Memphis in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Memphis in context

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

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Memphis plotted against Tennessee and United States. While Tennessee and United States both peaked in 1991-2005, Memphis's new street additions peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Memphis's incremental SNDi fell from 4.01 to 3.62 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Memphis ranked 1st out of 2 cities in Tennessee and 139th out of 333 in United States as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.62
Rank in United States
96th of 333
Rank in Tennessee
1st of 2

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.98
Rank in United States
139th of 333
Rank in Tennessee
1st of 2

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

What about similarly populated cities?

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
MemphisBamendaCoventry

In new street additions, Memphis and Coventry both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Bamenda built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Memphis and Coventry have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.