CNT / STPP Public Participation in Transportation Planning Project (Phase II)

• Sponsors:  Center for Neighborhood Technology and Surface Transportation Policy Partnership
• Description:  CNT and STPP are continuing their work that began under the first year of the PTP Program. Activities under Phase II will stem from the success of the webinar and workshop under Phase I and will include additional webinars, workshops, and pilots.  A clearinghouse will be developed to help better understand the technical issues addresses in these activities.

Getting to Work in Illinois

• Sponsor:  Center for Tax and Budget Accountability
• Description:  CTBA has worked with communities throughout northern Illinois to identify gaps in transportation for low wage workers and develop fundable solutions through an interactive community engagement model called, “Getting to Work in Illinois.” The “Getting to Work” model uses participant feedback to shape plans and projects while engaging community stakeholders and sustaining dialogue between transportation professionals. Over the course of conducting “Getting to Work,” over 700 invitations were sent to local governments, businesses, transportation professionals, and community organizations. For this proposal, CTBA and its project sponsors will develop public participation evaluation tools from the “Getting to Work” initiative.

“Guide to Public Participation” Workshop Series

• Sponsor:  Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
• Description:  Legal Aid’s “Guide to Public Participation” is a workshop series curriculum designed to improve public participation in transportation planning processes by helping to improve communication between low-income residents, community organizations, and transportation agencies. The workshops advocate meaningful participation by low-income residents who often lack the information they need to engage in the transportation planning process. Legal Aid is developing the workshop curriculum with separate courses on voicing your opinion, knowing your legal rights, learning government agencies, and one course directly named “How to Find Out What Transportation Projects are Being Planned in Your Community.” After conducting four pilot workshops to low-income transit users, Legal Aid will evaluate and document the effectiveness of each workshop’s curriculum.

Structured Public Involvement Methods

• Sponsor:  University of Kentucky
• Description:  The University of Kentucky is committed to finding better methods for conducting public outreach meetings for transit operators. University of Kentucky staff will support and train LexTran personnel, the transit provider for the city of Lexington, Kentucky, in developing public participation practices for creating new transit routes and services. The project will apply “Structured Public Involvement” (SPI) methods and “electronic polling equipment” (e.g. keypads) to produce a comprehensive system for public participation in transit planning. The final guidance manual will include sample agendas for transit agencies to use in preparing their own public meetings, typical planning scenarios faced by transit agencies, transit planning questionnaires, visual presentation materials, and instructions for processing participant feedback.

Regional Transit Assessment Toolkit

• Sponsor:  Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission
• Description:  The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will be developing the Regional Transit Assessment Toolkit which organizes feedback from current and potential users of the regional public transportation system to determine if existing public transportation service responds to their needs. The Toolkit will enable transit riders to help design the regional transit system. The Toolkit begins with surveys and data gathering to understand public perceptions and needs, second comes guidelines for analyzing feedback, next is prioritization and implementation, and finally the Toolkit evolves into the Public Process Handbook that includes ‘How To” instructions and materials for conducting future workshops.

Awakening Public Participation to Improve Public Transit: Civic Engagement in Shaping Revenue Generation Strategies

• Sponsor:  Research Foundation of SUNY Buffalo State College 
• Description:  This project examines the feasibility of new transportation pricing schemes designed to discourage automobile use in declining cities. The project utilizes focus groups and personal interviews with stakeholders to set policy recommendations transferable to other slow growth cities. Deliverables from this project include a website, national conference presentations, and a journal paper submission.

Innovative Applications of Digital Video

social media report (PDF) | digital video report (PDF)

• Sponsor: Regional Transportation District (Denver)
• Description:  This project will 1) deliver a national tool, template, and example for public participation in regional transportation planning processes and programs using innovative applications of digital video, and 2) assess the effectiveness and/or limitations of this media and the proposed design of the digital video tool. The video program will cover a specific set of ideas in three primary chapters and the content will be delivered in two production phases. The format and content of the program will be geared toward “typical” members of the public interested in, but unfamiliar with, transportation planning, NEPA, and RTD’s FasTracks program process. The project will create a citizen’s guide to effective participation in the 1) metropolitan transportation planning process, 2) the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, and 3) FasTracks program and individual project review processes. Upon completion, the project will deliver a template for other regions.