Author: Bailey Macgillivray

[SURVEY OF THE MONTH] SCDOT Engages Thousands for Isle of Palms Bridge Survey
The Survey of the Month series is a monthly blog where we highlight the extraordinary work our customers are doing! We feature well-designed surveys and share relevant takeaways for anyone interested in making the most out of online engagement using MetroQuest’s survey platform. To see more in the series, visit the blogs here.

Head down south with us to Charleston as we showcase a survey from the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT)! SCDOT has been a long-time MetroQuest customer, and we were thrilled when their Isle of Palms Connector Bridge survey amassed nearly 4,000 responses in just a few days.

Keep reading to learn what led to this immediate community response, highlights of the survey design, and key takeaways.

What’s the story? Grassroots Engagement Reaches Commuters

In January 2023, SCDOT, in collaboration with civil engineering team, RK&K, efficiently designed a MetroQuest survey to gather feedback on how the Isle of Palms Connector Bridge could be improved.

The Isle of Palms Connector Bridge spans nearly four miles, linking the town of Mount Pleasant (a suburb in Charleston County) to the long narrow strip of an island known as the Isle of Palms. Boasting large sand beaches, vacation homes, resorts, and plenty of recreational opportunities, it is not hard to imagine that many venture out to the shore via this bridge.

Google Maps view of the Isle of Palms Connector Bridge.

The project team designed a MetroQuest survey that presented five bridge layout concepts, including the current design. With it being important to maintain access for all modes of travel, the concepts included various ways to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.

Knowing what design factors mattered most to the community and stakeholders, the team took a very focused approach to the survey design. They asked questions they knew would be important to the community and those who frequent this bridge. This method resulted in receiving high-quality feedback from thousands and is precisely the survey approach we like to see!

You will rarely receive quality feedback if you ask everything imaginable. If your survey is infrastructure-related like this one, don’t ask about every single design detail; instead gather feedback on the aspects you know will be most relevant and of interest to your audience.

Engaging Over 1k in One Day

What set this survey apart was the immediate response it received upon launch. Following the initial promotion, the survey collected feedback from nearly 2,000 individuals in just two days. As shown in the graphic below, over 1,000 people took the survey on Wednesday, January 18. This is particularly impressive given that this occurred right after the busy holiday season. Steady engagement continued until the survey closed in mid-February 2023.

Graph showing the immediate spike in participants during the start of the survey.

The project team shared the news about the survey via social media as well as through connections with local organizations. This grassroots effort helped spread the word rapidly throughout the area, mostly through digital channels. Additionally, SCDOT staff notified stakeholders about the survey before the launch, building awareness ahead of the engagement period. Clearly, this approach resulted in a very immediate response.

When surveying thousands of participants, it is critical to ensure that the concepts and questions are easily comprehensible. The over 61,000 data points collected for this survey demonstrates why it is essential to design a survey that gathers the input needed for your project. You don’t want to spend time filtering through irrelevant data.

Anatomy of a Bridge Survey: Cross-sections Illustrate Concepts

The Isle of Palms Connector survey followed a methodical approach to gathering feedback. Initially, participants were asked to rank four overarching goals of the project. Then, they were asked to indicate the condition of the current bridge, how they envision the future of the bridge and finally, rate five alternative concepts.

To view each Screen in detail, open this demo link in a separate tab.

As we move through the survey, notice how simple and concise Screens 2 to 5 are. Some participants may initially skim the survey to see what they are getting into. Keeping it quick helps retain those who may otherwise exit the survey if they see an extensive list of questions.

Screen 1: Welcome

The Welcome Screen provided background context on the project. In this case, the project team did not use a project website so having a bit more detail on the Welcome Screen was necessary. With that, the ask was still clear, simply: “Tell us how we can best improve the Isle of Palms Connector bridge”.

Screen 2: Priority Ranking

Almost every Survey of the Month we feature includes a Priority Ranking Screen, usually on Screen 2. What is unique here is that they minimized it to ranking four options. In general, the fewer options provided, the more accurate ranking values will be. Additionally, seeing where participants rank vehicle access compared to pedestrian and bicyclist access shows how they plan to use the bridge.

Screen 3: Standard Survey

Next, the project team made use of the Standard Survey Screen to run through a series of quick rating questions that would only take a matter of seconds to complete. At the end, they left room for an open-ended comment about “how you envision the future of the bridge”. Additionally, using three simple response options (great, average, poor) for the rating questions left less room for misinterpretation.

These quick quantitative questions elicited precise, informative data for the project team, supplemented by more context in the open-ended responses.

Screen 4: Image Rating

Screen 4 is the core of the survey, where participants are presented with five bridge concepts. By now, those taking the survey have had a chance to warm up and get into the headspace for providing key input. Yet at the same time, the briefness of the earlier Screens means they can dedicate more time to reviewing and contemplating the proposed concepts.

