Community Engagement

RELATED TOPICS: Plan Development, Complete Streets, Vision Zero, Health, Bike Share

Community engagement is integral to the success of transportation planning and should be considered at every stage of the planning process, from setting goals to conducting post-implementation evaluation. Community stakeholders in the planning review process can help identify safety concerns and secure support for proposed projects. Traditional public participation often takes the form of information sharing, with meetings and presentations. More inclusive community engagement seeks the intended audience where it is already convened (e.g., transit stops, community events, schools, the internet) and offers various opportunities to engage, ideally providing services like translation and childcare when relevant.

Balancing a practitioner's technical expertise and the unique knowledge of community members can be a challenge. For the practitioner, it is important to ask for information and insights that residents can reasonably provide and incorporate into next steps. Whenever possible, practitioners should focus on building relationships and create a feedback loop to demonstrate how engagement has informed the plan and process.

Finding the time and venue for expressing ideas and concerns may be a challenge for community members. It can be intimidating to call an elected official, speak at a public meeting, or understand a complicated project schedule or funding program. A Resident's Guide for Creating Safer Communities for Walk and Biking includes facts, ideas, resources, and case studies to help residents learn about traffic safety problems and act to address their concerns.

Resources

Promising Practices for Meaningful Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making
USDOT
Offers ways for practitioners to effectively engage community members.

Transportation Planning Capacity Building Program Public Involvement
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
Provides resources about public engagement in transportation planning.

Incorporating Qualitative Data in the Planning Process: Improving Project Delivery and Outcomes
US Department of Transportation (USDOT)
Provides tools and resources to engage communities.

Virtual Public Involvement
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Resources that showcase how to use virtual tools to enhance public involvement in transportation planning and projects.

E-Scooter Safety: Issues and Solutions
Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program (BTSCRP)
Seeks to advance multimodal road safety by identifying safety risks emerging from the growing use of e-scooters and developing comprehensive guidance, tools, policy options, and educational materials to mitigate those risks.

More Resources >

 

Examples

Pueblo of Jemez Creates Community-Informed Traffic Calming Solutions
Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC)
Documents safety improvements near a school in the Pueblo of Jemez, NM, that used innovative solutions to address walking and biking challenges on earthen roads.

Detroit Creates Connections at a Crossing
Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC)
Describes how a quick-build project in Detroit, Michigan, improved safety for students walking to school by reducing the turning radius at a key crossing and adding community murals.

Fundamentals of Community Impact Assessment
National Highway Institute
Offers self-paced training on Community Impact Assessment in transportation planning.

Engaging Communities to Focus on Building More Complete Streets
APHA and Transportation for America
Examines an outreach effort for a regional agency in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Pilot of New Public Meeting Approach
Bloomberg Cities Network
Describes a new approach to public meetings.

More Examples >