Bethlehem in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Bethlehem in context

2.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BethlehemFree State (Region)South Africa (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Bethlehem plotted against Free State and South Africa. While Free State and South Africa both rose steadily, Bethlehem's new street additions rose steadily. Most recently, Bethlehem's incremental SNDi rose from 2.98 to 3.21 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Bethlehem ranked 2nd out of 8 cities in Free State and 10th out of 81 in South Africa as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.21
Rank in South Africa
24th of 81
Rank in Free State
6th of 8

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.51
Rank in South Africa
10th of 81
Rank in Free State
2nd of 8

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1234<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1234<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BethlehemBehrorCuarteria El Uno

In new street additions, Bethlehem built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Behror fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Cuartería El Uno built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Bethlehem and Cuartería El Uno both became progressively more disconnected, while Behror fluctuated in connectivity.