[INSIGHTS] MPO Report: Public Involvement Trends that Matter
With 10,500 employees, NCDOT is the largest agency in history to extend its MetroQuest subscription to all regional agencies. We’re seeing a growing trend with DOTs building on their own public involvement success to empower regional agencies.
Public involvement best practices are rapidly evolving. How can you ensure your Metropolitan Planning Organization is keeping pace with public involvement trends?
In parallel with the AMPO Annual Conference, MetroQuest surveyed planners and public participation professionals to uncover how today’s MPOs are approaching engagement.
The trends in this report were generated by 170+ MPO professionals who shared how they’re involving the public to inform better transportation planning.
What did the “Public Involvement Matters” survey uncover? Modern MPOs outreach efforts are far outpacing basic regulatory requirements, but not without challenges to overcome. Let’s look at some highlights.
The #1 public engagement challenge among MPOs is poor participation!
We asked MPOs about their public involvement challenges, using both a rating and open-ended question. They rated ‘poor participation’ as the most common challenge, followed closely by ‘uninformed input’. “People just don’t make time to give their input,” noted one respondent, while another warned, “uninformed citizens are trying to sway projects.”
The majority of today’s MPOs reported involving the public highly regularly, most often monthly (40.5%) or quarterly (30.2%):
What are MPOs doing to increase participation? Most are going beyond public meetings, using social media and visually interactive online tools.
In this report, you’ll learn common issues, evolving methods, and the top priorities for today’s MPOs. Explore the results for new and proven ideas that your MPO can leverage to increase the success of your public involvement programs.
Get the FREE MPO Report! You’ll learn:
- How MPOs face 3 common public involvement challenges
- The top 5 MPO priorities to improve citizen engagement
- How to increase participation by engaging residents on their terms
- Whether your MPO is using the top 3 engagement methods
- What types of planning projects can benefit from public involvement