Montreal in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Montreal in context

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MontrealQuebec (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Montreal plotted against Québec and Canada. The SNDi of new construction in Montreal rose steadily, compared to Québec which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Canada which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Montreal's incremental SNDi rose from 3.74 to 3.85 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Montreal ranked 4th out of 10 cities in Québec and 19th out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.85
Rank in Canada
40th of 54
Rank in Québec
4th of 10

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.61
Rank in Canada
19th of 54
Rank in Québec
4th of 10

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MontrealNagpurKaraj

In new street additions, Montreal and Nagpur both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Karaj built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Montreal and Nagpur both became progressively more disconnected, while Karaj became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Notably, Montreal had a more sprawly network than Nagpur in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.