The National Highway Institute (NHI) hosted the Public Involvement in the Transportation Decision-making Process training from March 22-24, 2016 at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Riverside Campus in Austin, Texas. This course offered methods to achieve successful public involvement participation in the transportation decision-making process. During the three days of training, the participants learned to:

• Describe U.S. DOT transportation decision-making processes, including those that trigger the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA);
• Describe the relationship between public involvement and decision-making;
• Develop a public involvement plan with stakeholder assistance that includes attention to non-traditional populations as an evaluation component;
• Describe interest-based problem solving and the values that underlie it; and
• Identify ways to enhance public involvement plans.

This training course was taught by Hughes Collaboration public mediator, Mike Hughes, and Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) Environmental Program Specialist, Keith Moore.

A link to TxDOT’s guidance for Public Involvement is located here.