Maastricht in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Maastricht 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
MaastrichtLimburg (Region)Netherlands (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Maastricht plotted against Limburg and Netherlands. The SNDi of new construction in Maastricht peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Limburg which peaked in 1991-2005 and Netherlands which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Maastricht's incremental SNDi fell from 1.97 to 1.88 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Maastricht ranked 2nd out of 3 cities in Limburg and 11th out of 43 in Netherlands as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
1.88
Rank in Netherlands
8th of 43
Rank in Limburg
1st of 3

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
1.75
Rank in Netherlands
11th of 43
Rank in Limburg
2nd of 3

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MaastrichtDebre MarkosNirmal

In new street additions, Maastricht built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Debre Markos built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Nirmal fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Maastricht and Debre Markos both became progressively more disconnected, while Nirmal fluctuated in connectivity. Notably, Maastricht had a more sprawly network than Debre Markos in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.