Kelowna in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Kelowna in context

2.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
KelownaBritish Columbia (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Kelowna plotted against British Columbia and Canada. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Kelowna's incremental SNDi fell from 3.91 to 3.39 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Kelowna ranked 5th out of 8 cities in British Columbia and 30th out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.39
Rank in Canada
31st of 54
Rank in British Columbia
4th of 8

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.8
Rank in Canada
30th of 54
Rank in British Columbia
5th of 8

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
KelownaNine Mile CornerKakenge

In new street additions, Kelowna built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Nine Mile Corner built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Kakenge fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Kelowna and Nine Mile Corner both became progressively more disconnected, while Kakenge became progressively more disconnected. Notably, Kelowna had a more sprawly network than Kakenge in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.