Webinar: Transportation Academy: Lessons from the Portland Traffic and Transportation Course

摘要

Community involvement and outreach is an important part of any planning effort, but as planners often find, many times the conversation is a difficult one to carry on. Residents may lack the technical knowledge to understand the intricacies of the system, or they may show skepticism toward the planning process in general. “Transportation Leadership Education,” a NITC education project, offers a guide for communities to stimulate the development of a more involved, educated citizenry.The Portland Traffic and Transportation course is taught each year to 30-40 Portland residents who want to learn more about how the local transportation system developed and how it functions. The course is operated by the Portland Bureau of Transportation in conjunction with Portland State University. It helps participants understand local transportation agencies and their decision-making processes, and how to be involved. Over 1,200 Portland residents have taken the course over more than 20 years.This webinar will present findings from a case study about the course derived from interviews with the people involved in launching the course, meetings with course instructors, administrators and teaching assistants, a review of course materials, and a survey of past course participants. The course offers a public involvement tool and model for cities to educate and engage residents as partners in improving the effectiveness of transportation agencies in meeting community needs. Providing residents with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively participate in transportation decision-making processes can help increase public participation while improving civic infrastructure.Using the case study, a model course curriculum was developed to assist other cities in launching a similar course.