Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Blanchette Bridge Reconstruction Project

Introduction

It was clear in 1997 that the State of Missouri's Department of Transportation (MoDOT) faced major public affairs as well as engineering and construction challenges when the agency looked at rehabilitating the 40-year-old Interstate 70 Blanchette Bridge. The Blanchette Bridge, which crosses the Missouri River northwest of the City of St. Louis, is the most heavily traveled section of roadway in the State with approximately 200,000 vehicles each day.

MoDOT proposed a renovation project with two of the five lanes on the westbound bridge to be closed from Memorial Day to Labor Day. A 40 percent reduction in lane space on a major east-west route was a serious undertaking that called on planners to identify traveler-acceptable alternatives to I-70 and then to make travelers aware of the choices during the construction period.

What Happened

Prior to construction, MoDOT initiated a public outreach campaign designed to educate travelers about the impending lane closures and to encourage them to choose alternatives. MoDOT formed an in-house communications team one year before the start date of the construction. The team was comprised of St. Charles County Area Engineer Jim Gremaud, Resident Engineer Bob Leingang, Senior Construction Inspector Chuck Dolejsi, and Senior Public Affairs Specialist Tom Miller.

The communications team's first task was to identify the various stakeholders.

These constituencies included:

1. regular commuters from the northwest suburbs;
2. vacation travelers using the bridge as part of the I-70 through-route;
3. occasional travelers from the northern St. Louis area;
4. small-vehicle delivery and commercial carriers who relied on the bridge as a link to the north shore of the Missouri River;
5. and large-truck haulers who used the bridge for interstate commerce.

The team's second task was to identify a range of information outlets that could be used to communicate with the various stakeholders before and during the construction period.

This strategy necessitated the development of structured community and media relations programs designed to encourage longer-term "buy-in" for the project throughout the construction period. This strategy enabled the communications team to write their messages and then convey them to the stakeholders through the critically important information intermediaries such as governmental officials, news directors, and publications editors.

The team's third task was to assign responsibility of various communications functions to people with "hands-on" experience and an ability to focus on their part of the whole plan.

For example, the communications team focused their attention on the needs of major businesses and attractions in the area likely to be impacted. A governmental relations specialist focused attention on communications with elected officials with governmental oversight in the affected area and public agencies with public transportation responsibilities. Finally, a media relations specialist planned on-going communications with news outlets well in advance of construction and throughout the process.

Community relations components worked with employers, travel destinations, and attractions.

Three months before the lane closures, various members of the communications team used informational fliers at "one-on-one" meetings with employers and various destinations and attractions to explain the purpose and plan for the bridge renovation, the proposed time schedule, and the magnitude of the delays. This background made the recommended alternate routes, flextime schedules, use of extra transit routes and other changes more compelling. Putting plans in place, however, is only part of the task. MoDOT and its partners needed to have concrete alternatives that people could use on a day-by-day basis to manage the changes in travel patterns.

For example, they included in their information flyers and announcements the following recommendations:

• Employer-sanctioned work schedule adjustments such as flextime, which changes the employee's work schedule to allow a later start or end time, thereby lowering the rush hour traffic volume.
• A compressed workweek that enables employees to work four days of ten hours each, making the fifth day's commute unnecessary. This alternative was especially attractive in the summer months when schools are closed and three-day weekends meant more time with family and friends.

MoDOT worked with employers to promote carpools, vanpools, and public transit. MoDOT also suggested the use of telecommuting for some employees, as well as bicycling or walking to work. During the three months of the lane closures, MoDOT sent out a weekly fax to employers, municipalities as well as the media updating the position of the lane closures on the bridge.

The St. Charles County Area Engineer as well as MoDOT's St. Louis district's management team used many of the tools designed for the community relations effort.

MoDOT worked with decision makers, who needed to understand the background and time schedule for the reconstruction project. Their knowledge of the project was important to assure their ability to communicate an informed and positive viewpoint if asked. Governmental leaders also helped distribute communications tools such as flyers and fact sheets to their constituents. State Representatives and State Senators, including Representative Jon Bennett (R) and Rep. Don Kissell (D) as well as Senator Ted House (R), relayed information to the public. Most of the communities in St. Charles County have local newsletters and they also included information on the project.

The bulk of MoDOT's efforts were focused on reaching the general public.

