referred to as just Wyandotte, which contains Kansas City, Kansas, Bonner Springs, Kansas and Edwardsville, Kansas is governed by a single unified government similar to a consolidated city-county. Often the Wyandotte government is referred to simply as " The Unified Government". Another bend in the Missouri River forms the county line between
Wyandotte County, Kansas and Platte County, Missouri to the north and northeast.In all, about 1.8 million people live in the metropolitan area. It is difficult to state exactly the size of the population because there are no natural boundaries and suburban expansion (or " sprawl") is ongoing.