Albany in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Albany 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
AlbanyNew York (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Albany plotted against New York and United States. While New York and United States both peaked in 1991-2005, Albany's new street additions peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Albany's incremental SNDi fell from 3.28 to 2.23 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Albany ranked 5th out of 12 cities in New York and 53rd out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.23
Rank in United States
7th of 333
Rank in New York
1st of 12

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.14
Rank in United States
53rd of 333
Rank in New York
5th of 12

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
AlbanyGhosiAl-Qa'im

In new street additions, Albany built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Ghosi built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Al-Qa'im fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Albany and Ghosi have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.