UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PRACTICE IN NORTH CAROLINA METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS: AN ANALYSIS OF GOALS AND TACTICS

摘要

Transportation planning in the United States is conducted by a range of federal, state andlocal agencies, each with its own interests and constituencies. Metropolitan planningorganizations (MPOs) have emerged as one of the dominant forces in shaping the future ofAmerica’s major highways and transit systems. As a part of their federally-mandated duties forplanning for major transportation infrastructure, MPOs have been charged with involving thepublic in their decision making.Though certain state and federal public participation requirements apply to all 17 ofNorth Carolina’s MPOs, there are differences in the ways that these organizations engage withthose requirements and provide or do not provide meaningful opportunities for publicinvolvement in the planning that they do. This paper explores and records those differences.Through a comparison of the tactics that MPOs used in their public involvement programs andthe goals that MPOs set for those programs, this paper outlines several strengths and weaknessesof current practice.Major strengths of current practice include a diversity of tactics and opportunities forinvolvement throughout the process. A prevalence of tactics that are more informational innature, a lack of online participation methods, and inadequate attention on underserved groupsare some of the key weaknesses.These strengths and weaknesses suggest four key recommendations for moving forward.MPOs should pay more attention to underserved groups, seek to get feedback from residents (asopposed to educating them), move some participation online and move beyond simply meetingfederal requirements.