Communications efforts began six months before lane closures started, when MoDOT began to include the dates for the closures with every news release about the project. This effort was augmented with periodic news stories designed to alert people and urge them to plan for the change. Three weeks prior to the lane closures, MoDOT held a news conference designed to explain the impact of the project and suggest alternatives that people could use to help ease the commute. At the news conference, MoDOT featured spokespeople from alternative transportation modes who could comment on the choices that were available.

Shortly before the project was to begin, MoDOT's St. Louis Office District Engineer and its District Public Affairs Director met with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board to explain the situation and answer any of their questions. An editorial board meeting is especially useful because transportation planners and leaders can share their best thinking.

MoDOT found that professionally prepared radio advertising was an important communications tool.

During the first two weeks of construction, MoDOT's consultant, Kupper-Parker Communications, prepared a humorous advertisement designed to lessen road rage and to inform drivers of travel alternatives. This ad was backed up with three public service advertisements. Midway through the project, MoDOT ran another ad that thanked motorists for their patience and described the progress that was being made. To round out this effort, MoDOT ran a "thank you" advertisement when the project was completed.

Working with a variety of transportation-related groups helps solve a multi-faceted problem.

In retrospect, MoDOT's St. Louis Office District Engineer would be one of the first people to acknowledge that closing two lanes of a major bridge over the Missouri River is far more than an engineering and construction problem. MoDOT began the project with a plan that would involve a variety of private sector corporations and public sector organizations. Some were employers, whose day-to-day operations would be adversely affected by the construction. Others were private sector attractions and customer destinations such as the St. Charles Casino's riverboat moored on the Missouri River's north shore and the Riverport Amphitheater in St. Louis County's Maryland District. Their businesses could suffer a downturn because customers would stay away during construction. In the public sector, transit properties such as the Bi-State Development Agency (which is the overarching agency that provides light rail, bus, and paratransit services) and MetroLink (which is Bi-State's light rail system) played a key role by offering expanded service during construction. Another public sector agency, Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT), through its Transportation Management Association (TMA), served as a liaison to employers in the central area of St. Louis. Through its transit advocacy role, CMT used the Blanchette Bridge project to demonstrate the importance of public transit as an alternative to the personal automobile.

Public Involvement's Role in the Project and the Outcome

Several thought-provoking questions about the Blanchette Bridge project help to assess the role and impact of public involvement in the project.

What was MoDOT's stated purpose for public involvement?

According to MoDOT, the purpose of the outreach was not only to educate or warn the public of the impending construction and its purpose but also to suggest and encourage alternative routes, commuting times and transportation. The effort succeeded in fostering a public change in its regular commuting behavior and a minimized criticism of the project. A headline and sub-headline from the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch summed up the success of the communication effort: "Impact of Blanchette Bridge Construction Less than Anticipated Obviously They Got the Message."

Was the outcome of the project clearly affected in a positive way as a result of public involvement?

One year before the Blanchette Bridge project, MoDOT contracted a major design and construction project along the Mississippi River waterfront. When construction began, little planning had gone into informing the public of adverse transportation impacts from the various closures. As a consequence, MoDOT was criticized for lack of communication with the public. It was a hard lesson to learn, but it did make it clear that the Blanchette Bridge project must not be a repeat show.

By planning several impact mitigation measures during the renovation process, by involving many community groups, by facilitating the efforts of other groups in ways that offered alternatives or adaptive strategies, MoDOT was able to help the public make plans with plenty of lead time. The public could respond more as a matter of choice and convenience than as a necessity.

The Blanchette Bridge project was so successful that MoDOT's St. Louis District has made this type of communication plan a standard procedure during construction for all of its major highway projects.

Did MoDOT's public outreach efforts include the full range of stakeholders?

According to MoDOT officials, the Blanchette Bridge project successfully reached and involved a full range of stakeholders. It started with an Action Team headed by the Area Engineer in District Six and with the North St. Louis County Area Engineer and the Senior Public Affairs Specialist who scoped out the potentially impacted populations, listed their key issues as part of a planning matrix, and identified the organizations representing those constituencies. The Action Team used a variety of community relations techniques to gain involvement. One communications tool that was not available at the time but is now used very effectively by MoDOT is the Internet. MoDOT was not able to use minority owned, community-based, or special interest (e.g. travel or good movement) media.

What sorts of responses did MoDOT find among employers and impacted destinations?

Major employers such as Boeing Company and General Motors were actively involved. The St. Charles Casino's riverboat moored on the Missouri River's north shore and the Riverport Amphitheater each faced a serious and adverse impact. Both employers participated in transportation alternatives that met the needs of their employees and customers.

