Developing Software to Manage Stakeholder Relationships for Better NEPA Decision-Making

The Iowa Department of Transportation believes effective transportation agencies look at public engagement from many perspectives, including treating public outreach as an asset to be tracked, managed and invested in ways that strengthen decision-making and the ability to achieve long-term strategic goals. This perspective is vital as projects and programs grow more complex, resources are stretched farther and agencies work harder to improve customer satisfaction and treat those affected by their decisions in a more open, equitable way. That’s why the Iowa DOT sought to better capture, track and manage stakeholder engagement to better serve customers, improve project decision-making and meet or exceed NEPA and other regulatory requirements – and do so openly, logically and fairly. The result was development of the Public Involvement Management Application. PIMA combines key public involvement activities with GIS and other functions tailored to our internal business processes, empowering decision makers to more effectively collaborate on planning, communication, stakeholder management, public meeting coordination, performance measurement and response to stakeholder questions and concerns. The knowledge gained during PIMA development offers important lessons for any transportation agency concerned with stakeholder engagement as an important organizational metric. PIMA supports efforts to measure and manage engagement in ways that improve customer satisfaction and interaction. This helps creates the kind of citizen trust and support that strengthens an agency’s ability to undertake complex or difficult initiatives where outcomes may be uncertain or time frames for resolution are measured in years rather than months.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADC10 Standing Committee on Environmental Analysis in Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Hofer, Brad
  • Brewer, Valerie
  • Pierson, Mark
  • Welch, Darin
  • Claudon, Timm
  • DeMent, Michael
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 19pp
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Performance measurement; Public participation; Stakeholders
• Identifier Terms: National Environmental Policy Act
• Geographic Terms: Iowa
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Data and Information Technology; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01622564
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-02074
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 17 2017 9:47AM