Phoenix in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Phoenix in context

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
PhoenixArizona (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Phoenix plotted against Arizona and United States. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Phoenix's incremental SNDi fell from 3.89 to 3.73 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Phoenix ranked 4th out of 6 cities in Arizona and 172nd out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.73
Rank in United States
110th of 333
Rank in Arizona
3rd of 6

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.24
Rank in United States
172nd of 333
Rank in Arizona
4th of 6

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

What about similarly populated cities?

34567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
34567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
PhoenixChandigarhDammam

In new street additions, Phoenix built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Chandigarh built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Dammam built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Notably, Phoenix had a more sprawly network than Chandigarh in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.