Promising Practices for Meaningful Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making (U.S. DOT, 2022). This guide contains promising practices that can help USDOT funding recipients meet the requirements of meaningful public involvement and participation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), and other existing requirements. It includes an overview of existing policies and processes where public involvement is a requirement, discusses how meaningful public involvement should be a core organizational competency integrated into all aspects of your work and transportation decision-making, and highlights the many benefits of meaningful public involvement.
Mobility Equity Framework (The Greenlining Institute, 2018). A guide to including the stakeholders with the highest need in the planning process to prioritize equity and access to opportunity for underserved communities.
Fight for Your Ride: An Advocate's Guide for Expanding and Improving Transit (Transportation for America, 2018). A guide for advocates on how to campaign for better transit, including how to build coalitions and delivering messages effectively.
Public Engagement That Counts (National Association of City Transportation Officials, 2018). Webinar that highlights methods for effective communication with the public to create community buy-in that can ultimately determine the success of a project.
Developing and Advancing Effective Public Involvement and Environmental Justice Strategies for Rural and Small Communities (Federal Highway Administration, 2016). Reports on research with 6 communities to identify effective, locally appropriate, replicable strategies that transportation planners, practitioners, and other decision-makers in rural areas and other smaller communities can use to garner public involvement in transportation planning and programming, and especially to engage environmental justice communities in working with transportation planners to co-create strategies that will mitigate or avoid prospective environmental justice issues
Facilitating Public Input into Transportation Plans: The Role for Mobility Management Practitioners (National Center for Mobility Management, 2015). Looks at types of transportation planning organizations, transportation plans, and public involvement processes, and then explores the role of mobility managers in facilitating the public’s input into the plans.
Mobility Managers and Transportation Planners: Together, Facilitating Public Input into Transportation Plans (webinar) (National Center for Mobility Management, 2015). Presents innovative examples for boosting public participation, and how mobility managers and transportation planners together can enhance public input into coordinated transportation planning as well as broader long- and short-term transportation planning.
Planning Friendly Meetings: Going Beyond the ADA to Make Your Meeting Place User-Friendly (Transit Planning 4 All, 2015). This Tip Sheet can assist anyone one who wants to be sure that older persons and persons with disabilities feel welcome and comfortable at their meetings. It is a good supplement to the many existing tip sheets on how to plan meetings and events that comply with ADA regulations.
The Community Engagement Guide for Sustainable Communities (Sustainable Communities Living Initiative, 2012). A guide to the benefits of and guidelines for fostering the community engagement that is necessary to build sustainable communities.
Public Participation Strategies for Transit (Transit Cooperative Research Program, Synthesis No. 89, 2011). This research paper documents the state-of-the-practice in terms of public participation strategies to inform and engage the public in transit-related activities. It also provides ideas and insights into practices and techniques that agencies have found to be most successful and discusses challenges relating to engaging the public.
How to Engage Low-Literacy and Limited-English Proficiency Populations in Transportation Decision Making (Federal Highway Administration, 2006). Documents promising practices in identifying and engaging low-literacy and limited-English-proficiency populations in transportation decision making.
Related Websites
Developing Public Participation Tools in Transit-Dependent Communities. This website discusses the tools created and used by the UCLA Department of Urban Planning and the Latino Urban Forum to help communities more effectively engage transit riders in the transit station, system and network planning process, especially regarding the walking environment to and around transit stops/stations. The site allows you to view projects by type, such as downtowns, transportation, waterfronts, training, etc.
Strengthening Inclusive Transportation Partnerships to Promote Community Living. This project was sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Community Living and supported communities nationwide in adopting sustainable, scalable, and replicable models that included the participation of people with disabilities and older adults in the design and implementation of responsive, coordinated transportation systems.