AWARD-WINNING PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT CAMPAIGN FOR THE SAND CREEK BYWAY PROJECT

摘要

The paper discusses the award-winning public involvement campaign that is being utilized for the Sand Creek Byway Project, a highway project, located in Sandpoint, Idaho. In partnership with Washington Group International and the Sandpoint area community, the Idaho Transportation Department put together a public involvement plan that ensured that everyone in the community would have a voice and opportunity to participate in the development of the Sand Creek Byway Project. The main objective of the public involvement campaign is to fit the project into the community, not the community into the project. The aim is that this objective will lead to the construction of a project in which the community overwhelmingly claims pride of ownership. The efforts of this extensive public involvement campaign have included a Public Involvement Office specifically opened for this project, establishment of committees and task forces to gather feedback from the numerous stakeholders, over a dozen Public Meetings held in both Sandpoint and Ponderay, the establishment of a project web site, and the distribution of a series of Project Newsletters. These efforts were nationally recognized with an Excel Award at the AASHTO 2003 National Transportation Public Affairs Workshop held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Excel Awards are AASHTO's highest awards recognizing outstanding public relations/public involvement programs and campaigns. The Sand Creek Byway project is now in the final design phase, and is scheduled for construction in February of 2005.