Public Involvement/Education on Alternative Intersection/Interchange Designs

U.S. Transportation Collection2020PDFTech ReportRodgers, Michael O.Gbologah, FranklinAbdella, Kameria EBodiford, TorreyGeorgia Institute of Technology. School of Civil and Environmental EngineeringGeorgia Tech Research CorporationGeorgia. Department of Transportation. Office of Performance-Based Management & ResearchUnited States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway AdministrationGeorgia. Dept. of Transporation. Office of Performance-Based Management and ResearchUnited StatesEvaluationHighway designInterchanges and intersectionsPublic information programsPublic participationRoundaboutsIntersectionsEducationPIOHPublic information open housesFHWA-GA-20-1726RP17-26Final Report (March 2018 \u2013 September 2020)Given the recent introduction of many innovative designs, still relatively limited material exists that explains the concepts, tradeoffs, and benefits underlying such innovative intersection designs in a form accessible to the general public. This project was designed to both test the effectiveness of existing GDOT public information materials and to develop a library of additional presentation materials to support and supplement these existing communications materials. In particular, these additional materials were designed to provide the public with simplified explanatory materials to supplement more project-specific materials for use at public information open houses (PIOHs) for projects in which these innovative intersections/interchanges are being considered and/or recommended. In consultation with GDOT, the intersection types selected to develop materials for were: roundabouts; roundabout interchanges; reduced conflict U-turn (RCUT) intersections; median U-turn (MUT) intersections; displaced left-turn/continuous-flow (DLT/CFI) intersections; continuous green-T (Florida-T or \u201cseagull\u201d) intersections, and quadrant intersections. To judge the effectiveness of the materials for their intended purpose, the project team undertook a series of evaluations regarding both the effectiveness of applicable presentation materials and particular aspects of the PIOH process at nine public meetings between July 2018 and January 2020. The results of these evaluations confirmed that participants in the meetings preferred the updated materials to those used earlier.105