Can We Align VMT and LOS Analysis and Mitigation? Assessing Implementation of Senate Bill 743

Elisa Barbour, Jamey Volker and Francois-Xavier Kaeppelin

Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series from Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis

Abstract: This report investigates how local governments (cities and counties) are implementing California’s Senate Bill 743, adopted in 2013 to eliminate traffic delay, measured using level-of-service (LOS) standards, as a basis for analyzing and mitigating transportation-related impacts of development projects and plans as called for under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Based on a survey of local planning directors in California, administered in Spring, 2024, the report finds that more thanfour-fifths of localities are continuing to apply LOS standards on an “off-CEQA” basis in the permitting process for individual development projects, as well as in community-level plans and policies. Most respondent localities reported that using both VMT and LOS at both the project- and plan-level has not created conflicts, indicating that they are able to align VMT and LOS. Mitigation strategies reported as effective in reducing VMT and also improving LOS include improving active travel facilities,supporting mixed-use development, and relaxing parking requirements; these strategies can be deemed “best practices” foraligning VMT and LOS objectives. View the NCST Project Webpage

Keywords: Law; Social and Behavioral Sciences; City planning; Environmental impacts; Level of service; Metrics (Quantitative assessment); Real estate development; Traffic delays; Vehicle miles of travel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-11-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-ppm, nep-tre and nep-ure
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