When showcasing design concepts, always use a visual that someone non-technical can understand. We particularly like the realistic cross-sections on this Screen. The consistency between images facilitates effortless comparison between tabs and highlights the critical differences between these key concepts.

Screen 5: Wrap Up

As usual, the final Screen concludes the survey with a few quick questions. By asking participants to select how they currently use the Isle of Palms Connector bridge, the project team could easily see which concepts were preferred by certain user groups. Gathering demographic information around location, gender and age also helped frame the data that came in and ensured the project team was engaging a relevant yet diverse group of people.

5 Tips from the Isle of Palms Connector Bridge Survey:

There are many best practices to remember from this survey. To wrap up, these are our five primary takeaways:
1. Utilize community networks to spread the word: As detailed earlier, the project team took a grassroots approach to notify community stakeholders and organizations. Informing a range of local organizations and encouraging them to share the survey ensured a wide array of individuals were aware. Outreach even before the survey launched also helped build awareness and anticipation for the survey once it was live.
2. Ease into things: If there is a particular portion of your survey that is most crucial, instead of jumping immediately into it, provide a few initial questions or exercises that help educate yet also warm up your participants to the subject matter before you present them with the portion of the survey that may require the most thought or time. It is vital to start simple and build on the content.
3. Prepare but preserve attention for the key ask: Similar to the last point, consider which parts of your survey you want participants to spend the most time on, and design other complementary portions to take minimal time. Screens 2 and 3 of this survey are a great example of this as they allowed participants to skim through the survey quickly until they hit the key exercise on Screen 4.
4. Spend time on your visuals: Make sure the visuals in your survey are not an afterthought, especially if they are being used to inform feedback. Keep all visuals simple and realistic, supplementing with text captions and labels.
5. Consider the data output: With quantitative questions, providing many different response options can be tempting. There is a balance between offering enough choices and gathering succinct data. This survey’s use of four priority ranking options and simple three-choice questions on the Standard Survey Screen ensured data in the back end would be straightforward to analyze.
Don’t forget to go through the demo survey and try out the questions to experience the simple, effortless design of this survey.

We were thrilled to finally showcase a survey from SCDOT. Their team has been using MetroQuest for a number of years with much success! With the recent addition of a regional agency license, we are looking forward to seeing more and more surveys out of South Carolina.

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, reach out for more information, or, if you are an existing subscriber, contact our  Manager of Client Services Team, Woo-Ree Cho.

Check out our latest webinar recording!

Phase-by-Phase: Unbundling MnDOT’s Winning Virtual Public Engagement Strategy
July 6, 2023
[SURVEY OF THE MONTH] Visuals Pave the Way for Feedback on Tennessee Corridor Study
The Survey of the Month series is a monthly blog where we highlight the extraordinary work our customers are doing! We feature well-designed surveys and share relevant takeaways for anyone interested in making the most out of online engagement using MetroQuest’s survey platform. To see more in the series, visit the blogs here.

After a couple of months focusing on active transportation, this month, we transition to showcasing a corridor study, another topic where MetroQuest is commonly used to gather input.

MetroQuest subscriber, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), along with Jefferson City, and the Lakeway Area Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (LAMTPO), worked with CDM Smith, a consulting firm that frequently designs MetroQuest surveys. This collaborative effort led to a survey with over 20 visuals to communicate key design ideas and improvements rather than substantial text.

The project team made several successful design choices, resulting in an effective online survey!

What’s the story? Exploring Corridor Improvements

Jefferson City is located in northeast Tennessee, just over 25 miles northeast of Knoxville. The city was initially known as Mossy Creek when founded in 1788. Later in 1901, it amalgamated with several other neighboring communities and became what we know today as Jefferson City.

For this study, the project team was looking to determine improvements for safety, traffic flow, and the overall operation of US Highway 11E along the SR 34 corridor (shown below).

The project area extended from W Andrew Johnson Hwy to E Andrew Johnson Hwy and SR 92 from US 11E to George Avenue.

Community Response

Corridor study surveys often see quite a bit of traction compared to more theoretical future studies. Due to their typically imminent nature and definitive location, community members often are more engaged with specific ideas on what they wish to see. Imagining improvements to one specific zone can be much easier than a statewide area.

The Jefferson City – US 11E Corridor survey ran from January 15 to February 15, 2023, gathering input from over 400 individuals and collecting over 9,000 data points. Similar to last month’s survey in Lebanon, New Hampshire, this survey saw a large response considering that the 2020 Census cited just over 8,000 residents in Jefferson City. Of course, it’s worth noting that this throughfare impacts many who live outside of Jefferson City, so residents in adjacent areas likely weighed in as well.

Notably, the word about the survey spread fast following coverage in local newspapers and online media such as the Jefferson County Post. Survey coverage also included a QR code linking to the survey, making it efficient to access the survey.

Anatomy of a Corridor Survey: Using Images and Maps to Communicate Concepts

Since every Screen of this survey followed best practices we love to see, we will go through each one in detail!

