From Tech Transfer Newsletter, Spring 2008 » printer-friendly

Collaboration In Transportation: It's About The Future

By David Booher and David Robinson

In a suburban city in California, transportation planners ran into major obstacles when they tried to apply established criteria to decisions regarding a new arterial. The proposal was blocked by neighborhood groups and others opposed to the plan. To work through the problems, the city established a group comprised of representatives of the interested stakeholders and staff. The group came up with a new vision for transportation that was enacted by the city council.

This example points to a growing trend in transportation planning: The use of collaborative methods to formulate new approaches to transportation policy that consider the interaction of transportation decisions with other community concerns. According to the Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, collaborative efforts in governance are "practices that engage stakeholders, citizens, and public agencies in joint deliberations on policy decisions."

If you work at an agency in California, you are probably familiar with planning challenges like rapid rates of growth, high levels of pollutant emissions, and limited municipal budgets. In this rapidly-changing environment, collaborative transportation planning decisions are crucial.

Collaboration In California: A Case Study

The role successful collaboration can play is illustrated by the Blueprint Transportation and Land Use Study ("Blueprint"), a joint effort between the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) and Valley Vision.

These two organizations bring diverse groups together to deliberate about transportation and other policy decisions. SACOG is an association of local governments from El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties, as well as 22 cities within those counties. Valley Vision is an association of Sacramento-area individuals and organizations who want to improve the area's social, environmental, and economic health.

The SACOG/Valley Vision Blueprint process began in 2000 with projections of how the Sacramento area would look by 2050 if the region followed existing local growth and land-use plans. During development of the Blueprint, SACOG held multiple workshops with residents to consider alternative scenarios to "business as usual," gathering input on such issues as housing options, transportation choices, and design. SACOG adopted the Preferred Blueprint Scenario in December 2004. According to SACOG, the Blueprint "promotes compact, mixed-use development and more transit choices as an alternative to low density development." The Blueprint also promises measurable VMT reductions per household, compared to past trends in land use. Many local governments are now considering the Blueprint in their planning. The Blueprint is only one example of transportation professionals turning to collaboration methods to help them achieve their goals. Case studies illustrating transportation collaboration.

Collaboration is not appropriate for all decisions, but for those characterized by complexity, uncertainty, differing perspectives, and multiple agency decision making, it is a proven method for joint problem solving.

David Booher is a consultant with more than 30 years of experience working with businesses and government entities on planning and public policy issues.

David Robinson is a Senior Associate at Fehr & Peers specializing in transportation planning, environmental impact reports and traffic operations.

Learn More About Collaboration

Ever face a transportation project involving different perspectives, values, and interests? To learn more about bringing multiple stakeholders into the transportation planning process to achieve triumphant outcomes, attend Tech Transfer's new 2-day hands-on workshop:

Successful Collaboration: Methods & Best Practices
San Francisco Bay Area
(Richmond, CA)
June 5-6, 2008
Register here

Taught by David Booher and David Robinson, this interactive course is packed with case studies, simulations, class discussions, and instructive sessions that will help you learn how to determine whether a collaborative strategy is appropriate and how to successfully design and facilitate a collaborative problem solving process. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to reach consensus on your next project.

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