The Role of Level of Service in Post-SB 743 California

This project aims to address the consequences of Senate Bill (SB) 743, chaptered in 2013, which eliminated traffic delay, traditionally measured using level-of-service (LOS) standards for roadways, as an environmental impact for review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). State implementing guidelines for SB 743, adopted in 2018, instead require assessment of impacts of development projects and plans upon vehicle miles traveled (VMT). The researchers’ ongoing work indicates that the cities that are continuing to use LOS are doing so for a variety of purposes. Developers’ concerns that they must mitigate for both VMT and LOS could potentially worsen the housing-supply crisis, particularly as the Caltrans research solicitation indicates, utilizing both LOS and VMT as part of the project approvals process can create tensions. The research process will begin with a review of literature review on CEQA, LOS, impact fees, and adoption and implementation of state law relating to traffic analysis under CEQA. Following the literature review, the project will proceed by developing an interview and public documents research protocol and procedure, based on a set of defined research questions, for determining how California cities are integrating VMT- and LOS-related metrics in their conditions for development approval and/or impact fee structures. The researchers will identify a case study sample of approximately fifteen (15) to twenty (20) California cities for investigation. The sample of cities will be identified based on information gained from the co-PIs’ previous research on SB 743 implementation and from interviews with expert informants to include cities that are combining LOS and VMT analysis as part of applying conditions of development approval. The sample will also be tailored to include variation by type of city, e.g., by regional location, large/small population size, position in the urban-to-suburban-to-rural continuum, built-environment differences such as extent of transit access and density differences, and socio-economic and demographic factors such as median income level and racial/ethnic diversity. The project will present and discuss findings that address research questions related to city intentions and perceptions of opportunities and challenges of integrating LOS- and VMT-related metrics and standards in a fashion that supports attainment of SB 743 and broader sustainability goals and objectives, when applying conditions of development approval, structuring impact fee requirements, and otherwise attaining related city-level policy goals.

• Record URL:
  https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/role-level-service-post-sb-743-california

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $128427
• Contract Numbers:

  Caltrans 65A0686 Task Order 072

  DOT 69A3551747114

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  California Department of Transportation

  1227 O Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95843
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Project Managers:

  Iacobucci, Lauren

• Performing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Principal Investigators:

  Barbour, Elisa

  Volker, Jamey

  Handy, Susan

• Start Date: 20230615
• Expected Completion Date: 20240630
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: City planning; Environmental impacts; Housing; Level of service; Metrics (Quantitative assessment); Policy; Regulation; Vehicle miles of travel
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Policy; Public Transportation; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01884727
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Sustainable Transportation
• Contract Numbers: Caltrans 65A0686 Task Order 072, DOT 69A3551747114
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jun 9 2023 8:36AM