Strategic Public Engagement Guidance

Following the review of existing studies and best practices, surveys of both the public and transportation agencies across the country, and internal discussion and consultation, the Public Involvement Section of TxDOT’s Transportation Planning and Programming Division (TPP) released its researched-based Strategic Public Engagement Guidance in early 2024. This guidance document supports project teams across the state in engaging all members of the public.

This initiative honors TxDOT’s commitment to involving the public in the planning and implementation of transportation projects and programs designed to meet the needs of their communities. It also supports the agency’s public involvement policy, which commits to purposefully involving the public in planning and project implementation and requires regular updates to public involvement methods.

Purpose

This initiative not only strives to improve the effectiveness of public involvement activities, but to do so in a way that allows project teams to identify potentially impacted communities. Outreach and engagement strategies can then be implemented to help increase meaningful participation from the communities impacted.

Approach

TxDOT used a variety of techniques to develop a suite of best practices and resources for project teams across the state:

• Formed an internal working group and hosted discussions to generate ideas and provide feedback on all components of the research approach.
• Performed desktop research to identify common barriers to public participation and techniques to overcome those barriers.
• Developed and executed a survey with transportation agencies across the country to understand how other states approach these same issues in both internal policy and external practices; 19 different practitioners in 16 different states provided input.
• Conducted an online public survey, in partnership with the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research (IDSER) at the University of Texas, San Antonio. The survey addressed how Texans prefer to receive information, share feedback and participate in engagement events. The survey’s findings were further explored in focus group discussions comprised of public volunteers. The statistically valid survey received nearly 12,000 responses.

Guidance

The initiatives, findings and insights resulting from this research have been synthesized into the Strategic Public Engagement Guidance. This will be a “living guide” that continues to evolve.

It is written and designed for easy, effective and efficient implementation by TxDOT’s project teams at both the state and district level, as well as any other organizations across the country conducting public involvement as part of their own projects.

The guidance includes a checklist for planning effective public involvement, resources for conducting community research and forging partnerships with local stakeholders and advocates, guides for identifying and overcoming the most common barriers to public participation, and more.

For more information, contact the TPP Public Engagement team.