Colchester in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Colchester in context

33.64.24.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
33.64.24.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
ColchesterEngland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Colchester plotted against England and United Kingdom. The SNDi of new construction in Colchester peaked in 1976-1990, compared to England which peaked in 1991-2005 and United Kingdom which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Colchester's incremental SNDi fell from 3.75 to 2.76 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Colchester ranked 56th out of 124 cities in England and 64th out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.76
Rank in United Kingdom
9th of 143
Rank in England
9th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.51
Rank in United Kingdom
64th of 143
Rank in England
56th of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
ColchesterGaipuraKennewick

In new street additions, Colchester built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Gaipura built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Kennewick built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Colchester grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Gaipura became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards and Kennewick became progressively more disconnected. Colchester and Kennewick have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.