Changelab Solutions Grant

December 8, 2017, Posted in  News&Updates

On September 27, 2013 California’s governor signed SB 743 into law, in part mandating the transition from a level of service (LOS)-based to a vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)-based transportation impact analysis for environmental impact review in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Transportation Choices for Sustainable Communities (Consultant) has been hired by Changelab Solutions (Client) to perform a case study analysis of the ongoing efforts underway at a variety of local governments to comply with this change in the law. The objectives of this study are to identify and share lessons learned from local governments which have switched or are in the process of switching from LOS to VMT as the measure of traffic impacts for new development and growth in their communities. In particular, these case studies will 1) highlight synergies and conflicts with public health goals with switching from LOS to VMT; and 2) identify the range of implementation strategies and methods being used to comply with SB 743 in a variety of jurisdictions—e.g., highlighting differences between urban, suburban, and rural local government contexts. The intended audience for these case studies and associated analysis include: 1) Communities that want to be “early adopters” and can benefit from a state-of-the-practice summary, and 2) Smaller communities with fewer resources and less in house technical expertise which would benefit from the lessons to help them implement this switch once they are required to do so. Transportation Choices Principal Chris Ferrell will lead this study.