Senate Bill 743 (SB 743), signed by the Governor in 2013, is transforming the identification of transportation impacts. The legislation tasked the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) with exploring new metrics for identifying transportation impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In December 2018, the Final OPR guidelines were released, identifying vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as the preferred metric moving forward. Additionally, the Natural Resources Agency completed the rule-making process to amend the CEQA guidelines in December 2018.
Given this timing, it is prudent to address VMT and develop draft significance criteria to evaluate the General Plan in relation to VMT. Despite this shift, the County has recognized that vehicle level of service (LOS) remains important to the residents of San Bernardino County. Consequently, the General Plan includes policies addressing LOS and establishing LOS standards that County infrastructure aims to maintain. Therefore, County projects must complete a transportation impact study (TIS) in addition to a VMT assessment to demonstrate consistency with the General Plan.
The San Bernardino County Transportation Analysis Model (SBTAM) is currently the most suitable travel demand model for use in San Bernardino County, and our recommended methodologies are based on it. However, the recommended methodologies will remain relevant even if other traffic models replace SBTAM in the future.
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide recommendations related to VMT assessment, including thresholds of significance and methodologies for identifying VMT-related impacts, and to refine the County’s existing TIS guidelines to reflect current best practices. The County should update these guidelines as necessary to incorporate changes in CEQA requirements, new methodologies, or process improvements. Therefore, the County should regularly review these guidelines for applicability, and consultants should contact the County to ensure they are using the most current guidelines for project impact assessment.
The remainder of this memorandum is organized as follows. It provides background information, assessments for congestion management/General Plan Consistency (e.g., Level of Service analysis), and CEQA assessments (e.g., VMT analysis).
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