Connect SoCal Plan (2024 RTP/SCS)
What is SCAG?
Founded in 1965, the Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG) is an association of local governments and
agencies that voluntarily convene to create holistic plans that
achieve unified goals and elevate the region. Under federal law,
SCAG is designated as a metropolitan planning organization and
under state law as a regional transportation planning agency and
a council of governments.
The SCAG region encompasses six counties (Imperial, Los Angeles,
Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura) and 191 cities in
an area covering more than 38,000 square miles.
The agency develops long-range regional transportation plans that
include sustainable communities strategies and growth forecasts,
regional transportation improvement programs, regional housing
needs allocations, and a portion of the Air Quality Management
Plans in the South Coast Air Quality Management
District.
What is Connect SoCal 2024?
Connect SoCal 2024 (also known as the 2024 -2050 Regional
Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS or
the “Plan”), represents the vision for Southern California’s
future, including policies, strategies, and projects for
advancing the region’s mobility, economy, and sustainability
through 2050. The plan details how the region will address its
transportation and land use challenges and opportunities to
achieve its regional emissions standards and greenhouse gas (GHG)
reduction targets. Connect SoCal 2024 builds from the policy
direction established in Connect SoCal 2020 as well as more
recent policy direction from SCAG’s Regional Council policy
committees and special subcommittees to reflect
emerging issues such as equity, resilience, and the economy.
Connect SoCal 2024 is required by federal and state
legislation to qualify project sponsors for federal funding.
SCAG is required to update this long-range planning document
every four years.
What is included in Connect SoCal 2024?
Connect SoCal 2024 contains the following core components:
- Vision, policies, strategies and performance measures:
Contains an overarching vision, regional planning
policies, list of regional transportation goals and
implementation strategies and measures for evaluating the
region’s performance in achieving those goals.
- Forecasts: Projects future distribution of population,
households, employment, land use, and housing needs.
- Financial plan: Identifies reasonable expected revenues over
the 25-year plan horizon.
- List of projects: Includes projects anticipated for
initiation and/or completion by 2050.
- Analysis of the following focus areas: Includes technical
reports on active transportation, aviation, congestion
management, equity and environmental justice, goods movement,
highways and arterials, housing land use including farm and
natural lands conservation, and transportation conformity.
How were projects selected for inclusion in Connect SoCal 2024?
Early in the planning process, SCAG asked that each of the
six-county transportation commissions (CTCs) submit updated
project lists for inclusion. The CTCs are responsible for adding,
removing, or updating projects from Connect SoCal 2020 based
on jurisdictional needs. These projects were then considered for
inclusion in Connect SoCal 2024.
What is SCAG’s role in developing Connect SoCal 2024?
SCAG is the lead agency in facilitating the development of the
region’s long-range transportation planning. SCAG understands the
importance of input and consensus and utilizes a
collaborative process over several years to create Connect SoCal
2024. This includes working with local jurisdictions through a
process known as the Local Data
Exchange (LDX) as well as working directly with county
transportation commissions (CTCs). Throughout the development of
Connect SoCal 2024, SCAG staff are guided by its policy
committees, with input from and consultation with CTCs,
subregions, local governments, several state and federal agencies
(including Caltrans), environmental and business communities,
tribal governments, non-profit and community-based
organizations, as well the public. The end result of
this process is a collaborative and comprehensive document
that reflects public consideration and addresses the region’s
needs.
How does Connect SoCal 2024 affect me?
Given the geographic diversity and size of the SCAG region, a
coordinated transportation system that is well integrated with
land uses and operates efficiently is imperative to the mobility
and quality of life of Southern California residents. By
employing a regional focus on transportation and land use
planning, SCAG seeks to improve the region’s mobility, economy,
and sustainability.
And although it doesn’t commit funds to specific projects,
Connect SoCal 2024 does set the framework for how transportation
tax dollars will be spent in the SCAG region over the coming
years and decades. The future of the SCAG region will be shaped
by the goals and policies set forth in Connect SoCal 2024.
Why do we need Connect SoCal?
Southern California is expected to add nearly 1.7 million people
in the next 25 years. Connect SoCal 2024 lays out a vision for
accommodating that growth, while at the same time
maintaining quality of life and protecting the environment.
Who will approve Connect SoCal?
Various elements of Connect SoCal 2024 will be brought before
SCAG’s policy committees for review, and then before SCAG’s
86-member Regional Council for approval. The Regional Council is
made up of elected representatives from the region’s cities and
counties as well as one representative for the Southern
California Native American Tribal Governments.
How is the public involved?
Public hearings for the draft Connect SoCal 2024 Regional
Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy have
concluded.
To develop Connect SoCal 2024, SCAG hosted several
interactive community workshops, pop-ups and engagements,
and presented regularly to various working groups and technical
advisory committees.
SCAG released the draft Connect SoCal 2024 for public
review and comment from Nov. 2, 2023, to Jan. 12, 2024.
During this period, SCAG hosted elected official briefings and
public hearings. SCAG is required to respond to or address
all comments and responses received during the public review and
comment period. The final Plan will include a Public
Participation and Consultation Technical Report to catalog
and archive comments received.
Although the public hearings have concluded, SCAG invites you to
view the
presentation and other related materials and submit comments
at ConnectSoCal.org.
Local Data Exchange (LDX)
What is the Local Data Exchange process?
The Local Data Exchange (LDX) is the main opportunity for cities
and counties to provide input into Connect SoCal 2024, Southern
California’s Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities
Strategy. The draft Connect SoCal 2024 includes data edits
provided by jurisdictions by the Dec. 2, 2022, deadline.
Why did SCAG initiate the LDX process?
The input received through the LDX process helped SCAG generate a
Forecasted Regional Development Pattern for Connect SoCal 2024
that identifies how and where the region will accommodate
anticipated growth. SCAG is mandated by statute to generate a
Forecasted Regional Development Pattern to help meet required
greenhouse gas emissions and Clean Air Act targets and ensure the
region can thrive in the coming decades.
What type of information and data did SCAG use in the Draft
Connect SoCal 2024 growth projections?
The draft Connect SoCal 2024 growth projection reflects SCAG’s
preliminary, expert-informed growth projection and integrates all
edits made by local jurisdictions to total households and total
employment in 2019, 2035, and 2050 as part of the Local Data
Exchange (LDX) process. These data reflect final Transportation
Analysis Zone (TAZ)-level input from jurisdictions that provided
input or were granted an extension prior to the Dec. 2,
2022, deadline. These plan data represent a snapshot in time and
may not reflect subsequently available information. Please
contact local jurisdictions directly to ensure the most
up-to-date planning, development, and construction
information.
TAZ-level growth projection data are a tool to understand how
regional policies and strategies may be reflected at the
neighborhood level but they show only one set of future
growth assumptions as consistent with the Sustainable Communities
Strategy. However, other development assumptions and
growth patterns could also be consistent with the Sustainable
Communities Strategy. As such TAZ-level growth projection
data should not be used to prove project consistency with Connect
SoCal 2024. TAZ-level growth projection data are advisory and
non-binding and jurisdictions have no obligation to
change land use policies, general plans or other regulations
to to conform with these projection data.
Does the household growth forecast include a local
jurisdiction’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment allocation?
The Connect SoCal 2024 growth forecast integrated available
housing element data in its neighborhood-level projections in
advance of and during local review to the extent that data were
available.
The Connect SoCal 2024 growth vision, which guides
neighborhood-level projections, relies heavily on Priority
Development Areas and Priority Resource Areas, key tools
for the Sustainable Communities Strategy to
operationalize and reinforces the Regional Housing Needs
Assessment’s (RHNA) 6th cycle focus on job- and
transit-accessible housing.
The forecast for total regional housing growth in the next decade
grew 30 percent from Connect SoCal 2020. This growth
responds to early indications showing that RHNA and related state
and local pro-housing policies are starting to result in
higher production.
Who participates in the LDX process?
The LDX process is a data exchange between SCAG and the 197 local
jurisdictions that serve as the local land-use authorities in the
region. SCAG relies upon data and information provided directly
by local jurisdictions such as land use and entitlements to
generate growth projections. Since Connect SoCal 2024’s
projections are not a build-out scenario and entitled projects
are often phased over time, SCAG relies on local jurisdictions to
assess the development likelihood and timing of key entitlement
projects as they review growth projections.
Input is considered complete if approved by a planning director
or city manager-level staff using SCAG’s Data Review and
Verification Form. In addition, SCAG collaborates directly with
the subregional councils of government in Orange, Riverside and
San Bernardino counties for outreach and data assistance.
While the LDX process is designed for exchanging certain datasets
between local jurisdictions and SCAG, the public can view
LDX’s Data/Map Books online at scag.ca.gov/local-data-exchange.
How can local jurisdictions view the data layers?
All of the Data/Map Books and their dynamic online equivalent on
the LDX portal include the data layers that are the main local
ingredients to Connect SoCal 2024. This consists of several
layers on which SCAG sought updates and corrections, other layers
on which local updates and corrections are optional, and
additional third-party data that relate to regional objectives
and are included for reference.
View Only: The Data/Map Books are publicly available
PDF versions of the data specific to each local jurisdiction and
are designed to help local planners better understand the
sources, methodologies and contexts of datasets that will be
integrated into SCAG’s regional plans. Data/Map Books were
updated alongside the release of the draft Connect SoCal
2024.
Review/Update: The LDX online portal contains
digital maps of each data layer that local planners can view,
edit, and leave comments and feedback on. Using the portal
requires no GIS knowledge or software installation. It also
allows cities that maintain GIS or data files to securely upload
GIS data layers or ArcGIS Urban completed plans. At this
time the LDX online portal continues to reflect preliminary data,
including growth projections.
Unique jurisdictional login information is provided by
requesting access here. The SCAG LIST team is available for
one-on-one meetings and assistance in using the LDX portal by
emailing list@scag.ca.gov.
What if a local jurisdiction has corrections or updates or
notices errors?
During the LDX process, SCAG welcomed input on and changes
to the data due to updates in local policies, including
entitlements and development agreements. This process
concluded in December 2022.
The Data/Map Books and preliminary growth forecast
are non-binding at all stages. Local jurisdiction input is
critical in making sure we have the most accurate data
available.
How long did the process take?
On Feb. 23, 2022, SCAG soft-launched the LDX, including
most data elements, along with the Regional Data Platform. The LDX
complete launch took place on May 23, 2022, and included the
planning survey and preliminary growth forecast, also known as
Socioeconomic Data. Input and edits were due by Dec. 2, 2022, in
order to be included in Connect SoCal
2024.
Where can I get help with the LDX process?
Email us at list@scag.ca.gov
for assistance. In addition to providing a more direct,
efficient, and modern link between data, local plans, and SCAG’s
regional plan goals, the Regional Data Platform also
provides a wide range of planning tools and data as well as
custom and off-the-shelf software for local jurisdictions.