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 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 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 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 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 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 Review of the Highway Location Process in Virginia written by Virginia. General Assembly. Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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 Creating an Innovative and Productive Environment for the 21st Century written by Virginia. Department of Transportation and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Evaluation of Site Plan Review Procedures written by Benjamin H. Cottrell and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The site plan review procedures of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) were evaluated. The objectives of the evaluation were to recommend (1) a set of site plan review procedures including a checklist, (2) definitions of the roles and responsibilities of the field and central office divisions involved in site plan review, and (3) an outline for a traffic impact study. These recommendations were to facilitate effective, uniform, and consistent site plan review activities throughout the VDOT and to be responsive to the unique needs of the VDOT field effices and the counties. Data were collected through written surveys of district and residency offices of VDOT and county government representatives and interviews with central office divisions and selected field offices. The data analysis resulted in identification of problems in the site plan review procedure. A procedural guide was developed to present the items recommended as part of the study objectives and to resolve some of the problems. Recommendations were made to resolve other problems that were not addressed by the procedural guide.

Download or read book A Review of the Virginia Department of Transportation s Scoping Process and Options for Potential Improvements written by K. E. Lantz and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transportation project scoping is a process where the project's purpose and need, budget, schedule, and scope are developed. Interviews conducted with 27 staff representing VDOT, FHWA, and regional planners, coupled with a review of related literature and federal legislation, suggested 10 options for improving Virginia's scoping process. Although implementation of the first 8 options may involve, to varying degrees, both central office and district staff, the decision regarding whether or not to implement them as a matter of policy rests with VDOT's Chief Engineer. Six options regard changes in process that have already been implemented in some VDOT districts or are under consideration: (1) Select a monthly project day statewide; (2) Delineate scoping-day decisions from other activities in the scoping process; (3) Consider initiatives that have already been deployed successfully in one or more VDOT districts such as the use of a risk assessment page; (4) Allow electronic submission of the scoping report; (5) Provide resources to perform scoping prior to programming (and use this information to influence which projects are placed in the transportation program); (6) Support efforts to link planning and programming. Two options regard specific products: (1) develop a single primer that explains to an outside audience how the scoping process influences project development and is designed to improve the quality of the discussion among VDOT, localities, and other agencies regarding project scoping, and (2) consider database enhancements suggested by interviewees. The final two options regard suggestions for further research. The report gives the rationale for each option, detailing interviewees' descriptions of how scoping is done, challenges that arise when scoping specific projects, and enhancements to scoping that have been considered in individual districts.

Download or read book Transportation Planning and Public Participation written by Ted Grossardt and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2018-06-20 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transportation Planning and Public Participation: Theory, Process, and Practice explains why, and then how, transportation professionals can treat public participation as an opportunity to improve their projects and identify problems before they do real damage. Using fundamental principles based on extensive project-based research and insights drawn from multiple disciplines, the book helps readers re-think their expectations regarding the project process. It shows how public perspectives can be productively solicited, gathered, modeled, and integrated into the planning and design process, guides project designers on how to ask the proper questions and identify strategies, and demonstrates the tradeoffs of different techniques. Readers will find an analytic and evaluation framework - along with process design guidelines - that will help improve the usefulness and applicability of public input. - Shows how to apply quantifiable metrics to the public participation process - Helps readers critically analyze and identify project properties that impact public participation process decisions - Provides in-depth examples that demonstrate how feedback, representation, and decision modeling can be integrated to achieve outcomes - Demonstrates basic principles using examples from a wide range of types and scales - Presents tactics on how to make public meetings more efficient and satisfying by integrating appropriate visualizations

