Hamilton in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Hamilton in context

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

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Hamilton plotted against Ontario and Canada. The SNDi of new construction in Hamilton followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Ontario which peaked in 1976-1990 and Canada which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Hamilton's incremental SNDi rose from 3.66 to 3.97 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Hamilton ranked 11th out of 24 cities in Ontario and 25th out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.97
Rank in Canada
42nd of 54
Rank in Ontario
20th of 24

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.7
Rank in Canada
25th of 54
Rank in Ontario
11th 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
HamiltonBergamoTucson

In new street additions, Hamilton fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Bergamo built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Tucson built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend.