Aykel 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 Aykel plotted against Amhara and Ethiopia. The SNDi of new construction in Aykel was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Amhara which rose steadily and Ethiopia which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Aykel's incremental SNDi rose from 1.42 to 2.99 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Aykel ranked 4th out of 41 cities in Amhara and 39th out of 181 in Ethiopia as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Ghotki, Pakistan
• Richmond, United States
• Changning, China
• Samaguri, India
• Choluteca, Honduras
• Magway, Myanmar

In new street additions, Aykel built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Ghotki built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Samaguri built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full network, Aykel and Ghotki both became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards, while Samaguri grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Notably, Aykel had a more sprawly network than Samaguri in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.