Caltrans SB 743 Implementation

Greetings from the Caltrans SB 743 team, We have several items to share: A new process to assess the risk of projects that may not be able to fully mitigate induced travel impacts, New material explaining induced demand for non-technical audiences, Three new VMT-related research projects, Funding opportunities.

Unmitigated VMT Risk Assessment Process In implementing SB 743 through the current Transportation Analysis Framework/Transportation Analysis Under CEQA (TAF/TAC) guidance documents, Caltrans works to analyze, avoid, and mitigate additional induced demand, as measured in vehicle-miles traveled or VMT, in the development and selection of projects on the State Highway System. When VMT-inducing projects do move forward, it is our obligation to mitigate that VMT to the extent feasible, and if we cannot find enough feasible mitigation to fully mitigate, to determine if the benefits of the projects outweigh the negative impacts - that is, whether the project should receive a Statement of Overriding Considerations. Determining mitigation feasibility and potential overriding considerations require both a decision-making process - who decides, for example - as well as some methods for making those decisions. The Department will be consulting with the OPR-Caltrans SB 743 Working Group on June 9 to help inform the latter issue. Due to the wide variation in project context and effects, it is expected that we will not be able to develop bright-line rules, but rather a set of best practices that will inform decisions. The Department has, however, set up a process for assessing the risk of projects with unmitigated VMT. The process around discussions of unmitigated VMT has three main steps: Pre-PID assessment risk. While technical studies take place later in the project development process, it is important to broadly assess induced travel before Project Initiation Documents, or PIDs, are issued. PIDs state the purpose and need of projects, outline project alternatives to be studied, and estimate project budgets. In this preliminary risk assessment, project teams fill out a brief form providing basic details of the project as well as their initial thinking on potential VMT impacts and mitigation approaches, to the extent that they have developed such thinking. The SB 743 Management Team reviews this information and either initiates a meeting or responds in a memo that outlines induced VMT risks and ways to reduce them. This assessment must take place before a PID, including Project Study Report-Project Development Support documents prepared by local sponsors, can be approved. Draft environmental document. After VMT technical studies and mitigation scoping are complete, the findings are presented in a Draft Environmental Document, or DED, for public comment. If a project team is proposing to circulate a DED that does not mitigate induced travel to a level of less than significance for any project alternative, it must take part in another risk assessment. This step involves additional collaboration with the SB 743 Management Team to try to achieve consensus on on how a project could proceed with additional risk controls. This is followed by a review by the Caltrans Director, who decides whether the DED may be circulated, either as proposed or with amendments. Statements of Overriding Consideration are not discussed at this time; rather the focus is on whether how and whether a project with potential unmitigated VMT can proceed. Final environmental document. At this stage, a project with a preferred alternative and unmitigated VMT would need both a showing that mitigation has been pursued to the extent feasible, and that a Statement of Overriding Consideration is justified – in other words, that the project benefits outweigh the environmental harm from induced VMT. As with the DED, the project team and the SB 743 Management Team will attempt to achieve consensus and will bring the issue to the Caltrans Director for a final decision.

Induced Travel Materials While understanding of induced travel is growing, the concept can still be confusing and counterintuitive. Caltrans recently published a simple explainer graphic that may be helpful. View the infographic (JPG) here.

New Research Projects Caltrans has approved three new research projects focusing on induced travel. Problem statements, preliminary timelines and budgets are shown below. Project teams have not yet been ident and are now identifying project teams. Equity concerns related to induced travel (two years, $140,000). More research is needed to develop best practices for Caltrans and its partners that are seeking to combat induced travel by mitigating the effects of highway expansion. Such mitigation could include new transit, active transportation, Transportation Demand Management, land-use initiatives. Such efforts could raise equity concerns - for example, if new traffic occurs in one neighborhood while another benefits from mitigation activities. Caltrans and its partners need a definition of equity in the context of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) reduction, with some practical guidelines for implementation. This research will assist Caltrans with building and operating projects that better meet the public’s needs, at a lower cost with less environmental harm – and more positive and less negative impacts in communities of concern. Induced travel from capacity additions other than lane miles (two years, $175,000). More research is needed to provide Caltrans and its partners a better understanding of the induced-travel effects of a variety of project types. The Department in 2020 adopted the National Center for Sustainable Transportation’s (NCST) calculator for induced Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) (or NCST calculator) to assess projects that add lane-miles for freeways and major arterials. That leaves out important categories of additions or widenings to interchanges and to minor arterials, and for facilities that are built for non-general purposes, e.g. wildfire evacuations. Advanced accessibility measurement (two years, $200,000). More research is needed to develop a valid and consistent way to measure transportation accessibility in alignment with and support of Caltrans’ 2020-2024 Strategic Management Plan, which calls for the Department to “improve transportation accessibility and quality of life for people in all communities.” Caltrans is moving forward on the purchase of software and data to measure accessibility. The tool will address accessibility across auto, transit, bike and pedestrian modes, allowing for better multimodal decision-making. As with any such tools, the outputs will require interpretation and consistent application, which will be the focus of this research.

Funding Opportunities Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) Grants REAP 2.0 builds on the success of REAP 1.0, but expands the program focus by integrating housing and climate goals, and allowing for broader planning and implementation investments, including infrastructural investments that support future housing development.    The current draft guidelines list VMT reduction as a key objective and outline several project types to help achieve this including funding the establishment of a local VMT impact fee or catalyzing a regional VMT mitigation bank.    For more information about the background, timeline and how to apply visit: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/regional-early-action-planning

Visit the the Caltrans SB 743 implementation website: https://dot.ca.gov/programs/sustainability/sb-743 Have questions? Contact: [email protected] If you received this e-mail via forwarding and would like to receive communications directly, please fill out this form.