Download or read book An Assessment of the Virginia Department of Transportation s Public Involvement Practices and the Development of a Public Involvement Toolkit written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Well-implemented public involvement programs have many potential benefits for transportation agencies including enhanced credibility with the public, decisions reflecting community values, and reduced risks of litigation (O'Connor et al., 2000). The objectives of this study included a broad assessment of the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT's) public involvement practices and the development of a public involvement "toolkit" for use by VDOT staff. The toolkit describes an array of techniques that may be used from the earliest planning stages of transportation projects through their construction, noting advantages, disadvantages, special considerations in the use of each technique, and references and website links for further reading. The assessment of VDOT's current public outreach practices included information gathering from citizens and VDOT staff. A total of 948 citizens attending several types of VDOT meetings and hearings completed written surveys that included questions about how they prefer to be notified about upcoming VDOT meetings, how they prefer to be informed about projects, and how they prefer to be updated on the status of plans or projects. Focus groups and written "self evaluation" surveys provided information on the perceptions of VDOT staff about the effectiveness of VDOT's public involvement approaches and their suggestions for improving communication with the public and public involvement... Study recommendations include the following: VDOT staff should use the toolkit and a soon-to-be released interactive public involvement tool by the Federal Highway Administration to choose effective public involvement approaches; VDOT divisions should collaborate on ways to increase the public's understanding of the planning, project development, and public involvement processes; and as soon as the state budget situation permits, the Outreach Section of VDOT's Office of Public Affairs proposed by the Governor's Commission on Transportation Policy should be staffed to provide greater in-house strategic communications planning and evaluation capability for major projects.

Download or read book An Assessment of the Virginia Department of Transportation s Public Involvement Processes written by Amy A. O'Leary and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Citizens have higher expectations for meaningful involvement in transportation decision making than ever before. Interest in an assessment of the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT's) public involvement practices has originated from several sources. First, VDOT's top leadership is interested in a "tool kit," or an inventory, of current "best practices" in public involvement. Second, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's 1998 report on the highway location process in Virginia made a number of observations and suggestions about VDOT's public involvement practices. Most recently, the passage of Senate Bill 1198 (SB 1198) called attention to the open forum format VDOT uses most often for its location and design public hearings. To address these information needs, the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC) developed a plan for a two-phase study of VDOT's public involvement practices. Phase I, summarized in this report, focused primarily on hearing formats and related issues. Phase II will take a much broader, more comprehensive look at all of VDOT's public involvement practices, beginning with the earliest planning stages. The results of the Phase II analysis will be summarized in one or more future reports. A 10-member project task group, with broad representation from VDOT divisions and districts and the Federal Highway Administration, will guide the VTRC's efforts during the study. The Phase I study of hearing formats and related issues reported here included a comprehensive review of the literature, a written survey for public involvement professionals in the 50 states, and a written survey for citizens attending three VDOT public hearings in 1999 (the Meadowcreek Parkway design hearing, the Capital Beltway citizen information workshops, and the Indian River Road location hearings). Two of the three projects (Meadowcreek and Capital Beltway) are controversial. Results of a previous citizen "exit survey" conducted at VDOT public hearings in 1995 and 1996 by VDOT's Location & Design Division's Public Involvement Section were also reviewed, as were several years' worth of attendance data and comments from VDOT location and design public hearings.

Download or read book An Analysis of Virtual Public Engagement in the Transportation Planning Process written by Lance E. Dougald and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public engagement is an important and required element of the transportation planning process. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, public engagement has shifted dramatically. Agencies of all sizes accelerated their transition to virtual engagement in 2020 to comply with shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines. Social media and online engagement tools have become integral components of engaging the public and have effectively removed the time constraints of in-person meetings, offered opportunities for community members to engage in new and interactive ways, and brought new voices into the engagement process. In early 2020, when the pandemic effectively ceased in-person meetings, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) expanded its use of virtual platforms to engage with the public and is continually seeking to improve public involvement during the transportation planning and project development process, as traditional meetings are often not well attended, feedback is sparse, and participation can be limited to special interest groups. The purpose of this study was to assess the role of virtual public engagement in VDOT’s business practices, examine its potential to reach a broader public, and document lessons learned for improved efficacy. The scope of the study was focused primarily on transportation planning public information meetings where on-demand public input has been frequently used as a substitute for in-person meetings, especially during the height of the pandemic. Based on the study findings, the study concluded the following: the benefits of virtual public engagement in terms of increased participation are widely acknowledged; virtual public engagement challenges exist, particularly with respect to achieving participation from underserved communities; outreach avenues exist to improve participation levels of underserved communities; and a hybrid approach of in-person and virtual events is likely to be the future of public engagement for transportation planning public information meetings. The study recommends the following: (1) VDOT’s Transportation Mobility and Planning Division (TMPD) should update Instructional and Informational Memorandum IIM-TMPD-4.0 (Public Participation / Public Involvement in Transportation Planning Studies) to include data collection guidance specific to on-demand public input surveys; and (2) TMPD in collaboration with VDOT’s Communications Division should develop guidance for district planners on conducting and managing hybrid public engagement events. TMPD and the Communications Division can use the results of this study to promote virtual engagement initiatives and to develop and share outreach strategies and guidance with VDOT districts and other VDOT divisions. The developed guidance for virtual engagement initiatives will provide a consistent approach across districts to reach and engage underserved and underrepresented communities. In addition, the guidance will provide a consistent approach to measuring the effectiveness of outreach and engagement efforts, which will help to inform and shape future outreach initiatives. The benefits of developing guidance for hybrid events will be a more streamlined and consistent process for conducting, managing, and evaluating public engagement. Since hybrid events are expected to increase, the developed guidance should result in fewer logistical problems for public engagement events.

