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Santa Ana Active Streets Contact: info@saascoalition.org I www.saascoalition.org 1 714-679-3970 Analyzing transportation impacts: Vehicle Miles Traveled SANG ANA AVIVE dIDEEH The Warner Ave Widening Project will impact housing, commerce, and transit in Santa Ana for many years. This project, which will affect a roughly one -mile stretch on Warner Avenue between Grand Avenue and Main Street, is proposing to develop on land where up to 37 residential and 8 commercial properties reside. The Draft Environmental Impact Review for the Warner Project reports that Warner Ave has a Level of Service (LOS) at Grade F. The grade shows that Warner Ave is highly congested and needs improvements to alleviate it. SAAS agrees that this corridor is in dire need of traffic and safety improvements, and that congestion relief should be sought. However, SAAS opposes the sole use of Level of Service in the Environmental Impact Review process, Its function does not do enough to encourage the City of Santa Ana to prioritize active transportation modes in this project. The City s remedy to congestion on Warner Ave by adding more automobile lanes places priorities, such as decreasing GHG emission, making crosswalks distances shorter, and giving better public transportation options at the bottom. SAAS opposes the project's focus on alleviating automobile congestion by adding more space for automobiles to travel instead of adding better active transportation options. Level of Service tells cities how congested streets are, but does not do enough to encourage them to think broader in their responsibilities (e.g. climate change impacts, increase of car traffic, offering better public transit options). Since 2013, the State of California has been developing a new approach for analyzing transportation impacts, known as Vehicle Miles Traveled. SAAS proposes that the City reviews and adopts this new criteria when evaluating street congestion. The change from Level Of Service to Vehicle Miles Traveled is simple. Level Of Service prioritizes traffic flow on streets, while Vehicle Miles Traveled prioritizes reducing congestion with a diverse array of transportation types, including active transportation modes. Instead of simply stating the congestion levels of a street or highway, Vehicle Miles Traveled would give guidance on how to make streets safer and healthier. Public comments ended last year for the new CEQA guidelines, and moving forward Vehicle Miles Traveled will be the criteria used for measuring environmental impact. Level of Service, and congestion by association, will not be considered as having an environmental impact. This is a perfect time to incorporate Vehicle Miles Traveled in the Environmental Impact Review process. As the City moves forward in being a safer and healthier community, Vehicle Miles Traveled will help us move forward in that direction as well. "Cultivating diverse community participation in creating a safe and accessible environment for active transportation in Santa Ana."