Kitchener in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Kitchener in context

2.83.23.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.83.23.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
KitchenerOntario (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Kitchener plotted against Ontario and Canada. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Kitchener's incremental SNDi fell from 3.33 to 3.05 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Kitchener ranked 15th out of 24 cities in Ontario and 32nd out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.05
Rank in Canada
20th of 54
Rank in Ontario
13th of 24

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.82
Rank in Canada
32nd of 54
Rank in Ontario
15th of 24

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

What about similarly populated cities?

234567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
234567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
KitchenerHebronOmaha

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