Santa Cruz in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Santa Cruz in context

3.244.85.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.244.85.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Santa CruzCalifornia (Region)United States (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Santa Cruz plotted against California and United States. The SNDi of new construction in Santa Cruz peaked in 1976-1990, compared to California which peaked in 1976-1990 and United States which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Santa Cruz's incremental SNDi fell from 4.96 to 4.47 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Santa Cruz ranked 17th out of 60 cities in California and 169th out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.47
Rank in United States
210th of 333
Rank in California
44th of 60

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.22
Rank in United States
169th of 333
Rank in California
17th of 60

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
Santa CruzEunapolisUnjon

In new street additions, Santa Cruz built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Eunápolis built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Unjon fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Santa Cruz and Eunápolis both became progressively more disconnected, while Unjon became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Santa Cruz and Eunápolis have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.