Project Abstract

How do you take a 50-year-old project and turn it into a success story? If it’s the Sand Creek Byway project, you put together an extensive public involvement campaign that truly involves the public in the decision-making process.

In partnership with Washington Group International and the Sandpoint area community, the Idaho Transportation Department put together a public involvement plan that ensured everyone in the community would have a voice and opportunity to participate in the development of the project.

Those efforts were nationally recognized with an Excel Award at the AASHTO 2003 National Transportation Public Affairs Workshop held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Excel Awards are AASHTO’s highest awards recognizing outstanding public relations/public involvement programs and campaigns.

The original bypass project to re-route traffic on U.S. 95 around Sandpoint, languished on the drawing board for almost 50 years. Although the project always enjoyed strong support, vocal opposition to the project by a small minority of the community left it in limbo until the mid-90’s. An Environmental Impact Statement was finally approved and the project moved into the preliminary design phase.

The project team developed an in-depth public involvement plan that became an integral part of the design process. For the first time, the Department opened a public information office in downtown Sandpoint, which allowed the public easy access to information at a central location. Several community task forces allowed the public to become involved in developing specific design features, with an emphasis on Context Sensitive Solutions.

A series of newsletters and public meetings brought people together and gave them ample opportunities to see the project unfold, and provide their input. The project design team had one main objective: they wanted the project to fit into the community, not for the community to fit into the project.

Such a wide-ranging public involvement campaign was very much worth the effort. It is very rewarding to build a project in which the community overwhelmingly claims pride of ownership. A major part of this success was due to following the principles of Context Sensitive Solutions.

The Sand Creek Byway project is scheduled for construction the summer of 2008. http://itd.idaho.gov/projects/d1/SandCreekByway/