Living Without LOS

Considering all we know about air pollution, sprawl, and climate change, rational people justifiably wonder why so many regions in the U.S. continue to be so hell-bent on widening highways.

Why? One of the drivers behind this seemingly inexorable trend is an arcane formula that highway planners use to justify it: “Level of Service” (LOS). While the term sounds both technical and benign, in reality “Level of Service” is a biased method of claiming that highway expansion is “needed” even when its impacts are clearly detrimental.

California leads the other 49 states in moving to eliminate the anti-urban influence of LOS. Under recent state legislation, local governments will be able to shake off its destructive application, and make land use and investment decisions that support community development and transit.

TransitCenter is proud to support California’s work by funding Portland (OR) State University’s technical assistance to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office, CalTrans, and regional planning organizations to develop new metrics to measure transportation performance.

Come hear one of the brains behind this project, as well as the management effort needed to re-orient backwards-looking highway agencies:

Lynn Peterson, former local elected official in the Portland Oregon region and former Secretary of the Washington State Department of Transportation.