Best Management Practices (BMP)
Best Management Practices (BMP) include a full array of transportation system management (TSM), travel demand management (TDM) and transportation control measures (TCM) to minimize transportation impacts, fuel consumption and emissions. They include traffic and transit network management and automobile trip reduction incentives and pricing strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) while preserving quality of service.
BMP are critical elements of climate protection plans. For example, California’s SB 375 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction program requires all eighteen of the state’s Metropolitan Planning Organizations to develop integrated land use and transportation BMPs the meet ambitious GHG targets. BMP also address help public and private entities address other air quality conformity requirements, energy conservation, health and safety, mobility and accessibility, and sustainable land use and transportation design, reduced infrastructure costs and improved livability.
To support the selection and application, the California Air Resources Board has published a series of information guides on BMP policies and practices and the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association (CAPCOA) has developed guidelines for quantifying the GHG benefits of over 50 transportation BMPs. Through a comprehensive literature review and expert engagement, Fehr and Peers identified a prioritized list of transportation-related BMP, assessing the effectiveness of each measure, and quantified the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and GHG reduction potential of different combinations of measures in different settings. The result is a statewide guidebook for CAPCOA to reference in the review of development projects in the environmental review process.
