What Are Others Doing?

Because the science and practice of analyzing Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) are new, many jurisdictions have been waiting for the most recent guidance from the State and technical experts before developing their programs. As such, limited comparison information is available statewide.

Senate Bill (SB) 743 does not require that jurisdictions, like the County of San Diego, take legislative action. The law only requires local jurisdictions to use VMT and not Level of Service (LOS) when certifying CEQA documents.

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) developed the guidelines for jurisdictions to use when implementing the law (http://opr.ca.gov/ceqa/updates/sb-743/). The State guidelines provide jurisdictions with the flexibility to create their traffic analysis guidelines and define main components that include:

  • Geography: the geographic boundaries used to calculate VMT
  • Reduction targets: the level of VMT that will determine whether a project has a significant transportation impact·       
  • Screening criteria: the criteria used to identify which projects must conduct a detailed VMT analysis and which do not
  • Implementation tools: the actions (mitigations) that projects could take to reduce VMT impacts

The table below shows how some jurisdictions that have implemented SB 743 defined the main components of their guidelines: 

Best Practices

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Phase II Implementation