Edmonton in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Edmonton in context

22.533.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
22.533.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
EdmontonAlberta (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Edmonton plotted against Alberta and Canada. While Alberta and Canada both peaked in 1976-1990, Edmonton's new street additions peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Edmonton's incremental SNDi fell from 3.27 to 3.14 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Edmonton ranked 2nd out of 7 cities in Alberta and 18th out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.14
Rank in Canada
24th of 54
Rank in Alberta
6th of 7

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.57
Rank in Canada
18th of 54
Rank in Alberta
2nd of 7

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

What about similarly populated cities?

23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
EdmontonMingoraDharwad

In new street additions, Edmonton built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Mingora built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Dharwad built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Edmonton and Mingora both became progressively more disconnected, while Dharwad became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards.