A new approach to public engagement : capturing better ideas and representative priorities from the public for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

PDFTech ReportState departments of transportationPublic participationQuestionnairesPublic opinionUnited StatesIllinoisUniversity of Illinois at Chicago. Urban Transportation CenterSweeney, MatthewRothschild, RoyHoereth, JosephUniversity of Illinois at Chicago. Urban Transportation CenterUniversity of Illinois at Chicago. Institute for Policy and Civic EngagementIllinois. Dept. of TransportationGinsburg, RobertUS Transportation CollectionIn recent years, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has devoted time and resources to improving its public engagement program and the quantity and quality of the feedback and ideas it receives from residents of Illinois. In 2016, as part of these ongoing efforts, IDOT commissioned the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement (IPCE) and the Urban Transportation Center (UTC), both of the University of Illinois at Chicago, to study effective public engagement strategies for statewide Departments of Transportation and create the report: Recommendations to Enhance Quality Engagement. 1 Building on the 2016 report, IPCE conducted a statewide engagement process for IDOT in early 2017. This engagement process utilized an innovative online approach to supplement IDOT\u2019s traditional public engagement methods. The unique strength of this multi-phased process was its ability to capture high quality ideas from the public and statistically representative public priorities \u2013 it was both open and representative. The findings of this report will inform the development of IDOT\u2019s 2017 Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP)