Biel/Bienne in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Biel/Bienne in context

2.12.83.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.12.83.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Biel/BienneBern (Region)Switzerland (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Biel/Bienne plotted against Bern and Switzerland. The SNDi of new construction in Biel/Bienne followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Bern which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Switzerland which rose steadily. Most recently, Biel/Bienne's incremental SNDi rose from 2.26 to 2.83 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Biel/Bienne ranked 1st out of 3 cities in Bern and 3rd out of 17 in Switzerland as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.83
Rank in Switzerland
8th of 17
Rank in Bern
2nd of 3

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
1.78
Rank in Switzerland
3rd of 17
Rank in Bern
1st of 3

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Biel/BienneWankanerEvansville

In new street additions, Biel/Bienne fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Wankaner built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Evansville built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Biel/Bienne and Evansville both became progressively more disconnected, while Wankaner became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards.