Rockford in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Rockford 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
RockfordIllinois (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Rockford plotted against Illinois and United States. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Rockford's incremental SNDi fell from 3.8 to 3.64 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Rockford ranked 5th out of 12 cities in Illinois and 67th out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.64
Rank in United States
100th of 333
Rank in Illinois
4th of 12

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.26
Rank in United States
67th of 333
Rank in Illinois
5th of 12

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

What about similarly populated cities?

234567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
234567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
RockfordGujiaoChittaranjan

In new street additions, Rockford built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Gujiao fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Chittaranjan built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Rockford and Chittaranjan both became progressively more disconnected, while Gujiao fluctuated in connectivity. Rockford and Chittaranjan have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.