The City of Los Angeles LADOT evaluates both short-term and long-term, or cumulative, impacts of projects on vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Here's how these evaluations are conducted:
Short-term Effects:
- Short-term effects on VMT are evaluated through a detailed project-level VMT analysis, as described in previous sections.
Long-term or Cumulative Effects:
- Long-term or cumulative effects on VMT are assessed by checking the consistency of projects and land use plans with the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS).
- The RTP/SCS is the regional plan that demonstrates compliance with air quality conformity requirements and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. Projects and land use plans that align with the RTP/SCS in terms of development location, density, and intensity are part of the regional solution for meeting air pollution and GHG reduction goals.
- Projects and land use plans that are consistent with the RTP/SCS would have a less than significant cumulative impact on VMT.
- Development in a location where the RTP/SCS does not specify any development may indicate a significant impact on transportation.
- Projects and land use plans that do not demonstrate a project impact by applying efficiency-based impact thresholds (e.g., VMT per capita, VMT per employee) in the impact analysis are considered to have no cumulative VMT impact, as they align with the long-term VMT and GHG reduction goals of SCAG's RTP/SCS.
- Projects and land use plans that demonstrate a project impact by exceeding efficiency-based VMT thresholds and are deemed inconsistent with the SCAG RTP/SCS could have a significant cumulative impact on VMT. Further evaluation is required to determine whether their cumulative impact on VMT is significant.
- This additional analysis involves running the SCAG RTP/SCS Travel Demand Forecasting model with the cumulative "no project" scenario representing the adopted RTP/SCS horizon year conditions and the cumulative "plus project" scenario representing the reallocation of population and/or employment growth based on land supply changes associated with the proposed project.
- Citywide VMT, household VMT per capita, work VMT per employee, or VMT per service population (depending on project type) are calculated for both scenarios. Any increase in VMT or related metrics above what was forecasted in the adopted RTP/SCS would constitute a significant impact, potentially affecting regional air quality conformity and GHG reduction findings.
- For regional-serving retail, entertainment projects, and event centers, the cumulative analysis involves additional steps to compare the "plus project" scenario with the "no project" scenario representing adopted RTP/SCS cumulative year conditions, as outlined in the provided text.
The goal of this evaluation is to ensure that projects and land use plans align with regional goals for VMT reduction and GHG emissions reduction while considering both short-term and long-term impacts.
Please contact us if you need help preparing a transportation assessment report for a development project in the City of Los Angeles LADOT.