Herat in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Herat in context

3.544.55<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.544.55<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
HeratHirat (Region)Afghanistan (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Herat plotted against Hirat and Afghanistan. The SNDi of new construction in Herat was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Hirat which was at its lowest in 1991-2005 and Afghanistan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Herat's incremental SNDi rose from 3.22 to 3.99 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Herat ranked 4th out of 8 cities in Hirat and 27th out of 73 in Afghanistan as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.99
Rank in Afghanistan
36th of 73
Rank in Hirat
6th of 8

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.59
Rank in Afghanistan
27th of 73
Rank in Hirat
4th of 8

Rankings go from most connected to most disconnected — rank 1 is the most connected.

What about similarly populated cities?

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
HeratErodeSan Miguel de Tucuman

While Erode and San Miguel de Tucumán both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Herat built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns in new street additions. Looking at the full network, Erode and San Miguel de Tucumán both became progressively more disconnected, while Herat became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Notably, Herat had a more sprawly network than Erode in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.