Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
podcast icon logo

In California, whether you’re building an office tower or a new transit line, you’re going to run up against the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The law determines how much environmental analysis you need to do for new projects. But sadly, in practice it’s better at propagating car-oriented development than improving the quality of the environment.

That’s because instead of looking at a project’s effect on the environment, CEQA looks mostly at its effect on traffic. And the measures CEQA uses to determine traffic impacts focus on individual intersections, instead of the region as a whole. As a result, they end up penalizing urban infill development and transit projects while promoting sprawl and road expansion.

Here’s the good news: The core traffic metric embedded in CEQA, known as Level of Service (LOS), is set to be overhauled in California. Last year, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB743. One thing that bill does is allow the Sacramento Kings to build a new stadium. But the other thing it does is allow for the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research to come up with a new metric to replace LOS -- a very hot topic on Streetsblog.

This week’s Talking Headways is a special one-hour episode all about how LOS works against sustainable development patterns and what is being done to change it.

Jeff produced this podcast for the NRDC Urban Solutions Program. Guests include Jeff Tumlin of NelsonNygaard, Amanda Eaken of NRDC, and Chris Ganson of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. Hope you enjoy it.

Catch us on iTunesStitcher, and the RSS feed. And we'll see you on Twitter.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Talking Headways Podcast: Localities Subsidize the State DOT

Adie Tomer of Brookings on how to improve regional coordination around infrastructure.

July 10, 2025

Five of the Ugliest Transportation Policies In the ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill

Here's a rundown of some of the transportation provisions in the Republicans' reconciliation package, and what they might mean for your community.

July 10, 2025

Viva La Thursday’s Headlines

Why is French transit ridership up 10 percent since before the pandemic, while American transit ridership is down 23 percent?

July 10, 2025

Wednesday’s Headlines Are Bigger and Beautiful-er

There's a lot of bad news in the Big Beautiful Bill — but it also may have helped kill a major highway expansion in Oregon.

July 9, 2025

Removing ‘Rainbow Crosswalks’ Won’t Make America’s Arterials Safer

Secretary Duffy wants to tackle dangerous arterials. So why is he coming after rainbow crosswalks most often seen on narrow city roads?

July 9, 2025

The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Is About Our Transportation Future, Too

Transportation didn't get a lot of mention in the public discussion of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But it's everywhere.

July 8, 2025
See all posts