Where MoDOT's public involvement efforts adequately funded and would funds be well used to help pay for other aspects of the project?

The Blanchette Bridge project used a combination of MoDOT employees for staffing, public service messages and news stories, and professionally prepared paid advertising. Funding for advertising came from the project's construction budget. MoDOT officials say that paid advertising was essential in order to reach radio listeners at rush hour periods with messages that were tightly controlled.

Did employers who initiated flextime, compressed time, and transit-based commuting initiatives keep their programs after the project was completed?

MoDOT found that adaptive strategies such as expanded bus services and employer-sponsored compressed time were not offered on an on-going basis. Exceptions were flextime schedules, carpooling, and vanpooling programs. A volunteer-based program called Ridefinders has been able to maintain a continuing relationship with employers and employees. Through Ridefinders, employees are able to find longer-term carpooling opportunities.

Lessons Learned

1. Establish an "ironclad" schedule for the project and then stick to it.

When a contractor had been selected for the Blanchette Bridge project, MoDOT and the contractor committed to a construction schedule--Memorial Day through Labor Day--and then laid plans for all aspects of communications and public involvement. Everything was geared to those key dates. Recognizing that factors over which they had little control, principally the weather, could alter their plans, MoDOT and its contractor structured their plans and their public announcements with the implied promise that the temporary inconvenience would have a firm beginning and ending. This plan was well received by the public, in part because it was known well in advance and because the necessity was carefully explained.

2. Use different communications approaches for different constituencies.

The Blanchette Bridge has a variety of user groups: weekly commuters, casual interstate drivers, employers, and public transit systems and their customers. Some rely on drive-time news on highway trouble spots; others want to solve a problem once with a longer-term alternative; still others are willing to sponsor programs that satisfy employees or customers. A communications/public involvement program should find several ways to reach a variety of stakeholder groups.

3. Careful advance planning can result in helpful and informative news stories, not an exposé.

When news outlets see that a transportation agency has a reasonable plan for a construction project that will benefit the public, their reporting is likely to tell a "Temporary Inconvenience, Permanent Improvement" story. Conversely, if reporters see a last minute announcement of a partial highway closure during the summer months, their stories are likely to be "Who's in charge here and why haven't they been fired?"

4. Temporary alternatives aren't permanent solutions . . unless they are planned and accepted as such.

Several short-term transportation alternatives such as increased transit service and compressed workweek schedules offered during the Blanchette Bridge were reasonable and cost-effective ways for travelers to adapt to lane closures. But when the lanes were reopened, the public did not appear to want/need the added choices. On the other hand, carpools and vanpools became permanent solutions to travel problems, largely thanks to volunteers from Ridefinders.

Challenges Ahead

We can learn from our mistakes.

Public involvement and communications during the Blanchette Bridge project created a success story that led to permanent improvements in MoDOT's planning and implementation of both construction and reconstruction projects. It is important to acknowledge that the agency's extraordinary efforts rose from a previous project that had not gone well. To its credit, MoDOT was intent upon learning from its past experiences and chose the Blanchette Bridge project to use public involvement as a way to mitigate an unavoidably difficult situation.

Build on success.

Although this bridge reconstruction project did not include a decision-making role for the public, the activities served to improve relationships between MoDOT and various stakeholder groups. It also succeeded in demonstrating that a wide variety of highway users could work closely with agency officials to develop and promote "people-friendly," relevant, short-term transportation alternatives. A "Challenge Ahead" for MoDOT and project stakeholders is to make public involvement a productive part of all MoDOT projects.

Documentation saves time and good ideas.

In 1998, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Public Affairs Skills Competition gave its Excel Award to MoDOT for the Blanchette Bridge project. The award is designed to enable public affairs professionals to share ideas, acknowledge successes, and continuously improve successful communications programs. While it is rewarding for the agency to receive the commendations of their peers, one of the challenges ahead is for MoDOT to build on the lessons learned in the Blanchette Bridge project's public involvement process, to avoid the pitfalls and problems encountered, reframe and reapply the procedures that worked well, and continuously improve the public involvement process itself.

References

Thomas Miller, "1998 Public Affairs Competition, Excel under $50,000 (with aid of a consultant)," Missouri Department of Transportation (no date).

"Ease the Rush: A Guide to Improving Your Commute," Missouri Department of Transportation (no date).