LOS

View of intersection in Fairfax, Virginia with three-story building and cars in intersection

Shifting the Focus for Transportation Planning in Fairfax County

Fairfax County wants to move away from a heavy reliance on level of service in favor of more pedestrian- and transit-oriented planning.

December 22, 2022 - FFX Now

Traffic

Level of Service, the Wrong Performance Measure

The use of level of service (LOS) to gauge the success of roadway networks has shaped and influenced cities in many negative ways.

March 29, 2019 - Brookings / The Avenue

Traffic Jam in Bangkok

Why it's Unfair to Only Plan for Rush Hour

Determining whether to widen a street solely based on rush hour traffic ignores how the street is used and who uses it the rest of the day.

December 21, 2015 - Streets.MN

California's Proposed Traffic Impact Rules Rethink Congestion

California planning expert Bill Fulton discusses a long-awaited proposal from the Governor's Office of Planning and Research that would shift the state's traffic impact assessments away from their current focus on traffic congestion.

August 10, 2014 - California Planning and Development Report

The Many Benefits of 'Level of Service' Reform

A long read by Eric Jaffe serves as a primer on the "Level of Service" (LOS) requirement in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), as well as predicting the large impact of LOS reform on planning in the state and around the country.

July 9, 2014 - CityLab

Alternatives Floated for Replacing Traffic Delay Analysis in California

California's Office of Planning & Research has been tasked with moving environmental analysis away from standards based solely on level of service. The agency has released its preliminary evaluation of alternative methods of transportation analysis.

January 10, 2014 - California Planning & Development Report

Planning for Movement Chokes Urban Health

In his latest entry in KCET's "Laws That Shaped LA" Series, Jeremy Rosenberg looks at the impact that the Functional Classification system has had on the urban form of Los Angeles and cities throughout the country since its adoption in 1973.

December 18, 2012 - KCET Departures

Traveling beyond LOS (By foot? On a bike?)

Let me start with a disclaimer: I am not a transportation planner. At the points where transportation planning shares borders with engineering, I tend to zone out and start doodling in the margins. I do, however, have a lifelong interest in transportation, which is why I share the excitement of some of my more transportation-focused colleagues about potential changes in how California measures transportation impacts of projects.

March 28, 2009 - Lisa Feldstein

How 'Level of Service' Measurements Ruin Cities

"Level of service" is a ranking used by transportation engineers to assess the performance of roads. Streetsblog argues that LOS distorts the development of mobility infrastructure by prioritizing cars over people.

January 27, 2009 - StreetsBlog-SF

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