Download or read book Public Involvement Process for the Virginia Department of Transportation written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Public Involvement written by Virginia. Department of Transportation and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Public Involvement Manual written by and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Handbook of Public Participation in Impact Assessment written by Tanya Burdett and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2024-06-05 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook provides a clear overview of how to achieve meaningful public participation in impact assessment (IA). It explores conceptual elements, including the democratic core of public participation in IA, as well as practical challenges, such as data sharing, with diverse perspectives from 39 leading academics and practitioners.

Download or read book An Assessment of Public Involvement for the 2006 Regional Transportation Coordination Planning Process in Selected Texas Cities written by Gwen Goodwin and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Practices for Online Public Involvement written by and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 538: Practices for Online Public Involvement summarizes current practices regarding online public participation strategies being used by state departments of transportation (DOTs), as well as explores the effectiveness of using these strategies and tools. Online public participation methods offer agencies the potential for expanded participation and also present new challenges and demand new thinking about the appropriate mix of techniques in a public participation program, communication protocols, staffing and skill requirements, and how best to integrate emerging online engagement tools with traditional face-to-face methods such as public meetings.

Download or read book Effective Public Involvement Using Limited Resources written by Anne Caroline Morris and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This synthesis was prepared to report on the state of the practice and to identify effective public involvement using limited resources. Basic information is offered here for transportation agencies to further their efforts in this area. This synthesis provides information about staff and agency experiences in the application of effective and cost-effective strategies and implementation techniques used to engage the public in the development of transportation plans and projects, as well as strategies found to be ineffective. It captures respondents' definitions of successful, effective, and cost-effective public involvement and reveals a rudimentary state of the practice in the areas of costs and measures of effectiveness. Although there appeared to be no clear cut definitions of responsibilities or implementation strategies, similarities and differences were identified in four areas - organizational structure, staffing, cost quantification, and process. Detailed appendices provide abstracts of the literature reviewed and document survey questionnaire interview responses.

Download or read book Report of the Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation s Task Force on Public Involvement written by Michael A. Perfater and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Project Participation written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book An Assessment of the Construction Advertisement Date Process Within the Virginia Department of Transportation written by Dixie T. Wells and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Measuring the Effectiveness of Public Involvement in Transportation Planning and Project Development written by Bruce Brown (Market researcher) and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public involvement programs provide transportation agencies and the public with a means for exchanging information about planning and project development activities. When effective, public involvement activities enable the public to participate in transportation decision making. Transportation professionals need to measure the impact of public involvement activities to ensure that they are successful and an efficient use of public resources. In addition, repeated measurement can track an agency’s performance over time, demonstrating ongoing commitment to public involvement and increasing overall accountability in the transportation decision-making process. This report presents a field-validated and practitioner-ready toolkit for measuring the effectiveness of public involvement activities. The toolkit is designed to collect feedback from the public on several indicators of effectiveness and to compare that feedback with the agency’s own perceptions. The combined responses can then be used to calculate scores for each indicator and an overall effectiveness index. This allows for systematic comparison of the effectiveness of different public involvement strategies over time.

Download or read book The Report of the Public Involvement Task Force written by Washington (State). Department of Transportation. Public Involvement Task Force and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Public Involvement Handbook written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook is designed to function as both a manual for public involvement during project development and as the Montana Department of Transportation's (MDT) approved public involvement/public hearing procedures.

Download or read book When Main Street Is a Highway Addressing Conflicts Between Land Use and Transportation written by Peter B. Ohlms and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Major at-grade regional thoroughfares in Virginia are a source of conflict for planners because of the corridors' dual, often competing, roles. For many Virginians, these routes are critical highways for cross-state travel, commuting, and movement of freight, with an emphasis on mobility and expectations of high travel speeds and limited stopping. For local residents in both long-established and developing communities, these corridors sometimes function as the community's "main street," providing access to homes and businesses, often at the cost of regional mobility. The purpose of this study was to identify solutions to this main street / highway conflict through a review of relevant regulations, identification of planning solutions that could be implemented by localities and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), and the highlighting of resources that could help with the process of identifying and implementing solutions. In addition, case studies were selected to serve as examples of how the conflict between local access and through mobility has been managed by public agencies in various contexts. The main street / highway conflict is fundamentally an issue of transportation and land use coordination. No individual solution can fully address the conflict. Because VDOT has limited influence over land use and development along state highways, a practice of strong interagency coordination, cooperation, and public participation is necessary. As VDOT develops roadway projects, it must respond to concerns of local stakeholders, in part by demonstrating how engineering solutions can lead to locally desired outcomes. The study recommends that VDOT consider the previously mentioned issues in refining an existing planning process for arterial highways that may reflect the main street / highway conflict. It also recommends that VDOT ensure that its planners working on major regional thoroughfares are familiar with (1) relevant design manuals, treatments, and concepts, such as context-sensitive urban thoroughfare design and unconventional intersection designs; and (2) methods to facilitate interagency coordination and public participation.