Try out the exercises and questions yourself at this demo link.

Screen 1: Welcome

The Welcome Screen features a striking image of the corridor during golden hour. The landscape orientation allows it to extend across the browser window.

The introduction gets to the point succinctly, clearly stating the goal of the survey. The content tone is directed at the participant with phrases such as:

“We would like your input for consideration of where improvements are most needed.”

“We want to know what and where your major concerns are!”

This communication style ensures you are speaking directly to those taking your survey, and it is more likely that the message will resonate.

Another minor detail that has a significant impact is the cohesiveness between the logo, survey colors and image. Everything blends together and instantly looks more appealing.

Screen 2: Priority Ranking

The survey starts with our most popular second Screen: Priority Ranking. Large images and descriptions complement eight types of corridor improvement options. The team used the image enlargement option for a more detailed look. Notice the specificity of the descriptions; the less interpretation required, the more accurate data will be.

Notice how the lighting image shows a before and after view to represent the types of safety improvements that are being proposed.

Using the image zoom function allowed the team to share images with more details like this one.

Screen 3: Image Rating

Image Rating Screens have a wide range of use cases; the format allows you to ask for feedback on concepts best described visually. In this survey, the proposed improvements are specific, such as closing off driveways to the main road, adding protected bike lanes, and adjusting traffic signal timing. During our daily lives, we observe many types of road infrastructure, but unless you are an engineer or planner, you may not be familiar with the technical jargon. This is where images come in as a handy reminder.

As shown in the GIF below, the images on this Screen help demonstrate each concept, leading to better-informed feedback!

Screen 4: Map Marker

Next, we navigate to a very clearly laid out Map Marker Screen. The corridor under discussion is indicated through the KML layer that blends seamlessly into the map. The Map Marker dropdown questions help generate ideas with phrases to fill in. In survey design, always remember that your participants have limited time. Including prompts and dropdowns helps speed up the survey for participants and quantifies the data for you.

Screen 5: Wrap Up

The survey concludes with a very well-designed Wrap Up Screen. Here, the team asked a set of questions that were particularly informative for the project but didn’t require much more time from participants. The use of fill-in-the-blank dropdown options, such as “Personally, these projects_____” and “These projects, when implemented_____” provided precise data that indicated overall sentiment.

While most questions were quantitative, participants had an opportunity at the end to share any additional feedback.

The simplicity of this Wrap Up Screen led to a large percentage of participants completing these final questions. Based on the data collected through this Screen, it was evident that most respondents thought the projects would positively affect them and be valuable for the community. These types of insights can significantly help inform future council decisions.

For your next survey, consider whether it would be suitable to ask some general sentiment type questions, in addition to more detailed feedback on each aspect of the project.

5 Tips from the Jefferson City – US 11E Corridor Survey:

Make sure to check out the demo survey for yourself to see the visual and precise approach of this survey.

In summary, here are our five key takeaways from this survey:
1. Let the visuals do the talking: Often, surveys rely on text content to get the message across. Yet, with technical concepts such as proposed road layouts or how bike lanes will be designed, images can be much more effective. Just be careful to select images that are representative and easy to interpret. Here, the Image Rating Screen provided a format for their team to ask a series of rating questions complemented by relevant images.
2. When it does come to your text, make it engaging yet direct: Since many survey participants will be skimming text quickly, keep it simple and be specific about the task at hand. Background information can be helpful, but the Welcome Screen should really focus on the purpose of the survey, what type of feedback is needed, and specific details such as how long the survey may take and the deadline for input.
3. Provide helpful prompts: While you never want to put words in your participant’s mouth, at the same time, only asking vague, open-ended questions can sometimes make it difficult for participants to brainstorm. By utilizing questions with dropdown options or multiple checkboxes, you instantly make the survey faster for each participant and, in turn, receive easily quantifiable data. Of course, it is always good to supplement with opportunities for additional comments.
4. Keep the Map Marker simple: The Map Marker Screen can be a new style of surveying for participants who may be used to form-style surveys. It performs best with simple, quick dropdown questions and a clearly delineated feedback area.
5. Be creative with your final questions: While the Wrap Up Screen is predominantly designed for demographic questions, it can also be utilized to ask for some final thoughts more generally. By this time, participants have had a chance to get familiar with the project and form opinions. Asking a few summary-type questions toward the end can assist you in determining the overall community opinion.
We hope you will keep these tips in mind for your next survey.

Kudos to everyone involved in designing this superb survey! It followed MetroQuest best practices with a simple format, inviting questions and applicable images. We’ve covered some fantastic Tennessee-based surveys on this blog and look forward to more in the future.

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, reach out for more information, or, if you are an existing subscriber, contact our Manager of Client Services Team, Woo-Ree Cho.

Check out our latest webinar recording!

