Baalbek in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Baalbek in context

3.64.55.46.3<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.64.55.46.3<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BaalbekBaalbak - Hermel (Region)Lebanon (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Baalbek plotted against Baalbak - Hermel and Lebanon. The SNDi of new construction in Baalbek peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Baalbak - Hermel which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Lebanon which rose steadily. Most recently, Baalbek's incremental SNDi fell from 3.88 to 3.62 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Baalbek ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Baalbak - Hermel and 5th out of 8 in Lebanon as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.62
Rank in Lebanon
3rd of 8
Rank in Baalbak - Hermel
1st of 1

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.8
Rank in Lebanon
5th of 8
Rank in Baalbak - Hermel
1st of 1

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BaalbekSankarankovilSilao

While Sankarankovil and Silao both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Baalbek built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved in new street additions. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Baalbek and Silao have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.