Buffalo in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Buffalo 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
BuffaloNew York (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Buffalo plotted against New York and United States. The SNDi of new construction in Buffalo rose steadily, compared to New York which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and United States which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Buffalo's incremental SNDi rose from 3.67 to 3.95 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Buffalo ranked 4th out of 12 cities in New York and 48th out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.95
Rank in United States
141st of 333
Rank in New York
6th of 12

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.12
Rank in United States
48th of 333
Rank in New York
4th of 12

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BuffaloKalyanpurZoucheng

In new street additions, Buffalo built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Kalyanpur fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Zoucheng fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Buffalo became progressively more disconnected, while Kalyanpur became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards and Zoucheng grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved.