Phuntsholing in context: Street-network sprawl trends

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Phuntsholing plotted against Chhukha and Bhutan. The SNDi of new construction in Phuntsholing followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Chhukha which rose steadily and Bhutan which was at its lowest in 1991-2005. Most recently, Phuntsholing's incremental SNDi fell from 5.15 to 4.55 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Phuntsholing ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Chhukha and 1st out of 1 in Bhutan as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Yanggao, China
• Dekemhare, Eritrea
• Taein-dong, South Korea
• Lingpu, China
• Ramos Arizpe, México
• Kanchanaburi, Thailand

In new street additions, Phuntsholing fluctuated in street-construction patterns, while Yanggao built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Lingpu built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full network, Phuntsholing became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Yanggao grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Lingpu grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Notably, Phuntsholing had a more sprawly network than Lingpu in 1975, but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.