Portland Looks to Move Beyond Auto-Centric LOS

After years of signaling its intent, it appears as though the City of Portland is getting serious about ditching its auto-centric level-of-service (LOS) metric with one that evaluates multiple modes, reports Jonathan Maus.

1 minute read

August 3, 2012, 1:00 PM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj

Last week the City of Portland issued a request for proposals [PDF] for a consultant to update the city's transportation performance standards. Why is this significant? Like most cities around the country, Portland is burdened by performance standards that rely on an automobile-oriented level-of-service evaluation as the basis for, "determining the adequacy of transportation services in
development review applications and volume-to- capacity (v/c) measures
that are used in project and system planning."

According to the RFP, "The existing LOS standards and measures, which focus only on
motor vehicle levels of service, do not reflect the City of Portland's
current practice which emphasizes and promotes a multimodal approach to
transportation planning and providing transportation services." And with the city seeking to encourage alternative modes in its transportation policies and land use decisions, the current standards have become an obstacle.

So after years of "grumblings" about the need for this momentous policy change, why is it being undertaken now? Maus believe the reason is, "because the City is beginning the
process of updating the Comprehensive Plan and the Transportation System
Plan (TSP) which lives within it."

"The RFP deadline is August 17th and work on the $100,000 project is expected to proceed by mid-September."

FULL STORY: City of Portland looks to go beyond auto-centric 'level of service' standards

Monday, July 30, 2012 in Bike Portland

Government / Politics Transportation Oregon Portland Level-Of-Service

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Start Learning

Advertise with us

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.