Worcester in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Worcester in context

33.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
33.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WorcesterWestern Cape (Region)South Africa (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Worcester plotted against Western Cape and South Africa. The SNDi of new construction in Worcester peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Western Cape which rose steadily and South Africa which rose steadily. Most recently, Worcester's incremental SNDi fell from 3.27 to 3.15 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Worcester ranked 4th out of 14 cities in Western Cape and 29th out of 81 in South Africa as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.15
Rank in South Africa
22nd of 81
Rank in Western Cape
2nd of 14

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.97
Rank in South Africa
29th of 81
Rank in Western Cape
4th of 14

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WorcesterDikiranIsahaya

In new street additions, Worcester and Dikiran both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Isahaya fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Worcester and Isahaya have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.