The Road Less Traveled

 

Emerging Trends in Transportation Analysis for Rural Agencies
July 10, 2023 • 1 minute read
Photo of a road winding through the hills with minimal traffic

The Road Less Traveled

 

Emerging Trends in Transportation Analysis for Rural Agencies
July 10, 2023 • 1 minute read
As transportation practices evolve, keeping up with new models, data, technical analysis, and legal statutes can feel overwhelming. Rural agencies also have a community context that lends to additional unique challenges.

Working with rural communities, we understand the need for cost-effective approaches to address transportation analysis requirements while complying with legal and technical expectations, such as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Recent CEQA changes have expanded expectations for transportation analysis related to wildfire evacuation and vehicle miles of travel (VMT). These are challenging subjects to analyze for any agency, and even more so, for those without advanced data, the models needed, or the specialized expertise to apply them.

So, how can rural agencies close the gap between the new transportation planning expectations and their resource reality?

Fehr & Peers aims to remove the anxiety and complexity from the analysis, and instead offer simple, effective, and scalable solutions for practitioners working in rural communities. As such, we have prepared the following cost-effective web resources for rural planning.

Evacuation Analysis

Wildfire Evacuation Impact Checklist

Description Beginning with a straightforward checklist, this resource hones in on the most critical questions and evidence needed for an evacuation analysis.
Cost Free
Set Up Time Ready for immediate use
Agency Investment Typically 2-4 hours of staff time

VMT Analysis

VMTIndex

Description This ArcGIS map-based tool finds VMT for community or project scale impact screenings and assessments using big data from Fehr & Peers/StreetLight.
Cost Free
Set Up Time Ready for immediate use
Agency Investment Typically 2-4 hours of staff time

To get started, reach out to our experts below.

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Contributors

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Ian Barnes

Principal

PE

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headshot of Jason Pack

Jason Pack

Principal

TE

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Ron Milam

Forecasting Practice Leader

AICP, PTP

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Chelsea Richer

Principal

AICP

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headshot of Rod Brown

Rod Brown

Associate

PTP, RSP1

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VMT Mitigation Through Fees, Banks, and Exchanges

VMT Mitigation Through Fees, Banks, and Exchanges

On September 27, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 743 into law and started a process intended to fundamentally change transportation impact analysis as part of CEQA compliance. These changes include elimination of auto delay, level of service (LOS), and other similar measures of vehicular capacity or traffic congestion as a basis for determining significant impacts. Instead, transportation impacts will be determined based on changes to vehicle miles of travel (VMT).

Jason Miller Joins the Fehr & Peers Team

Jason Miller Joins the Fehr & Peers Team

We’re thrilled to welcome Jason Miller to the team. With a strong background in transit and a holistic approach to projects, we’re excited to bring his local focus and expertise to the Denver and Front Range communities we serve.