Driving change: Exploring the adoption of multimodal local traffic impact assessment practices

Abstract

Local governments in the US face growing public demands to reduce automobile dependence in order to forestall climate change, improve road safety, rein in sprawling peripheral land development, increase transportation equity, and enhance urban livability. As a result, many city and county leaders are looking for ways to provide alternatives to driving through the creation of more multimodal-supportive transportation systems and land use patterns. The academic literature has identified conventional traffic impact- assessment (TIA) practices—designed to ensure new developments do not increase automobile traffic congestion—as a barrier to supporting these multimodal efforts. Because of the growing emphasis on multimodality in many national, state, and regional policies and initiatives (e.g., Complete Streets, Vision Zero), we investigate whether and how communities were adapting TIA practices to better accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, and other non-car travel modes in the land development process.