Can government mandate citizens' voice? A case study in transportation policy

Since the late 1950s, minority and low-income populations have been isolated from or have played limited roles in the decision-making processes focused on local transportation projects. This dissertation examined the extent to which federal mandates associated with transportation policy have influenced state transportation agencies to develop approaches and/or methods to obtain minority and low-income populations' participation in transportation projects. Moreover, it explored whether input from the public acquired during planning, had an impact on transportation planning used to influence decision making? This question was examined over a year and six month period through multiple state departments of transportation's strategies for including minority and low-income populations in transportation decision-making. This dissertation included a case study of how the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) Southeast Region implements strategies to obtain input from minority and low-income populations into its transportation decision-making process. Using case study methods, which included an examination of three mega transportation projects within Southeastern Wisconsin, interviews and document analysis, data was generated and thematically analyzed to answer the question: Does mandated participation create opportunity for citizen voice that impacts decision-making in state transportation policy? The secondary question was whether input from the public acquired during the planning process has an impact on transportation planning and decisions about highway construction?;To examine how individuals view effective public participation decision-making two lenses were constructed: a Public Participation Process Model and Principles of Environmental Justice (EJ): The lenses helped understand and examine public participation in transportation decision-making. The steps of the Public Participation Process Model and the principles of the Principles of EJ assisted with the analysis of 47 interviews with Wisconsin citizens, state department of transportation planning staffs, and Neighborhood Outreach Specialists (NOSs). The Public Participation Process Model helped to determine whether the citizens' participation within the transportation decision-making process had the power and influence to actually change policy decisions.;Mandated participation creates opportunity for citizen voice that impacts transportation decision-making and state transportation policy. The input from citizen voice had an impact on transportation planning and influenced decisions about highway construction. The findings from this study measure the extent to which state DOTs effectively create public outreach strategies to include citizens in state transportation decision-making process, which creates opportunity for citizen voice to influence state transportation policy. This is shown by the analysis of public participation outreach strategies examined from the three state DOTs: Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT). Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), and Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and WisDOT. Some of the strategies to aid the creation of citizen voice were: develop relationships within the environment where the transportation system is located; go to the public and provide various ways to distribute information; educate the public and staff members, have diversity within the staff; listen and then evaluate citizen input.