Assessment of Options for Quantifying Reduction in Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) from Mitigation Measures

Details

• Creators:
  Handy, Susan ; Volker, Jamey M. B.
• Corporate Creators:
  University of California, Davis, Institute of Transportation Studies ; Pacific Southwest Region 9 UTC, University of Southern California
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology ; United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Estimation Theory Evaluation And Assessment Quantification Recommendations Road Construction Strategic Planning Traffic Mitigation Vehicle Miles Of Travel
• Publication/ Report Number:
  PSR-23-21-02
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; California
• Edition:
  Final Report (April 2022 – September 2024)
• Corporate Publisher:
  Pacific Southwest Region 9 UTC, University of Southern California ; University of California, Davis. Institute of Transportation Studies
• Abstract:
  Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act require the mitigation of projected increases in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) stemming from highway expansion projects. Quantifying the likely effects of proposed mitigation measures enables an assessment of the degree to which the mitigation program offsets the estimated increase in VMT for a project. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of possible estimation methods for 45 mitigation strategies and recommendations on the most appropriate method for estimating the reduction in the number of miles of vehicle travel that could be expected to result from the implementation of a specific measure. The methods take into account the extent of the measure but may not account for the specific context. In general, two types of methods are available: travel demand forecasting models, and effect-size approaches. For several measures, this report concludes that the reduction in VMT cannot be estimated based on the available evidence. The Evidence Assessment Report provides as assessment of the strength of the evidence for each of the measures (Handy et al., 2024).
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  USDOT Grant 69A3551747109 ; Caltrans 65A0940 Task 3.2
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bdcb2505e3435f28dd9f7f7be2f05c7ac92fc9d4f001984547ae24f880fc9aa4ab90198011d75e5ad0a67dc5b24bf4319e1cb8168913ff7c42770ab99a99a3e4
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/86794/dot_86794_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 694.33 KB ]