Changes to the transportation analysis guidelines specified in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) should ease approval of infill and urban development, but may result in challenges for local governments that depend on Level of Service mitigation requirements to fund their road infrastructure projects.
TL;DR Summary
- Under current California environmental law, if a project creates significant impact to traffic “Level of Service” (e.g. through longer delays at nearby intersections due to increased cars), the developer may be required to pay for expanded road capacity to mitigate the impact of this development. This policy encourages sprawl development and more motor traffic, contrary to California’s greenhouse gas emissions policies.
- Under proposed guidelines, Level of Service mitigation will go away, to be replaced with “Vehicle Miles Traveled” (VMT) analysis. If a project will increase the number of miles traveled on nearby streets in vehicles, the developer may be required to pay for mitigation to reduce this increased vehicular traffic.
- Many cities and counties depend on Level of Service “improvements” paid by developers for their road infrastructure funding. They’ll need to develop new funding models.
- This discussion pertains to changes in California, but these Level of Service mitigation policies are common across America. Read below to learn how LOS analysis policies that encourage capacity “improvements” make traffic congestion worse, not better.
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