Download or read book Report of the Virginia Department of Transportation on the Evaluation of Residential Cut through Traffic Policies to the Governor and the General Assembly of Virginia written by Virginia. Department of Transportation and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Customer Evaluation of the Transportation Planning Services of the Virginia Department of Transportation written by John Sanders Miller and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Risk based Framework Using Geographic Information Systems to Identify Transportation Corridors Vulnerable to Development written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is increasingly involved with the land development process in evolving transportation corridors. This process includes consideration of real estate interests, rezoning and permitting approvals, site plans, public utilities, right of way, access management, and the transportation facilities themselves. Localities may compete with one another for economic development and withhold plans for developing corridors or may simply be unaware of development intentions. It is therefore important that VDOT transportation planners anticipate and proactively address future development along corridors to avoid surprise, regret, and belated action. With many thousands of miles of undeveloped corridors across the Commonwealth, VDOT must prioritize the corridors and corridor sections most in need of immediate attention. This study developed a comprehensive approach using geographic information systems (GIS) to identify and prioritize the needs for protection strategies in countywide corridors. Over eighty GIS data layers sourced from VDOT, Fauquier County, and others were evaluated to determine appropriate factors for the analysis. Layers not available to other counties were ruled out. Layers were selected by adopting principles of risk management, asking experts about the flaws and consequences in corridor protection. Four indicator factors including lateral distance from corridors, proximity to intersection of corridors, proximity to population centers, and proximity to employment centers were used in the analysis to identify parcels with a high likelihood of development. Two constraint factors including protected parcels and economically developed parcels were used to identify very low likelihoods of development and eliminate parcels from the analysis. Several corridor sections were identified as candidates for further study of protection strategies including early right-of-way acquisition and access management. The density of curb cuts and the average parcel values and development likelihoods were plotted against the centerline mile to suggest the opportunities and costs of risk management. The methodology aims to generate maximum insight by using a manageable number of GIS layers and is repeatable in other cities, counties, and regions of Virginia by using currently available data. The suggested training material for the GIS analysts is (1) the PowerPoint presentation initially developed for the steering committee, and (2) the sample GIS layers and associated files that were used for the Fauquier County case study. Both are available for download at www.virginia.edu/crmes/corridorprotection. The results (relative prioritization of corridor sections) are not dependent on assumptions or steps that may differ from analyst to analyst. In the future, a web- or spreadsheet-based implementation of the layer combination process could be developed for use in presentations and public meetings. The results will help VDOT make the business case for corridor protection, for example, considering cost-effectiveness, return on investment, multiple objectives and stakeholders, and/or cost-benefit ratio. The results (maps of priorities) should highlight the features that confirm and reject the intuition of the planner and analyst. Numerous examples of such insights gained in discussion of the results with Fauquier County planning staff and the steering committee are included in this report.

Download or read book Inventory of System Operations Data Collection and Use in the Virginia Department of Transportation written by Catherine C. McGhee and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accurate data describing the status of the transportation network is the backbone of system operations management. Without accurate data, traffic engineers cannot optimize signal phasing and timing, effective incident management cannot be undertaken, decisions regarding managed lanes operations cannot be made effectively, and information cannot be shared with the traveling public. Traditionally, the data collected for all of these uses have been basic flow parameters, i.e., volume, speed, and occupancy. These data may be collected from continuous count stations, through special or project-related collection activities, or as part of an infrastructure-intensive traffic management system such as the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) Smart Traffic Centers (STCs). The biggest shortcomings of these data sources are that they tend to be limited in geographic scope or not continuous from a temporal perspective. In addition, the data are often considered for use by only the original "owner" or entity that collected them. The purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive inventory of operations (traffic flow) data collection activities that occur within VDOT and to document the uses of the data collected. The results of the study indicate that the majority of traffic flow data used in VDOT come from the Traffic Engineering Division's traffic monitoring system. All data collected are archived and accessible via the internal VDOT website. Data are also collected in VDOT's district offices and through the STCs deployed in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Currently the STC data are rarely used outside the STC because of data quality issues. To improve VDOT's traffic data collection practices, the following actions are recommended: 1.) VDOT's Operations Management Division should initiate a data quality assessment program. 2.) VDOT's Operations Management Division should identify and allocate dedicated funding for maintenance of all traffic data collection sites. 3.) The Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads STCs should identify those detector stations in each region that provide critical data and discontinue maintenance of the remaining stations. 4.) In Staunton, Salem, and Richmond, where STCs have been established but extensive deployment of sensors to obtain volume, occupancy, and speed has not yet occurred, deployment of such sensors should be limited to no more than one station between each interchange. 5.) VDOT's Operations Management Division should proceed with obtaining travel time data for freeways and primary arterials. 6.) VDOT's Operations Management Division in consultation with the Information Technology Applications Division should establish a common format for archiving data such that data can be shared across work units and applications. Where possible, data should be stored at the lowest level of aggregation possible so that they can be applied to the greatest number of uses.