CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND ROLE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS

This paper describes and comments on the procedures followed by state transportation agencies before and after public hearings on highway projects. Information was obtained through interviews with public hearing officers, or their equivalents, in state highway and transportation departments. Items addressed include hearing administration, prehearing strategies, hearing formats, and posthearing strategies. Hearing officers interviewed were also asked to submit written copies of their agencies' public hearing strategy and any other material pertinent to public hearings or citizen prticipation. From the information gathered, we have assumed that the procedures described are currently in use unless otherwise stated. State transportation agencies have either one of two administrative operations for conducting public hearings: 29 agencies have centralized administrations in which mandates emanate from the central office, and 21 agencies delegate the responsibility for hearings to district or regional offices. The trend is toward the use of independent moderators at public hearings, especially if the hearings are likely to produce controversy. The most efficient and widely used prehearing technique is the informal prehearing meeting, which all 50 agencies use in some form. Thirty-nine agencies hold hearings at night but only 3 agencies conduct morning hearings. Although the formats for public hearings held by state transportation agencies are similar, 12 agencies recess at the midpoint for 30 min to 1 h to answer questions, informally. /Author/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/618/618-011.pdf
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=CITIZEN+PARTICIPATION+AND+ROLE+OF+PUBLIC+HEARINGS&author=M.+Perfater&publication_year=1976
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03611981
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Citizen Participation in Transportation Planning. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Perfater, Michael A
• Conference:
  • 55th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1976-1-19 to 1976-1-23
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 53-58
• Monograph Title: Transportation issues: the disadvantaged, the elderly, and citizen involvement
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 618
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Interviewing; Public hearings; Public participation; State departments of transportation; Transportation operations; Urban transportation
• Old TRIS Terms: Transportation administration
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00163607
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309025974
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 13 1981 12:00AM