The Intersection Between Transportation and Land Use

Land use and transportation planning fields have been rapidly evolving due to new legislation on sustainable communities and climate change and an increased emphasis on complete streets and multi-modal analysis. Explore the inextricable link between transportation and land use in the development of general plans, community plans, site plans and environmental impact analyses. Learn best practices, examine case studies and gain practical knowledge and skills to put to use in your community.

This two-day interactive course focuses on new policies, technical approaches, models and tools for managing challenging land use and transportation issues. Key topics include:

  • Level of Service (LOS) policies and thresholds: Why vehicle LOS may be obsolete for your community and the consequences and choices to consider when selecting new performance measures and thresholds.
  • The new transportation planning paradigm: Why public agencies should shift their paradigms and the financial, transportation and land use consequences if they don’t.
  • Financial constraints and priorities: Why we pay more annually for TV, mobile phone service and mochas than gas tax, and what it means for your general plan.
  • Travel forecasting models and their blind spots: What planners need to know about travel forecasting models especially when using them to evaluate VMT, GHG emissions or smart growth plans.
  • Legal defensibility versus level of confidence: The difference between these two terms and why it makes a difference in your land use and transportation plans.
  • Completing the streets: Essential factors for creating livable streets, making modal trade-offs and examples of what to avoid.
  • Big data: How the proliferation of new data sources, such as cell phone origin-destination data, GPS speed data and satellite photos are changing land use and transportation planning.
  • CEQA and the General Plan: How to get the most out of General Plan updates and accompanying EIRs.

This course is for those interested in the consequences of SB 743, the world of GHG forecasting, the connection between general plans and CEQA, determining SCS consistency, knowing more about layered networks and the 15 new multi-modal LOS methods in practice, obtaining greater value from those expensive EIRs or just improving planning outcomes in the community.

Enjoy two intensive, interactive days with other professionals and obtain 14 hours of AICP or MCLE credit toward your professional development. 

Course Code
385160