Vehicle Miles Traveled
With the passage of HB 6107, Connecticut became the 1st state to expressly allow zoning regulators to use the vehicle miles traveled standard.
What’s good about updating traffic standards?
Ensuring smart growth.
The VMT standard options ensures that zoning regulators can choose to prioritize forms of transportation other than cards.
Flexibility for towns.
VMT empowers towns to create more flexibility, moving beyond the “level of service” calculations that prioritize cars.
Air quality improvements.
Providing alternatives to car use will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve our air quality.
FAQs
Why did HB 6107 address vehicle standards? Outdated metrics for measuring traffic impacts promote sprawl and impede sustainable and active transportation options. HB 6107 empowers towns, at their option, to measure traffic impacts with a “vehicle miles traveled” standard, instead of the outdated “level of service” calculation
What is the “level of service” (LOS) standard, and what is the “vehicle miles traveled” (VMT) standard? Both standards can be used to measure the potential impact of a development. The LOS standard focuses on the amount of traffic created by development and the ease and speed with which vehicles pass through intersections. A project that reduces the LOS of nearby intersections by too much may necessitate road expansion, since the only thing that matters in LOS calculations is the speed of cars. Road expansion may not be the best environmental solution, and it exacerbates sprawl. LOS calculations accept the number of vehicles as a given, and does not incorporate vehicle-demand-reduction strategies.
The VMT standard, on the other hand, focuses on the amount (and vehicular emissions) of vehicular traffic that may be generated by a project but then requires mitigation strategies to reduce the amount of vehicles going to and from a site. These mitigation strategies might include adding biking and walking infrastructure, reducing parking, or encouraging public transit. The fewer the VMT, the more likely a project is to be approved. As a result, VMT can be used as a tool by local governments to prevent developments from being located too far into “greenfields.”
What about local control? HB 6107 empowers municipalities with new tools to review proposed developments. Switching traffic evaluation from “levels of service” to “vehicle miles traveled” will be particularly valuable to rural and agricultural communities for the preservation of forest lands and greenfields, and for the concentration of growth into common-sense locations that minimize environmental impacts and maximize community investment.
RESOURCES
A 2013 California bill adopted the “vehicle miles traveled” standard for roads statewide, and analysis of the change illustrates why Connecticut should at least start by legalizing the use of the standard in local zoning decisions:
A state agency, Streetsblog, Streetlight Data, and the Mobility Lab explain the rationale and impact of the bill.