Mentoring of three interdisciplinary teams for ongoing projects, including a series of meetings over several months.
The Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) has made significant progress in implementing CSS principles, starting with the Sensible Transportation Policy Act of 1991 (STPA), which established an extensive public involvement process in transportation project development. Since then, staff has established a CSS toolkit, design flexibility guide and a systematic design exception review process. Recently they have developed a Community Connections Charter to clarify how CSS is implemented in the project development process and focus actions on education and outreach, including improving communication with MPOs and local governments to educate them on the MaineDOT process and the connections between land use and transportation. CSS is a major priority for MaineDOT, with the leads of MaineDOT’s Planning and Project Development bureaus providing support and project oversight.
The consultant team began working with MaineDOT staff in January 2009 and decided to focus the technical assistance on the department’s enhanced project scoping process. The consultant team took a mentoring approach to work with the project teams of three active projects over several months, emphasizing the engagement of external stakeholders (e.g., regulatory agencies, MPOs and regional councils) early in the project development process.
The three projects chosen for mentoring included: Searsport (reconstruct two miles of main street through downtown), Bar Harbor (reconstruct 4.6 miles through downtown), and Windham River Road (reconstruct eight miles of major and urban collector roadway, approximately one third of which is within Maine’s largest MPO). The technical assistance consisted of the following:
