Rameswaram 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 Rameswaram plotted against Tamil Nadu and India. The SNDi of new construction in Rameswaram peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Tamil Nadu which rose steadily and India which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Rameswaram's incremental SNDi fell from 4.82 to 4.14 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Rameswaram ranked 100th out of 121 cities in Tamil Nadu and 1269th out of 1868 in India as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Benisheikh, Nigeria
• Kalaiya, Nepal
• Dimbokro, Côte d'Ivoire
• Kafr Al-Amir Abd Allah, Egypt
• Tiquisio, Colombia
• Poko, Democratic Republic of the Congo

While Benisheikh and Kafr Al-Amir Abd Allah both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Rameswaram built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved in new street additions. Looking at the full network, Benisheikh and Kafr Al-Amir Abd Allah both became progressively more disconnected, while Rameswaram grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved.