Palm Desert in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Palm Desert 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
Palm DesertCalifornia (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Palm Desert plotted against California and United States. The SNDi of new construction in Palm Desert followed a zig-zag trend with an overall decrease, compared to California which peaked in 1976-1990 and United States which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Palm Desert's incremental SNDi rose from 4.26 to 4.9 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Palm Desert ranked 54th out of 60 cities in California and 295th out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.9
Rank in United States
243rd of 333
Rank in California
48th of 60

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
4.75
Rank in United States
295th of 333
Rank in California
54th of 60

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Palm DesertBaghlanAzara

In new street additions, Palm Desert and Baghlan both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Azara built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Palm Desert and Baghlan both fluctuated in connectivity, while Azara became progressively more disconnected. Palm Desert and Azara have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.