I suppose now’s as good a time as any to stop lurking.
Wasn’t there an episode in which, due to Homer’s bungling of the town’s waste disposal, every building in Springfield was loaded onto trucks and moved several miles down the road? That might explain away at least some of the ambiguity.
In the DVD commentary for that episode, Matt G said he HATED that they did that.
The buildings were presumably in the same spots, relative to each other, after the town was moved. The ambiguity and inconsistency is delibate, same as with most Springfield geography and a lot of other minor details about the show - there’s no particular need to explain it away.
My Google-Fu is strong, young Padawans.
In “Strong Arms of the Ma” (in which Marge becomes a weightlifter and seriously bulks up), she describes Ruth Powers as her former neighbor, so all bets are off.
Anyway, there’s still plenty of room in West Springfield, which is three times the size of Texas.