Toronto in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Toronto in context

2.733.33.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.733.33.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
TorontoOntario (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Toronto plotted against Ontario and Canada. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Toronto's incremental SNDi fell from 2.92 to 2.71 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Toronto ranked 10th out of 24 cities in Ontario and 24th out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.71
Rank in Canada
12th of 54
Rank in Ontario
8th of 24

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.7
Rank in Canada
24th of 54
Rank in Ontario
10th of 24

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
TorontoXi'anMadrid

In new street additions, Toronto and Madrid both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Xi'an fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend.