Gonzales, Louisiana Explores Transportation Electrification Opportunities
As part of our work on Smart Growth Strategies for Transportation Electrification, EPA helped the city of Gonzales, Louisiana explore how transportation electrification can provide more equitable mobility options and economic opportunities. A collaborative workshop brought together residents, businesses and government representatives to share their needs and ideas for transportation electrification and work on potential next steps. Gonzales' experience with electric vehicle infrastructure planning can give other communities ideas for how to engage their residents and public, private and nonprofit sectors to develop strategies to take advantage of the increasing investment in electrifying transportation. This work was implemented with a team of federal partners and EPA contractors.
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About Gonzales
Gonzales is a city of more than 12,000 people in Ascension Parish between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The small city – known as the Jambalaya Capital of the World – has grown rapidly in recent years, in part because people have moved there from New Orleans and surrounding areas following extreme weather events.
As of early 2023, when the electric vehicle infrastructure workshop took place, Gonzales had been developing local relationships and partnerships to reduce its carbon footprint, improve transportation options and meet other community needs.
- In February 2023, Gonzales adopted its Climate Action and Resilience Plan. It is one of the first cities in Louisiana to have such a plan. The plan sets a target of reducing the city's carbon footprint by 50% by 2030. As transportation is the largest contribution to Gonzales' greenhouse gas emissions, the goals include reducing per capita vehicle miles traveled by 15%, as well as electrifying half of the gas-powered vehicles on the road and 15% of the diesel-fueled vehicles.
- The Gonzales Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2015, envisions more walkable neighborhoods with a mix of uses and better transportation connections between homes, shopping and employment areas, and parks and recreational spaces. The plan also includes the development of a complete streets policy to make all transportation modes safer and more pleasant.
In addition, Interstate 10, which runs along part of Gonzales, was designated as an Alternative Fuel Corridor by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development in its National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure deployment plan. The NEVI program is an investment in a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers, providing dedicated funding to states to deploy EV charging infrastructure.
Technical Assistance from Federal Partners
EPA and its team of contractors collaborated with the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, the Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Office, Louisiana Clean Fuels (the regional Clean Cities and Communities network partner), and Gonzales staff in February and March 2023 to help the city plan for federal and other investments in EV charging.
The technical assistance site visit convened community members with representatives from local, regional and state entities to collaborate on identifying transportation and mobility needs, equitable transportation electrification strategies, and potential projects that align with new federal funding and other investments in EV charging.
The community identified these interests:
- Pursuing the climate action plan's emissions reduction goals.
- Improving the community's mobility options, as the city had no public transportation service and limited pedestrian pathways.
- Providing opportunities for community members to learn about transportation electrification.
- Designing school-to-job opportunities in the transportation electrification and renewable energy sectors.
The site visit included community engagement activities — a tour, a community conversation and a workshop — to discuss local priorities and identify potential actions to address them. The community tour visited key sites, including:
- EV charging stations at the nearby outlet mall; River Parishes Community College to learn about its new solar program.
- A mixed-use development under construction.
- Historic downtown Gonzales, which has a site under consideration for a passenger rail station.
The community conversation then brought together residents, business owners and others to share their thoughts about how EVs and transportation electrification challenges relate to local concerns. Lastly, the workshop brought city staff and officials together with representatives from other public agencies, nonprofits and private companies to consider a draft list of community transportation electrification goals. Participants then discussed the goals and brainstormed specific strategies to achieve them.
Results from the Technical Assistance
As a result of the workshop, participants formed new connections and identified opportunities for collaboration in the rapidly growing EV sector. The workshop also helped participants consider how their professional positions and organizations created opportunities to support and implement EV infrastructure and projects.
The community identified the following potential opportunities:
- Local utilities and entities proposing EV charging infrastructure could improve their collaboration.
- The community college could incorporate EV maintenance and charger installation training into its curriculum.
- City staff could collaborate with other local agencies, such as the county tourism office, to develop an EV charger location plan.
Using the input from the workshop, the contractor team developed a "next steps" memo to help Gonzales identify specific actions to reach its goals. The memo offers an initial path forward for the community and is a living document that can be updated to include new actions that align with local priorities. It provides options that Gonzales can consider and does not obligate the city to pursue any specific action.
Near-Term Goals for Gonzales
The list below, adapted from the next steps memo, presents Gonzales' near-term goals to advance equitable transportation electrification investments, along with possible actions to achieve those goals. It shows examples of goals and actions other communities might develop as they engage their residents and businesses to explore transportation electrification.
- Goal 1: Expand EV infrastructure in Gonzales and combine with placemaking projects.
- Action 1.1: Create an EV charging location master plan for the city of Gonzales and pursue implementation.
- Action 1.2: Update local land use and development code to incentivize provision of EV chargers.
- Goal 2: Share information and raise awareness about EVs and related workforce development and job opportunities, emphasizing outreach to disadvantaged populations.
- Action 2.1: Brand EV-related information with Greenie (the city's mascot for environmental initiatives), a symbol of the community's intentions to support relationships among community members and protect the environment.
- Action 2.2: Co-host educational booths at festivals and school speaking events.
- Action 2.3: Distribute educational materials about EVs.
- Goal 3: Create job and opportunities for training.
- Action 3.1: Obtain funding to incorporate EV curriculum into local educational initiatives.
- Action 3.2: Identify a champion to pursue connections for disadvantaged community member job pathways.
- Goal 4: Expand EV transportation services in Gonzales.
- Action 4.1: Pursue the purchase of EVs for the Council on Aging on-demand service.
- Action 4.2: Study the feasibility of an EV community circulator.
- Action 4.3: Pursue funding for electric school buses.
- Goal 5: Partner and share resources.
- Action 5.1: Prioritize Goals 1 through 4 and associated action steps through existing groups and communication channels.
Since the workshop, the city of Gonzales implemented several actions and activities identified in the next steps memo.
- The local planning team partner hosted two community outreach events (Action 2.3).
- The city engaged with River Parishes Community College (Action 3.1).
- Ascension Parish Tourism collaborated with the Council on Aging to apply for funding to acquire an EV (Action 4.1).
This case study was published in August 2024.