摘要: |
The purpose of this synthesis is to document the state of the practice and identify effective public involvement using limited resources. A survey instrument with 40 open-ended questions was created that addressed the project, additional panel concerns, and potential factors that influenced the quality of public involvement. The survey was conducted during detailed telephone interviews with 31 individuals (100%survey response rate) from 26 agencies that included 11 departments of transportation (DOTs), 11 metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) (also known as an area development district, a council of governments, a regional planning commission, a metropolitan council, an area council, and a regional commission), 2 transit agencies, and 2 local governments. The interviews were conducted between October 2008 and April 2009 and took 35 to 90 min to complete. The agencies were located in 19 states and had service areas with populations that ranged from 82,000 to 33,000,000. This study documents the experiences of these individuals and their agencies 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 that were found to be ineffective. It also captures each respondent's own definition of successful, effective, and cost-effective public involvement. As using limited resources was a major consideration, the respondents were also queried on how they quantified the cost of public involvement and what measures of effectiveness they employed. |