Moving Toward Meaningful public engagement Addressing Rider 42 Requirements Tim Lomax, TTI t-lomax@tamu.edu A Member of The Texas A&M University System

Public Engagement Progression Inform Consult Obtain feedback on alternatives Involve Work directly with the public to ensure understanding and support Provide information to assist understanding Collaborate Partner in decision-making Empower Decision-making in the hands of the voting public *Adapted from IAP2 Spectrum

Rider 42 Goals and intent Implement best practices to ensure projects and programs provide “best-bang-for-the-buck” Determine projects with the greatest impact in very congested corridors Identify possible funding mechanisms Ensure open and transparent public participation

Identified key principles The report: What we did Identified key principles Reviewed best practices Examined case studies Described and evaluated regional efforts Offered recommendations

Coordination Efforts TxDOT Public Information Staff TxDOT Project Development Staff Transportation Partner Agencies Houston-Galveston Area Council San Antonio Metropolitan Planning Organization Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization North Central Texas Council of Governments Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Alamo Regional Mobility Authority City of Austin City of San Antonio

Initiate public discussion Recommendations Increase awareness about transportation challenges Build consensus on solutions Illustrate consequences of doing nothing Initiate public discussion Implement assertive education campaign Establish ownership of the campaign - local leaders Sustain the discussion For sustain the discussion you can use Loop 49 as an example – For years the local leaders recognized that they couldn’t compete against the large metro areas to get funding for Loop 49. They communicated this message often. It set the stage to talk about other funding mechanisms. You had the chamber talking to the rotary.

Monitor public response Recommendations Needs and urgency Targeted corridor solutions Funding options and impacts, personalize the discussion Mobility increases economic prosperity Develop messages Ensure appropriate messages are reaching the right audiences Ensure messages are timely Monitor public response Monitor public response – use market research to “get a pulse” of the hot button issues. This can be a survey, public comment or blog comments. Identify the issues and craft the message to address them. MinnDOT regularly polls members of their online community on a wide variety of subjects.

Find influential partners Recommendations Enlist and expand network of community movers and doers Select the right messenger for the audience Find influential partners Design ongoing interaction opportunities Engage all audiences on their “turf” and time Develop strategies Partners – Get beyond the traditional messengers. Use the business community, elected officials, neighborhood leaders, etc. Find out who has credibility with your audience and build from there. The Imagine Austin case study in the report is an excellent example of on-going interactions through a variety of mechanisms

Provide adequate resources Recommendations Proportional to overall project budget Adequate to engage all stakeholders Utilize project development staff and public information staff as a team Design, ROW, Environmental, etc. Provide adequate resources Reach broader audiences Offer convenient participation options React quickly Expand the use of technology

Gaining support will require the public to… Circumstances How big is the problem? Why is this urgent? Projects What is needed? What solution is best? What’s in it for me? Funding Where does my money go now? Are you using it efficiently? How much will it cost me? Can you be trusted with more? Understand the….

Transportation Planning and Programming Division Questions? Bernie Fette Tina Geiselbrecht TTI – College Station TTI – Austin b-fette@tamu.edu t-geiselbrecht@tamu.edu Shannon Crum Transportation Planning and Programming Division shannon.crum@txdot.gov 4/15/2019