Billings in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Billings in context

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BillingsMontana (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Billings plotted against Montana and United States. The SNDi of new construction in Billings rose steadily, compared to Montana which peaked in 1991-2005 and United States which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Billings's incremental SNDi rose from 3.64 to 3.89 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Billings ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Montana and 82nd out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.89
Rank in United States
133rd of 333
Rank in Montana
1st of 1

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.46
Rank in United States
82nd of 333
Rank in Montana
1st of 1

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BillingsPindamonhangabaXiangyuan

In new street additions, Billings built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Pindamonhangaba fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Xiangyuan built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full network, Billings and Pindamonhangaba both became progressively more disconnected, while Xiangyuan grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Billings and Pindamonhangaba have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.