Lancaster in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Lancaster 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
LancasterCalifornia (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Lancaster plotted against California and United States. The SNDi of new construction in Lancaster rose steadily, compared to California which peaked in 1976-1990 and United States which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Lancaster's incremental SNDi rose from 4.26 to 4.41 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Lancaster ranked 27th out of 60 cities in California and 203rd out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.41
Rank in United States
201st of 333
Rank in California
43rd of 60

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.53
Rank in United States
203rd of 333
Rank in California
27th of 60

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
LancasterBa Hu Tun Cun Osijek

In new street additions, Lancaster built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while 巴虎屯村 built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Osijek built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Lancaster became progressively more disconnected, while 巴虎屯村 grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Osijek became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Notably, Lancaster had a more connected network than 巴虎屯村 in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.