Heerlen in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Heerlen in context

1.82.12.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.12.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
HeerlenLimburg (Region)Netherlands (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Heerlen plotted against Limburg and Netherlands. The SNDi of new construction in Heerlen rose steadily, compared to Limburg which peaked in 1991-2005 and Netherlands which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Heerlen's incremental SNDi rose from 2.14 to 2.16 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Heerlen ranked 1st out of 3 cities in Limburg and 10th out of 43 in Netherlands as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.16
Rank in Netherlands
19th of 43
Rank in Limburg
3rd of 3

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
1.75
Rank in Netherlands
10th of 43
Rank in Limburg
1st of 3

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.42.12.83.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.42.12.83.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
HeerlenMercaBorsad

In new street additions, Heerlen built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Merca built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Borsad built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Heerlen became progressively more disconnected, while Merca grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Borsad became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards.