Punta Alta in context: Street-network sprawl trends

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Punta Alta plotted against Buenos Aires and Argentina. The SNDi of new construction in Punta Alta peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Buenos Aires which rose steadily and Argentina which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Punta Alta's incremental SNDi fell from 1.66 to 1.53 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Punta Alta ranked 11th out of 18 cities in Buenos Aires and 23rd out of 77 in Argentina as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Khand Khil, Afghanistan
• Sikandar Pur, India
• Horizonte, Brazil
• Kharik, India
• Kebuyutan, Indonesia
• Akçay, Turkey

In new street additions, Punta Alta built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Khand Khil fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Kharik built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Punta Alta became progressively more disconnected, while Khand Khil fluctuated in connectivity and Kharik became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Punta Alta and Khand Khil have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.