Phase-by-Phase: Unbundling MnDOT’s Winning Virtual Public Engagement Strategy
June 1, 2023
FAQ on Phase-by-Phase: Unbundling MnDOT’s Winning Virtual Public Engagement Strategy

For our April webinar, we were thrilled to be joined by the experts behind the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s successful public engagement project. Stephanie Castellanos, Public Engagement Officer from MnDOT and Hannah Johnson, Professional Transportation Planner, Alliant Engineering, share insights from their Hwy 25 – Buffalo to Monticello Corridor Study and guide us step-by-step through their public involvement process.

The on-demand session recording of Phase-by-Phase: Unbundling MnDOT’s Winning Virtual Public Engagement Strategy is available now (for free!) if you want to learn the specific tools and techniques they utilized to develop their public engagement plan, which raised barriers to participation and reached a diverse audience. Dave Biggs, our Chief Engagement Officer here at MetroQuest, facilitates the event and also shares his top 10 takeaways you can use for your next public engagement project!

Scroll below for an inside scoop on the live Q&A session where they answer the top questions from the audience….

https://vimeo.com/823188764?share=copy

[scroll-box]Dave: Would you say there is still value in face-to-face interactions or can you get what you need from virtual alone?

Stephanie: Yeah, I’ll take a stab at that, Dave. I’ve been thinking about this myself as we move forward into this hybrid world. And like I said, it was really by luck that we had MetroQuest ready to roll when we didn’t know the pandemic was coming. I mean, I can’t imagine how we would have done this Corridor Study without all the online tools that we had and everything.

But going forward, I do see the value in hybrid. I’m working on a Corridor Study right now. I think especially with agency and community partners, it’s important to have that face-to-face so you can talk and roll out the maps and put, you know, Post-it notes on it and everything, but I will say the quantity of feedback that you can get virtually is amazing when you look at broad demographics and how you really are to reach people and take those 5 minutes of their time, that’s invaluable.

We never have hundreds and hundreds of people so far that really come to in-person events. But then we had thousands of people that responded to virtual means of interacting with us. I see the value in both, but I really don’t foresee going forward without having some virtual aspect.

Hannah: I just really want to highlight how I think they are both really important. As Stephanie mentioned, you get a lot of people responding online and and it’s a really good way to reach people who either can’t or don’t want to come to in-person events. But in-person is still really important. And I just had an open house on a different project last week that like 150 people came to.

And some people stayed for an hour and talked with the project team and just really being able to have those live two-way conversations and pointing at maps, that’s really important and I don’t think that’s going to go away.
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https://vimeo.com/823188784?share=copy

[scroll-box]Dave: What kind of things did you do to reach underserved or difficult to reach populations?

Stephanie: Yeah, that’s one thing I wanted to say. I’m looking forward to getting your transportation equity information, Dave. That’s something we always keep in mind. And I think for us, when we sent out the Facebook ads that were to all of the area within the corridor and then also saw that wide demographic as far as age and other things that we looked at, where people lived, etc., we felt that we did touch base with pretty much all of the groups within the corridor.

And, you know, that’s something that we talked about at the beginning, too. We always want to be looking at when there’s opportunities to specialize. We have had other studies where we’ve had more underserved populations that we’ve done special outreach for. And, you know, had special community meetings and postcards in other languages and web pages, things like that. So we definitely are always looking at that.

Hannah: As a part of our business and other stakeholder engagement, we did have some one-on-one conversations with key areas like a hospital on the southern end of the corridor. So talking about how people who visit the hospital use the roadway. And then there is also a mobile home park on the northern end of the corridor. We really wanted to make sure that we were sending mailings to those locations and making sure we heard from them, too.[/scroll-box]

Check out The Planner’s Guide to Equity in Public Engagement eBook! Our largest peer-to-peer collaborative effort yet, learn the best methods to implementing public engagement that is diverse, inclusive and equitable.

https://vimeo.com/823188802?share=copy

[scroll-box]Dave: Were there any issues with asking some of that kind of more sensitive demographic information from people, did it get any pushback? Were people hesitant to answer those questions? What was your kind of reaction to that left?

Stephanie: I’ve done multiple surveys now with MetroQuest. Usually people answer, I would say over the majority of people do answer those questions, even though we clearly state that it’s, you know, confidential and voluntary. So, yeah, we’ve always gotten pretty good feedback on those questions. So that’s really important for Title six and other reporting. And then overall, looking at the success of our outreach.

Dave: I mean, there’s so much that you can tell from zip code. Zip code is because specifically when you’re when you’re talking about infrastructure or you’re talking about access, you’re talking about people’s transportation habits.

And so where people live, where people work, it’s so important to that regardless of their their age or their, you know, their race, these things are are less relevant than where do you live and where do you need to get to? And do we have the infrastructure to support what you need to do?

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https://vimeo.com/823188819?share=copy

[scroll-box]

Dave: Do you think that the broader age distribution was a reflection of the fact that the survey was online?

