Chicago Heights in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Chicago Heights in context

1.82.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Chicago HeightsIllinois (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Chicago Heights plotted against Illinois and United States. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Chicago Heights's incremental SNDi fell from 4.23 to 4.13 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Chicago Heights ranked 6th out of 12 cities in Illinois and 76th out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.13
Rank in United States
165th of 333
Rank in Illinois
9th of 12

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.35
Rank in United States
76th of 333
Rank in Illinois
6th of 12

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Chicago HeightsMile 91Tubingen

In new street additions, Chicago Heights and Tübingen both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Mile 91 built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Notably, Chicago Heights had a more sprawly network than Mile 91 in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.