Ottawa in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Ottawa in context

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

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Ottawa plotted against Ontario and Canada. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Ottawa's incremental SNDi fell from 2.46 to 2.33 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Ottawa ranked 2nd out of 24 cities in Ontario and 3rd out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.33
Rank in Canada
7th of 54
Rank in Ontario
6th of 24

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.1
Rank in Canada
3rd of 54
Rank in Ontario
2nd of 24

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
OttawaPort LouisUmuahia

In new street additions, Ottawa and Port Louis both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Umuahia built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Ottawa and Port Louis have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.