Land Use and Transportation Planning in Response to Congestion: The California Experience

This paper reviews land use and transportation planning policies and practices in California and assesses issues raised by various strategies being utilized to address congestion problems. Shrinking revenues, escalating costs, and concerns about social and environmental impacts have combined to constrain state highway building; financial problems and difficulties in attracting riders have deterred transit expansion. Consequently, local governments are having to shoulder greater responsibility for transportation. Three approaches are increasingly being used: developer exactions and impact fees; transportation systems management programs and ordinances which encourage trip reduction and the use of alternative modes; and general plan subdivision control, and zoning revisions. Few local governments are well equipped to carry out these new tasks. Planning departments have few staff members with training in transportation planning and analysis, and have left these matters largely to engineering departments. But engineering departments also lack expertise in the areas of demand management and land use-transportation coordination. Methodological and data shortcomings further limit the ability of local planners and engineers to tackle land use and transportation planning issues. Finally, the highly politicized circumstances under which many traffic mitigation efforts take place thrust planners into roles for which many have little training or experience: developing compromises between pro- and anti-growth interests, carrying out negotiations with developers and community groups, and preparing development revenue forecasts and financing plans. These findings suggest a need for additional research on methods to coordinate transportation and land use; more rigorous requirements and incentives for local transportation-land use coordination; greater cross-training of planners and engineers; and greater exposure of planning and engineering students to the techniques and issues of project evaluation, negotiation, and the political process.