Bethlehem in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Bethlehem in context

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

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Bethlehem plotted against Pennsylvania and United States. While Pennsylvania and United States both peaked in 1991-2005, Bethlehem's new street additions peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Bethlehem's incremental SNDi fell from 3.18 to 2.71 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Bethlehem ranked 7th out of 16 cities in Pennsylvania and 42nd out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.71
Rank in United States
31st of 333
Rank in Pennsylvania
1st of 16

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.06
Rank in United States
42nd of 333
Rank in Pennsylvania
7th of 16

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

What about similarly populated cities?

12345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
12345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BethlehemHechiArish

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