Ventura County Transportation Model
Ventura County Transportation Model
The Ventura County Transportation Model (VCTM) is a countywide weekday model that helps us to better understand and project traffic and transportation features in relationship to land use. The model can be used for transportation impact assessments and Vehicle Miles Traveled analysis for environmental review and air quality greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions applications.
VCTC maintains a base-year (2016) and baseline forecast (2040) scenario built upon land-use data from the local jurisdictions, planned transportation projects from the Regional Transportation Plan, and research-based assumptions of current and future travel. The VCTM can be used to test how alternative land use development and transportation projects will impact travel in Ventura County by comparison to the base-year and forecast scenarios.
The VCTM is consistent with the regional transportation model used by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), including the base year and forecast year land-use projections and transportation networks. VCTM was developed using the SCAG Sub-Regional Model Development Tool, which allows subregions of SCAG to build a local version of the SCAG model. VCTC built VCTM through the sub-regional modeling program to provide travel demand modeling capabilities to the County and reduce the upfront cost for jurisdictions to build local transportation models.
Documentation
The VCTM is validated to State and Federal model standards using observed traffic counts throughout the County. The model is an estimation tool that uses the best available practices combined with the best data available from a variety of sources, including local jurisdictions, SCAG, the U.S. Census, and travel surveys. As with all statistical models, VCTM has inherent limitations. When putting the model into practice, it is always important to combine the data outputs with professional judgement.
To best understand the capabilities and limitations of the VCTM, please read the Validation and Development Documentation.
How to Obtain Data from the VCTM
The VCTM provides a wide variety of data outputs that can be used for analysis of traffic impacts in the County. The model automates several output reports for Vehicle Miles Traveled, Vehicle Delay, Trip Origins and Destinations, and automated jurisdiction maps of Volume Over Capacity on the road network.
On this page, you will find published data from the model base year and baseline forecast for Vehicle Miles Traveled and several maps based on the outputs from VCTM. Data from the traffic model base year and baseline scenarios not available on this page can be requested directly from VCTC Planning Staff.
To obtain a full copy of the traffic model to perform scenario model runs for a project, please fill out the forms below and return them to VCTC Planning Staff at akent@goventura.org
Modeling Vehicle Miles Traveled
In 2020 – 2021, VCTM was updated to produce an automated spreadsheet tool to assist local jurisdictions with Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) analysis in accordance with Senate Bill (SB)743. The spreadsheet tool generates recommended VMT metrics from the Office of Planning Research guidance for SB 743 for each incorporated city within Ventura County and the unincorporated County. The 2016 base-year and 2040 baseline forecast scenario VMT spreadsheets from VCTM are linked below. The VMT spreadsheet provides a table for each jurisdiction’s VMT calculation and a lookup table to view VMT metrics for individual Traffic Analysis Zones (based on Census Tracts) within a jurisdiction.
The map below provides a visualization of Home-Based VMT per Capita (HBVMT_CAP) and Work-Based VMT per Employee (WBVMT_EMP) by TAZ from the base-year 2016 VMT spreadsheet. The aggregate Service VMT (VMT_SERVICE) metric is also available in the data attributes. Use the Layers List tab to toggle between the Home-Based VMT per Capita and Work-Based VMT per Employee layers. The map also contains preset filters for these two layers in the top left corner of the map. Use the filter buttons for the respective layer to visualize low VMT generating zones by jurisdiction. There is also an option to create a unique filter at the bottom of the filter popup.
Each jurisdiction in Ventura County has unique polices related to VMT under SB743. The local Planning Department should be always contacted for VMT thresholds and procedures related to CEQA analysis.
SB743 Additional Resources
Daily Origin-Destination Map
The map below visualizes daily (Weekday) trip origins and destinations (OD) for each City and regions of the Unincorporated County calculated by VCTM. This map can be used to view major trip distribution patters between jurisdictions in Ventura County. Use the “Select Origin” filter in the top left corner of the map to view OD flow lines and trips originating from the selected jurisdiction. Use the layer tab to toggle flow lines for daily trips, AM Period (6AM-9AM), or PM Period (3PM-7PM). The OD data can also be viewed in the graph in the bottom left of the map, representing the number of trips originating from the jurisdiction selected in the “Select Origin” filter to major destinations in and around Ventura County. The destinations graph shows the number of trips ending in each jurisdiction, including internal-internal trips.
Volume over Capacity Map
VCTM produces automated Volume Over Capacity (VOC) maps for VCTC’s monitoring of the Ventura County Congestion Management Network. VOC is a measure of congestion for a road segment over a specified time period. The map below contains modeled VOC layers for the weekday AM Peak Period (6AM – 9AM), Midday Period (9AM-3PM), and the PM Peak Period (3PM-7PM). The map also provides these layers for both the 2016 base year and 2040 baseline forecast scenario. Since the model forecast scenario contains planned transportation projects (unconstrained) from the Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy, there are several road and highway segments where congestions is predicted to improve.
Local jurisdictions may have different requirements and thresholds for monitoring of VOC on local road networks. For local project analysis make sure to consult the local planning or public works department.
Use the Contents tab in the map to toggle between layers and the Legend tab to view the map legend.