Burlington in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Burlington in context

2.42.83.23.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.42.83.23.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BurlingtonOntario (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Burlington plotted against Ontario and Canada. The SNDi of new construction in Burlington followed a zig-zag trend with an overall decrease, compared to Ontario which peaked in 1976-1990 and Canada which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Burlington's incremental SNDi fell from 2.91 to 2.31 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Burlington ranked 16th out of 24 cities in Ontario and 33rd out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.31
Rank in Canada
6th of 54
Rank in Ontario
5th of 24

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.83
Rank in Canada
33rd of 54
Rank in Ontario
16th of 24

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BurlingtonChabaharBeiliu

In new street additions, Burlington fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Chabahar built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Beiliu built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Burlington fluctuated in connectivity, while Chabahar became progressively more connected and Beiliu became progressively more disconnected. Notably, Burlington had a more sprawly network than Beiliu in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.