This is such an interesting question because five years ago nobody would ask this question because everybody just assumed that the people that were online are all young. And now we’re saying it was the broad age distribution was because it was online. It’s just such a sign of the times.

Maybe you could make comments between the kind of demographics that you see in your face-to-face compared to the online? And to what extent do you think that the age distribution was how you were engaging?

Stephanie: Just typically, when we have face-to-face, it’s folks that work and then a lot of people who are elderly just because they have the time, it’s always exciting when we see a younger group at a face-to fac- meeting. But online when we first started doing some stuff, we had concerns about reaching the older or middle-aged audience, and that was really highly represented.

So we’re glad to see that people are sharing things within the community, talking about it and getting other people. I know that some of our Facebook page or the ad that we had was shared with people within the community. So they were telling word Facebook of so other people could get involved.

Hannah: I think, you know, we’ve been learning a lot of lessons in the last couple of years. And I think one question that was missing that I have been including or we’ve been including more often is income related questions as well. So, yeah, that isn’t something we saw. But based on the locations, we do believe that we reached a representative group.

[/scroll-box]

Our Phase-by-Phase: Unbundling MnDOT’s Winning Public Engagement Strategy webinar is available on-demand!

WATCH NOW

May 4, 2023
[SURVEY OF THE MONTH] Walk, Bike, Ride, Leb – Planning Safe and Connected Routes in Lebanon, NH
The Survey of the Month series is a monthly blog where we highlight the extraordinary work our customers are doing! We feature well-designed surveys and share relevant takeaways for anyone interested in making the most out of online engagement using MetroQuest’s survey platform. To see more in the series, visit the blogs here.

Continuing with our active transportation theme from last month, we are featuring a succinctly designed survey developed by the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission (UVLSRPC). UVLSRPC is one of nine regional planning commissions with access to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) MetroQuest subscription.

The survey is concise and simple, resulting in it effectively engaging hundreds. Further, the project team presented the project background and survey findings very interactively. So, let’s get into it!

What’s the story? Walk, Bike, Ride, Leb – Planning for Active Transportation

Walk, Bike, Ride, Leb is a planning initiative in Lebanon, New Hampshire, with the goal of creating a safe, comfortable, and connected walking and bicycling network.

The UVLSRPC, in conjunction with the City of Lebanon, developed the Walk, Bike, Ride, Leb Survey, which launched in early 2022. The MetroQuest survey was open for input for approximately one month and engaged over 400* people to determine where pedestrian and cycling infrastructure could benefit from improvement.

*As of the 2020 Census, Lebanon, NH had a population of 14,282. Reaching over 400 people on the survey ensured the project team heard from a representative portion of the community, especially since 90 percent of survey participants stated they live or work in Lebanon.

Evidently, the community was very interested in this effort, as over half of those who initially visited (viewed) the survey provided input, as shown in the graphic below.

Survey participation rates can vary, but if you design a short, simple survey and promote it to the right audience, you can see great participation levels. In most cases, MetroQuest surveys see much higher participation rates compared to other more standard online survey tools due to our highly engaging, gamified activities.

Participation rate data showing that over 51% of people who visited the survey completed at least a portion. This is an excellent rate, showing the community was very engaged with the project.

For this blog, we will dive into what led to this engaged community response! We will share how the project team successfully communicated about the initiative, and how they reported feedback following the survey.

Project Branding

As we often see with successful planning and engagement initiatives, a strong brand that can be carried through multiple planning phases is instrumental in gaining public traction.

Here, the team developed a fun and inviting project logo (bottom left of graphic) and designed the other project visuals to follow the same cohesive color tone and style.

Project Resources and Webpage

To outline the Walk, Bike, Ride, Leb planning process, the project team utilized an ArcGIS StoryMap, much like the one we saw from PlanRVA here.

This StoryMap allowed the project team to lay out the entire planning and engagement process in a digitally interactive way, as is evident with the project timeline “infogram” displayed below.

Pedestrian and Bicycling Planning in Lebanon
Infogram

The page takes visitors through the project story, including photos and maps of the area and existing infrastructure. Whether stakeholders wanted to gather some brief background on the project or read through it in detail, they could find an array of information from this interactive page.

Excerpt from project StoryMap showing photos and a map of existing bike infrastructure.

We highly recommend checking out the interactive StoryMap to see the full effect – it methodically goes through every project stage to tell the complete story from the beginning to present time, as the project team is currently working on a final active transportation plan, informed by the survey.

Anatomy of an Active Transportation Survey: Brief and Specific

The Walk, Bike, Ride, Leb Survey followed a very structured and straightforward approach to gathering input. The survey was split into an upfront survey section that gathered overall impressions on walking and biking in Lebanon. Then, the latter half gathered input on proposed projects and allowed participants to provide map-based input on additional improvements they would like to see.

Try out the demo version survey for yourself here!

