Washington in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Washington in context

3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WashingtonVirginia (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Washington plotted against Virginia and United States. The SNDi of new construction in Washington peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Virginia which peaked in 1991-2005 and United States which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Washington's incremental SNDi fell from 4.53 to 3.95 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Washington ranked 3rd out of 11 cities in Virginia and 223rd out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.95
Rank in United States
139th of 333
Rank in Virginia
2nd of 11

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.67
Rank in United States
223rd of 333
Rank in Virginia
3rd of 11

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WashingtonKuwait CityPeshawar

In new street additions, Washington built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Kuwait City fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Peshawar built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Washington and Kuwait City have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.