VMT
Mitigation

Approaches and Examples

VMT Mitigation Approaches

The SB 743 Implementation Assistance Project considered different ways to mitigate the additional vehicle miles traveled (VMT) that would be generated by the case study projects.  The project organized a series of workshops to explore and compare VMT mitigation strategies, drawing on established practices in impact mitigation. Approaches included:

1. Project-level mitigation 

This refers to actions/programs that could be carried out by a lead agency within its authority. Two workshops in 2017 - one in Los Angeles and one in Sacramento - offered sessions where participants devised project-level mitigation proposals for different case studies. To help participants identify effective mitigation strategies, a simple spreadsheet was developed based on a 2010 paper prepared for CAPCOA (California Pollution Control Officers Association) which summarizes and quantifies different methods for reducing VMT - such as by tolling freeway lanes, or initiating parking charges. The spreadsheet and other materials from these workshops can be found below. (A 2017 technical memorandum by Fehr & Peers assesses and summarizes new research - since release of the 2010 CAPCOA paper - on the effectiveness of transportation demand management (TDM) for reducing VMT.) 

2. Tiering

Another mitigation approach under CEQA (see Pub. Resources Code sections 21093–21094), tiering is carried out by developing a general broad analysis and mitigation strategy for a plan, program, ordinance or range of activities, then using that analysis and mitigation strategy to cover the impacts of a specific project implementing that plan or program. This strategy was not specifically examined as part of the case studies, although it was noted if the project being studied was a beneficiary of tiering. 

3. Regional-level mitigation  

Regional mitigation strategies provide a means for mitigating impacts that are beyond the boundaries or jurisdiction of the responsible agency and thus beyond its ability to implement.  An example of such a strategy would be a fee paid by each project within a region (or state) into a common pool that can then be used to pay for mitigation throughout the region (or state). Such fees are common when wetlands are developed, and are used to create replacement wetlands elsewhere. A white paper (listed below) by Neil Peacock, commissioned by the SB 743 project’s Leadership Team, describes the many and interesting precedents for regional-level VMT mitigation.

4. VMT offset exchanges 

The VMT offset exchange concept was explored in two workshops in 2018, one in Los Angeles and one in San Jose. An offset exchange system would match VMT-generating projects with VMT-reducing projects, facilitated by a payment or other exchange.  The approach draws on concepts from cap-and-trade and transfer-of-development-rights (TDR) programs, as well as regional-level VMT mitigation precedents described in a white paper below. This approach is transactional and scalable and does not require establishing a uniform regional fee.  A white paper (listed below) by Robert Liberty, prepared for the workshop, discusses the VMT exchange concept in detail.