Rather than go into detail on every survey Screen, we want to highlight several key components that contributed to the survey’s success:

Simple and Direct Welcome Screen

As we always say, the Welcome Screen sets the tone of the survey. In this case, participants could see that the survey was intended to be brief since they noted: “This survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete”. The text content is to-the-point yet clearly explains the purpose of the survey. They also confirm that all responses are anonymous.

Moreover, it’s advantageous to include a project member’s email or project email, as was done here, so participants know who to contact if they need assistance or have questions.

Overall, this simple Welcome Screen exemplifies what we like to see, concise yet with a specific ask!

Quick, Quantitative Questions

Utilizing MetroQuest’s Standard Survey and Priority Ranking Screens, the majority of the survey gathered feedback through quantitative ranking, checkbox, and multiple-choice questions. The benefit here is twofold; questions are quick to respond to and provide quantifiable data.

The team was able to dive deep into each respondent’s overall impressions of pedestrian and bicycling access and safety in Lebanon, as well as what they think are the top barriers for those who may otherwise walk or bike to destinations. They also incorporated questions about accessibility and key priority issues to address.

Following these simple survey questions, the Priority Ranking Screen asked participants to rank their top five of ten priority projects that they wish to see completed.

An Opportunity for Additional Map Input

Given the Priority Ranking Screen focused on ranking proposed projects, it made sense for the team to offer participants an opportunity to provide recommendations on other infrastructure they want to see improved. The Map Marker Screen was an excellent format for this input type and eliminated any uncertainty about the recommended location.

We like how the team utilized this as the fourth Screen; it’s usually best to work up to this more detailed map exercise rather than start with it upfront.

Short Wrap-Up Screen

It can be tempting to ask many questions on the final Screen, but when done right, the final Screen is best left short and sweet. This time, the team asked four simple questions to gather just enough about who they heard from:

Sharing the Results Using a GIS Dashboard

As is evident with the survey design, it gathered a great deal of data to inform the future plan. Nearly 10,000 individual data points were gathered, including over 770 individual map markers dropped on Screen four.

To share the findings with the community, the project team developed an online survey results dashboard utilizing GIS software. This interactive dashboard presented graphs and map-based data, instantly allowing the community to see the high-level survey results and dive into detailed map data.

Additionally, the project team developed a one-page executive summary of the survey results, which concluded:

“Our survey illuminated safety and accessibility concerns around pedestrian and bicycle mobility in Lebanon. The survey provided many insights into the types of investments the City should be making to improve community needs.”

We are always happy to see projects where the team takes the time to share feedback with the community; presenting it in an interactive, engaging way takes it one step further.

Stay tuned! MetroQuest will soon be releasing a survey insights dashboard which will allow you to create a customized page of your survey data graphs and findings. We look forward to sharing more on this soon with MetroQuest users as it comes to fruition!

5 Tips from the Walk, Bike, Ride, Leb Survey: Quick Surveying and Effective Reporting

As detailed above, this survey was particularly successful thanks to its short and straightforward approach. The questions were relevant and helpful for the project but also kept at a minimum to not require too much time.

To wrap up, here are a few quick tips to keep in mind for your next project:
1. Find an interactive and visual way to communicate the project story: We always recommend a project website to house your survey; the more visual, the better! Utilizing infographics, interactive elements, and eye-catching visuals will result in more people taking the time to study the information.
2. Utilize consistent project and survey branding: Between your project website, survey, promotional materials, and any public meeting materials, having a consistent project brand adds to the legitimacy of your effort. Also, it allows stakeholders to familiarize themselves with your project.
3. Communicate about the length of your survey: Have a colleague or friend take your survey and get a sense of how long it takes, ideally under 10 minutes. Communicating this upfront can lessen any visitor concerns about the survey taking a long time.
4. Keep your “asks” brief: Following the above point, keep your survey language concise and questions limited. There are endless things you COULD ask, ask what you NEED to know.
5. Utilize interactive graphics and maps to share your data: Decide how you will share your survey data, and where possible, utilize engaging graphics to communicate the results visually. We recommend taking a deeper look at how the project information and results were shared as this team took a very interactive approach. We also can’t wait to unveil our future survey insights dashboard, which will provide an interactive overview of your survey at a glance!
Thank you to the UVLSRPC team and to all that took the opportunity to participate in this survey. Surveys like this provide valuable information which is helpful to regional and state transportation planning initiatives.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this initiative and hope you did too!

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, reach out  for more information, or, if you are an existing subscriber, contact  our Manager of Client Services Team, Woo-Ree Cho.

Join us at our upcoming webinar!

Phase-by-Phase: Unbundling MnDOT’s Winning Virtual Public Engagement Strategy
April 27, 2023
[SURVEY OF THE MONTH] TxDOT Gathers Over 35k Data Points to Inform Bike Plans
The Survey of the Month series is a monthly blog where we highlight the extraordinary work our customers are doing! We feature well-designed surveys and share takeaways that are relevant for anyone interested in making the most out of online engagement using MetroQuest’s survey platform. To see more in the series, visit the blogs here.

