SB 743: WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?
Evaluating Transportation Metrics for the California Environmental Quality Act Background
Senate Bill 743
What is Level of Service (LOS)? Level of service is a street performance metric traditionally used by transportation engineers and planners. It typically measures delay or the volume to capacity ratio of a road segment or intersection. How is LOS relevant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)? Every project must go through the environmental review process to determine whether it will have an impact on either the built or natural environment. An impact is “significant” if it surpasses locally defined thresholds. The transportation system is considered one element of the built environment, and LOS is currently the metric by which the significance of the impact is determined. Why is LOS inappropriate as a CEQA metric? LOS is car-centric.
The legislation amends CEQA guidelines by prohibiting auto LOS analysis for development in areas well served by transit. The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) is tasked with developing new criteria for evaluating transportation impacts. The criteria should promote:
1 the reduction of greenhouse gases; 2 the development of multimodal networks; 3 and land use diversity.
All states are subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but this process rarely requires detailed transportation impact analyses. States with local application of environmental regualtion are the best states for comparison. States with Local Application of Environmental Policy Law
Area of Analysis The legislation prohibits LOS analysis in areas wtih high quality access to transit, but OPR may also recommend criteria for the evaluation of transportation impacts for projects outside transit priority areas.
Transit Priority AreasAreas in Los Angeles Transit Priority in Los Angeles County
LOS measures local, not regional impacts. urban infill
What About Other States?
suburban greenfield
For states and cities that continue to require LOS, it’s effect as a metric is increasingly unclear. In New York City, environmental review guidelines that reflect a multimodal awareness preclude many of the traditional mitigation measures for improving LOS. Massachusetts is currently updating its guidelines to incorporate LOS for multiple modes of transportation. However, there is little precedent for state-level implementation of several of the metrics that OPR is currently studying.
Analysis: Vehicle Miles Traveled Research Questions Legend High Quality Transit Route Transit Priority Area LA County
0
many impacts
no impact
Researcher: Tim Black
2.5
5
10 Miles
¯
Client: California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR)
-
How well does a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) based metric support the above criteria? Which planning tools are the most appropriate for project-level forecasting? How accurately do these tools forecast VMT?
Faculty Advisor: Martin Wachs