01031518

Component

Transportation departments typically follow a traditional model for public participation which includes public notices, open house meetings to present the project, design and timeline, and a complement of fact sheets and color-coded maps to inform the message. This one-size-fits-all approach to public participation is ineffective in culturally diverse communities. What makes diverse communities unique to transportation departments’ public participation efforts? Culturally diverse communities have a different history with transportation policies. In the 1960s, before transportation policies emphasized public participation and context sensitive solutions, many culturally diverse communities experienced public works projects such as highway construction that physically divided low-income communities and displaced homes. For instance, when the Dan Ryan Expressway was built in Chicago in 1968, hundreds of homes and churches were demolished to make way for the new interstate. The surrounding communities were not involved in the planning of the design and viewed the new highway as a segregation tool. Although transportation planning efforts have come a long way since the 1960s, many culturally diverse communities remember the impact of highway construction on their neighborhoods, and have developed resentment and distrust towards transportation officials. Therefore, transportation departments with projects affecting culturally diverse communities need to develop different, more proactive approaches to public participation. This paper discusses innovative approaches to public participation in culturally diverse communities that have proven effective. It will provide a roadmap for project success by exploring a major highway construction project in Illinois that was initially opposed by the community, and then after significant retooling, gained support from the community. The tools for successful public involvement in culturally diverse communities include forming a project team that is diverse in ideas and culture, involving an expert in public and community relations, creating user-friendly project information materials, form a community taskforce to provide feedback on your ideas and demonstrate your commitment to involvement, engage local community papers as a valuable resource to reach diverse communities, and address the need for jobs and contracts early in the planning stages to establish realistic expectations.

01020180

06-2580

English

8p

2006

Transportation Research Board 85th Annual Meeting

CD-ROM

Consensus; Public participation; Public relations; Road construction; State departments of transportation

Community involvement; Local government officials; Multicultural factors; Transit projects

Chicago (Illinois); Illinois

Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I10: Economics and Administration

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2006 Paper #06-2580

TRIS, TRB

Mar 3 2006 11:04AM