Denver in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Denver in context

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
DenverColorado (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Denver plotted against Colorado and United States. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Denver's incremental SNDi fell from 3.74 to 2.96 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Denver ranked 5th out of 9 cities in Colorado and 131st out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.96
Rank in United States
43rd of 333
Rank in Colorado
4th of 9

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.88
Rank in United States
131st of 333
Rank in Colorado
5th of 9

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
DenverTel AvivBhopal

In new street additions, Denver and Tel Aviv both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Bhopal built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Denver and Tel Aviv have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.