Sault Ste. Marie in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Sault Ste. Marie in context

2.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Sault Ste. MarieOntario (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Sault Ste. Marie plotted against Ontario and Canada. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Sault Ste. Marie's incremental SNDi fell from 5.03 to 4.54 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Sault Ste. Marie ranked 19th out of 24 cities in Ontario and 37th out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.54
Rank in Canada
46th of 54
Rank in Ontario
22nd of 24

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.93
Rank in Canada
37th of 54
Rank in Ontario
19th of 24

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Sault Ste. MarieNikkiLicheng

In new street additions, Sault Ste. Marie and Licheng both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Nikki fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Sault Ste. Marie and Nikki both became progressively more disconnected, while Licheng grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Notably, Sault Ste. Marie had a more sprawly network than Nikki in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.