The transition into the spring season is welcomed by many, including enthusiasts of active modes of transportation, such as biking. Whether you are a dedicated year-round cyclist commuter, an avid road cyclist, or a “hop on a bike occasionally when the weather is nice” hobby biker, a growing number of people are utilizing bike infrastructure to get from A to B for exercise or leisure.

This month, we feature not one but four bike plan surveys recently conducted by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) across various districts, including San Antonio, Bryan, Pharr and Laredo.

Ride along as we delve into this series and share some key takeaways from their surveys and overall approach.

What’s the story? Improving Bike Infrastructure on Major Texas Routes

Long-time MetroQuest customer TxDOT launched four surveys in English and Spanish to seek input on bike infrastructure across several key regions in order to inform district bicycle plans. The surveys ran for ten weeks from December 2022 to February 2023. They focused on gathering feedback on cycling routes near roads owned and operated by TxDOT, often near major highways and arterial routes.

Questions and exercises gathered data on what priorities matter most to cyclists, key details about each person’s travel habits, and geospatial data on cycling concerns. This straightforward approach yielded an incredible amount of data: 35,000+ individual data points from 1,400+ survey participants!

Surveying by District

Map of Texas Districts with survey locations circled. Full map here: https://www.txdot.gov/data-maps/reference-maps/district-county-maps.html

We often see DOT’s survey statewide on bike or widescale active transportation plans. Even if the findings will eventually be compiled together to inform one statewide plan, in certain situations, it can be much more effective to take the time to create individualized surveys for separate regions. Several benefits stem from this approach:
- The ability to target each area specifically, including promoting each survey on social media to each region.
- The customizability of certain content and survey screens (e.g., zooming in on the Map Marker Screen on the specific area).
- Since the datasets will be divided with separate surveys, you can easily combine them at the end but have the option to easily see and compare sentiment in each area.
Deciding how you will engage various regions or areas in statewide plans is a key aspect to consider when planning for engagement.

Making Engagement Accessible

To ensure language would not be a barrier, all English surveys were translated into Spanish. As is standard with MetroQuest surveys, the translated versions are linked on the Welcome Screen so that anyone coming across the English version knows there is a Spanish one available as well.

Further, the TxDOT team provided contact information for anyone requiring interpretation, translation or assistance completing the survey. Overall, TxDOT’s approach to engagement provides valuable insights into conducting effective, region-specific surveys to gather feedback on bike infrastructure.

Translation Feature Update!

We just released a new, revamped translation process that allows you to translate your survey seamlessly in just a few clicks. Additionally, all data will now be combined into one dataset, so there is no longer a need to combine or analyze separate language datasets.

Anatomy of Cycling Surveys: Simple and Map-Based

If you read our March blog, you might be experiencing some déjà vu! These surveys follow the same screen order as PlanRVA’s BRT survey but solicit entirely different data on cycling, not transit.

All four surveys followed a similar format; feel free to open one or more of the following demo versions to try them for yourself:
Hold onto your handlebars as we cycle through some fantastic survey content!

Screen 1: Welcome

All four surveys welcome participants with a quick introduction to the survey purpose:

“This plan will focus on improving opportunities to ride a bicycle along, across, and near roads owned and operated by the state of Texas. Please share your input on how we can make these highways a better place to ride!”

The Welcome Screen is informative but direct in the task at hand.

Screen 2: Priority Ranking

As with many well-designed MetroQuest surveys, they start with a Priority Ranking Screen, gathering preferences on the participant’s top three of seven key options for improving bikeways:

Screen 3: Standard Survey

Given that cycling preferences, behavior, and needs can vary, the team recognized the importance of collecting more general information on travel activity.

Utilizing the Standard Survey Screen, they asked various questions, such as biking conditions, why you ride a bicycle, how often, and other travel methods.

Finally, they end this Screen by asking what roadway or biking network changes would encourage you to ride more often. This simple question gets right to the point!

Screen 4: Map Marker

A MetroQuest transportation survey, especially about biking, wouldn’t be complete without a Map Marker Screen. This is where dividing the surveys by district really paid off. Rather than having participants start on a zoomed-out map of Texas, each survey featured an interactive map specific to the area. Blue road lines indicated TxDOT routes where they sought feedback, while a black outline delineated the study area.

In particular, we like how precise the dropdown Map Marker questions are here. Typically, the more specific you are with your ask, the more accurate data you will receive.

Check out the below GIF to see some of the different questions TxDOT asked through this map screen:

Screen 5: Wrap Up

To close, the surveys ask for basic demographic information on the final Wrap–Up Screen. Asking for some personal information, including ZIP code, race and ethnicity, age, gender, and annual household income, ensured the project team reached a diverse audience and allowed them to identify any significant demographic trends linked with cycling. If you don’t ask for this type of information, you will never know who you reached in the first place.

