Citizen's Guide to Transportation Decisionmaking

Planning

Your Role in Project Development

Your participation in each step of the transportation planning process is key to finding good solutions. You also have an important role in project development. You will have history and knowledge about your local area that transportation officials might not have, and you know what is important to you about your community. Your views and ideas about proposed transportation solutions at the project development stage are critical.

Remember, project development is about finding a location and developing a design for how the project will look and work. Perhaps you can recommend ways to avoid, lessen, or compensate for an impact. We call this mitigation. Or you may be able to recommend some special or additional features that may benefit your community. These are called enhancements. Mitigation and enhancements are discussed during project development.ur groups, please let us know.

Just as with transportation planning, you should get your name put on the project mailing list, attend meetings, and invite a transportation official to your meetings. During this phase, a citizens advisory committee may be formed to give the community direct access to the project staff and input to the process. On larger projects, you can expect the sponsoring agency to have public hearings, meetings and/or workshops in the project area.

You can help your planning organization and State DOT develop methods to get your viewpoint. If there are better ways to reach your groups, please let us know.

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