Tucson in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Tucson in context

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
TucsonArizona (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Tucson plotted against Arizona and United States. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Tucson's incremental SNDi fell from 4.47 to 3.53 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Tucson ranked 1st out of 6 cities in Arizona and 124th out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.53
Rank in United States
88th of 333
Rank in Arizona
1st of 6

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.85
Rank in United States
124th of 333
Rank in Arizona
1st of 6

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

What about similarly populated cities?

23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
TucsonHamiltonProbolinggo

In new street additions, Hamilton and Probolinggo both fluctuated in street-construction patterns, while Tucson built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend.