Is your agency ready for Senate Bill 743?

The implementation process for Senate Bill (SB) 743 recently reached a milestone when the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) submitted final guidelines for the implementation to the Natural Resources Agency for incorporation into the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Required implementation is expected to occur statewide on July 1, 2020.

SB 743 will change the way that transportation studies are conducted for CEQA environmental studies by removing automobile level of service and delay as a performance measure and replacing it with vehicle miles travelled (VMT). Land development projects will no longer be required to provide for roadway improvements to mitigate their CEQA traffic impacts. Instead, mitigation will be based on how much VMT a project generates.

Following are some steps your agency may want to take to prepare for the implementation of SB 743:

  • Discuss SB 743 with your management and elected officials.
  • Revise current traffic impact study guidelines which are based on roadway level of service and delay as a performance measure.
  • Develop guidelines for analyzing and mitigating VMT.
  • Develop strategies for small projects to avoid a requirement to conduct an EIR due to significant unmitigated VMT impacts.
  • Develop strategies for land development projects to continue to provide for roadway improvements after implementation of SB 743.

VRPA Technologies can assist you in these efforts. We have followed the SB 743 process from the beginning and we are actively developing strategies for agencies to prepare for implementation. Erik Ruehr, Director of Traffic Engineering for VRPA Technologies, was chair of the California SB 743 Task Force, a statewide task force set up by the Institute of Transportation Engineers to follow the SB 743 implementation process, provide comments, and prepare members for the implementation of SB 743.

VRPA Technologies, Inc.

www.vrpatechnologies.com

Georgiena Vivian, President
4630 W. Jennifer, Suite 105,
Fresno, CA  93722
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(559) 259-9257 Cell

Erik Ruehr, Director Of Traffic Engineering
9747 Businesspark Ave., Suite 210,
San Diego, CA  92131
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(858) 361-7151 Direct - (858) 566-1766 Office