Wigan in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Wigan in context

3.64.24.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.64.24.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WiganEngland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Wigan plotted against England and United Kingdom. The SNDi of new construction in Wigan rose steadily, compared to England which peaked in 1991-2005 and United Kingdom which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Wigan's incremental SNDi rose from 4.93 to 5.16 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Wigan ranked 58th out of 124 cities in England and 66th out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
5.16
Rank in United Kingdom
105th of 143
Rank in England
95th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.52
Rank in United Kingdom
66th of 143
Rank in England
58th of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2468<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2468<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WiganKakamegaMongu Arna

In new street additions, Wigan built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Kakamega built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Mongu Arna fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Wigan and Kakamega have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.