Bucaramanga in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Bucaramanga in context

23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BucaramangaSantander (Region)Colombia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Bucaramanga plotted against Santander and Colombia. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Bucaramanga's incremental SNDi rose from 5.23 to 5.56 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Bucaramanga ranked 1st out of 4 cities in Santander and 65th out of 83 in Colombia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
5.56
Rank in Colombia
76th of 83
Rank in Santander
3rd of 4

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.5
Rank in Colombia
65th of 83
Rank in Santander
1st of 4

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

What about similarly populated cities?

23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BucaramangaAguascalientesLubango

In new street additions, Bucaramanga fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Aguascalientes built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Lubango built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Bucaramanga and Aguascalientes both became progressively more disconnected, while Lubango grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Notably, Bucaramanga had a more connected network than Lubango in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.