Motherwell in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Motherwell in context

1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MotherwellEastern Cape (Region)South Africa (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Motherwell plotted against Eastern Cape and South Africa. The SNDi of new construction in Motherwell peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Eastern Cape which rose steadily and South Africa which rose steadily. Most recently, Motherwell's incremental SNDi fell from 2.47 to 1.8 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Motherwell ranked 1st out of 9 cities in Eastern Cape and 9th out of 81 in South Africa as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
1.8
Rank in South Africa
1st of 81
Rank in Eastern Cape
1st of 9

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.48
Rank in South Africa
9th of 81
Rank in Eastern Cape
1st of 9

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2468<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2468<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MotherwellFenchuganjNenjiang

While Fenchuganj and Nenjiang both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, Motherwell built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved in new street additions. Looking at the full network, Fenchuganj and Nenjiang both became progressively more disconnected, while Motherwell grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Notably, Motherwell had a more sprawly network than Nenjiang in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.