Redefining Public Involvement

Abstract

Public‐involvement requirements have been part of government public‐works programs for at least 20 years. Still, they're often seen as one of the more onerous aspects of project development‐part of the bureaucratic red tape and more an obligation than a productive part of the process. Indeed, decision makers and project staff increasingly find heightened public interest and activism grind projects (and sometimes entire agencies) to a halt. Frustration over an increasing number of controversies arising late in the project‐development process led Montana DOT to develop a process that it hopes will minimize the conflicts that stop projects and erode public trust. MDOT and the Federal Highway Administration formed a task force to find a better way to involve the public. The fruit of their labor is a simple handbook that provides advice on how to hold an informal public meeting, write news releases and letters, limit the use of technical jargon in public presentations and interact with the media. Material from the draft handbook was incorporated in the consultant contract for the controversial U.S. 93 Somers‐Whitefish highway reconstruction project and the concepts are being applied. Results from this first use of the new MDOT procedures are encouraging.