5 Tips from the TxDOT District Bicycle Plan Surveys:

Overall, there’s quite a bit to take away from these bike plan surveys. Here are our top five suggestions:
1. Consider a district-by-district approach for statewide planning: If you are involved in an initiative that requires engagement with various regions, it can pay off to take the extra time to create individualized engagement strategies and surveys for each zone. Try to keep your surveys and engagement equivalent, as TxDOT did here, so you can easily compile information together later.
2. Get to know your participant above and beyond basic demographics: The amount of personal or behavioral information to ask is a delicate balance—you don’t want to seem intrusive but want to gather enough information to get a good sense of who you heard from. It can be instrumental in asking participants about their current transportation habits to help frame the context of their responses. Someone who has never cycled before versus a seasoned bike commuter will likely have very different preferences regarding bike infrastructure.
3. Keep it simple: We might sound like a broken record saying this, but it’s likely the most crucial factor behind a successful survey. We are all busy, and most people have limited time for completing a survey. Many take surveys quickly on transit or while waiting in line somewhere. The more straightforward and direct your survey is, the more likely people will make it to the end.
4. Ask for specifics on the Map Marker Screen: Your Map Marker Screen can solicit much more input than just pins dropped on a map. Utilize the option of up to five questions on each marker (one to three questions is best). As evident with this survey, you can get very creative with what you ask about each marker.
5. Indicate why you need personal information: Personal data is sensitive; most prefer not to share it widely. Explain why you are gathering the information to encourage more respondents to share their ZIP code, age, income level or other details. For instance, TxDOT included a short note on the Wrap-Up Screen pop-up stating, “Please answer a few optional questions to ensure we are reaching a broad range of people and communities…”.
Bravo to the TxDOT team for their fantastic work with these surveys! We look forward to seeing more quality surveys from their team. Check out some earlier Survey of the Month blogs featuring TxDOT surveys linked in the right sidebar.

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, reach out for more information or, if you are an existing subscriber, contact our Manager of Client Services Team, Woo-Ree Cho. 

New on our blog: 10 Tips on How to Promote Public Participations in 2023
March 30, 2023
Wrapping Up and Reporting Your Virtual Public Involvement Results the Right Way
Our Virtual Public Involvement Checklist for Success blog series has discussed ways to begin planning your online engagement project and shared a 3-step guide to best engage your target audience. Finally, it’s time to discuss the third and final phase: reporting.

Everything we do throughout the planning and engagement process leads to one thing… results. It’s time to look at the data, which will hopefully inform your project moving forward and show your community how you will handle their feedback.
← ENGAGEMENT PHASE PLANNING PHASE →

Reporting Phase

1. Understanding our Representation

Did we meet our participation and diversity goals?

Remember, don’t steer away from your goals! Now is the time to look back and reflect. Which demographics were you hoping to reach in your public engagement? Keep track of how your demographic group is being represented. If some groups were under or overrepresented, weigh the findings to accurately represent your community.

When you have broader and diverse participation, hearing back from significant difficult-to-reach segments of people, you can make valid conclusions.

2. Understanding the Public Input

What are the priorities/concerns? How can we best understand the patterns and trends in the input?

Results often reveal communities’ true priorities and the issues that matter most to them. It’s important to listen to what people are saying and learn from the results. Take them into account when examining community demographics moving forward. You’ll find it helpful to analyze the patterns and trends in your data as much as possible, so you have something to look back on.

Surprising results are a very probable outcome. However, as you begin interpreting results, discuss with your team how the community’s needs, priorities and preferences affect the plan. In some cases, teams don’t begin writing out project objectives until after the campaign is over. This eliminates the chance of any preconceived biases affecting the plan in its development stages.

To satisfy your participants, there may need to be some mitigation strategies implemented that can help address the needs that cannot be directly incorporated into the plan. Determine the primary messages you want to promote from the findings; what will be done as a result and what can be expected in the future.

3. Communicating the Results

What channels do we have for reporting?

Return to all the social channels and project website or homepage, where people know where to find you. This is a great place to start reporting the results to decision-makers, key stakeholders, participants and the public. Making the results as digestible as possible is important so they are easy to understand, for example, through:
- PowerPoint
- Infographics
- Video
- Social and traditional media
Important to note: Accurate representation is vital. You should communicate both the majority and minority viewpoints received. Let the public know how their input influenced the outcome.

4. Wrapping Up and Following Up

Is there any specific follow-up needed for individual participants?

Be willing to answer requests and questions. Offer a session where you review the results and give updates on the plan, allowing an opportunity to receive feedback and learn if something important was left out of the conversation. Consider ways to document your approach moving forward. What worked and what didn’t? What steps make the most significant difference?

Two tips to consider:
- Regularly update participants and communicate next steps
- Consider what future efforts can be made to achieve success and avoid failures
← ENGAGEMENT PHASE PLANNING PHASE →

Read our Virtual Public Involvement Checklist for Success, vetted by experts from 30+ DOTs and MPOs!

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March 30, 2023