Background
In 2013, Senate Bill (SB) 743 was signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which promotes urban infill projects supporting diverse land uses and multimodal transportation networks. Once significant outcome resulting from this statute is the removal of automobile delay and congestion, commonly known as level of service (LOS), as a basis for determining significant transportation impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) selected Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the principal measure to replace LOS for determining significant transportation impacts. VMT is a measure of total vehicular travel that accounts for the number of vehicle trips and the length of those trips. OPR selected VMT, in part, because jurisdictions are already familiar with this metric. VMT is already used in CEQA to study other potential impacts such as GHG, air quality, and energy impacts and is used in planning for regional Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS).
VMT also allows for an analysis of a project’s impact throughout the jurisdiction rather than only in the vicinity of the proposed project allowing for a better understanding of the full extent of a project’s transportation-related impact. However, SB 743 does not restrict the County of Santa Cruz from using LOS for other planning purposes outside the scope of CEQA.