Biltine in context: Street-network sprawl trends

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Biltine plotted against Wadi Fira and Chad. The SNDi of new construction in Biltine was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Wadi Fira which rose steadily and Chad which rose steadily. Most recently, Biltine's incremental SNDi rose from 1.74 to 4.37 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Biltine ranked 1st out of 3 cities in Wadi Fira and 21st out of 31 in Chad as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Ajdabiya, Libya
• Anzio, Italy
• Taean, North Korea
• Pakse, Laos
• Dishna, Egypt
• Uribia, Colombia

In new street additions, Biltine built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Ajdabiya built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Pakse fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Biltine became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Ajdabiya became progressively more disconnected and Pakse fluctuated in connectivity. Notably, Biltine had a more connected network than Ajdabiya in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.