Sasolburg in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Sasolburg in context

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SasolburgFree State (Region)South Africa (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Sasolburg plotted against Free State and South Africa. The SNDi of new construction in Sasolburg peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Free State which peaked in 1976-1990 and South Africa which rose steadily. Most recently, Sasolburg's incremental SNDi fell from 3.29 to 2.94 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Sasolburg ranked 5th out of 8 cities in Free State and 34th out of 81 in South Africa as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.94
Rank in South Africa
19th of 81
Rank in Free State
4th of 8

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.01
Rank in South Africa
34th of 81
Rank in Free State
5th of 8

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

What about similarly populated cities?

33.544.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
33.544.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SasolburgKhar BajaurMawza`

In new street additions, Sasolburg built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Khar Bajaur fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Mawza` fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Sasolburg grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Khar Bajaur fluctuated in connectivity and Mawza` grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Sasolburg and Khar Bajaur have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.