Techniques for Effective Highway Construction Projects in Congested Urban Areas (2011)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

27 BACKGROUND Working with the media has become an integral part of large urban construction projects. High daily traffic counts, a public that is constantly exposed to the vagaries of the construction process, and the collateral impacts of the work on the local community almost demand media attention. Transportation agencies have changed considerably in dealing with the media. For example, 30 years ago the Arizona DOT had a one-person community relations office doing all media work, writing any newsletters that might be published, who was always present to take pictures when awards were given out. Today that person has been replaced by a fully staffed office prepared to deal with today’s sophisticated media market. Other state DOTs have taken similar measures given the changing public relations demands. Twenty-five years ago urban project media work would have been almost an afterthought in the overall construction effort. Today, media relations personnel are an integral part of the project team. Accordingly, this study sought to understand which practices transportation agencies were using while also measuring effectiveness. WHO SPEAKS TO THE MEDIA The first issue was the question of who actually dealt with or spoke to the media on large projects. Questions sought to deter- mine who speaks to the media and their employment affiliation. Table 20 reflects how the states responded to each one. On urban projects the majority (56%—“Always” and “Very Often”) uses a specific person to meet with and speak to the media. Only 9% never have such a person. These agencies have the largest capital programs in the country and yet 35% either sometimes or do not have a designated spokesperson. Anecdotally, when no spokesperson or media manager is designated, public relations duties are handled by someone in the agency’s central office or fall to the resident engineer or project manager. In determining whether or not this person is a state employee or private contractor, analysis of the next two questions offers insight but not total clarity. Half the agencies noted that they always use an in-house employee for media management. One might suppose they would never use private consul- tants if they always use in-house staff. However, only 36% reported never using private sector resources. Research lim- itations did not fully permit comprehending this disparity. The major points taken from the last two questions are: most agencies use in-house resources to perform this function and, in only a few cases, use private sector consultants. Also, a trend exists where in-house staffing is augmented by outside resources. MEDIA RELATIONSHIP If it is a given that the media will be part of virtually every major urban construction job, then it stands to reason that a better understanding of the ensuing relationship with the transportation agency is needed. The next series of questions in the survey explored how the DOTs feel about the media and this relationship. Figure 19 documents these responses. The presentation in this figure, with additional comments in Table 21, shows that 87% of the respondents view the media as at least generally positive. Of that group, 52% view the media as a strong partner. Only 9% view the media as never wanting to provide a positive story. Also, no one said that the media ignores their projects or that the media is suspect. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION PRACTICES The array of possibilities for communicating with stakeholders is extensive. Not everyone is totally effective nor is there a single approach that will effectively communicate with all groups affected by a project. Figures 20 and 21 and Tables 22 and 23 reflect the responses to which strategies are used the most and that are the most effective. The results show that the following three practices are most often used when communicating with stakeholders about complex urban projects: 1. We rely on our relationships with key media people to access audiences and get the word out (83%). 2. We rely on the radio to cover our projects when they have time and interest (83%). 3. We rely on television stations to cover our projects when they have time and interest (74%). CHAPTER SEVEN MEDIA RELATIONS

28 Project Specific Media Does your agency assign a project- specific individual to its urban corridor projects for the purpose of managing media relations? (% of state response) Is this person an agency employee? (% of state response) Is this person a private contractor? (% of state response) Never 9 0 36 Sometimes 26 23 50 Often 9 9 5 Very Often 17 18 0 Always 39 45 0 N/A 0 5 9 N/A = not available. TABLE 20 HOW OFTEN IS AN INDIVIDUAL, AGENCY EMPLOYEE, OR PRIVATE CONTRACTOR ASSIGNED TO MANAGE MEDIA B The Community Relations Coordinator and District Press Officer work on these relationships. The media has 24/7 access to the press office. The Department is proactive in keeping them informed so we get fair coverage. Overall, we have a good relationship. Pennsylvania B Overall I think they are positive. Some outlets sensationalize but I donít think they are well respected in community. Nevada TABLE 21 COMMENTS FOR QUESTION 53 FIGURE 19 Best description of agency’s view and relationship with the media (see Question 53). The least mentioned three are: 1. We purchase commercial time with radio stations (22%). 2. We purchase commercial time with television stations (26%). 3. Paid “tags” on radio announcements such as traffic reports (30%). Agencies rely on free access to television and radio over paid messages at a 4:1 ratio. The final question from this series asked about the effective- ness of adopted strategies. Figure 21 and Table 23 provide the responses. Clearly, it’s one thing to employ a strategy and another to influence or inform the public. Agencies rely on relationships with key media people (from Figure 21) and believe this also to be the most effective strategy of all those listed. No other strategies were mentioned as successful by more than 35% of the participating agencies. To understand how effectiveness of media relations was evaluated, the survey asked about performance measurement practices. Figure 22 shows the responses. Sixty-five percent rely on past experience to make decisions about strategies to use. Public feedback at meetings (39%) and focus groups (26%) were the next most commonly mentioned. Surprisingly, only 17% identified stakeholder surveys as a method for determin- ing if a communication strategy is effective. In an era when

29 Paid news ads to announce public meetings Oregon Distribute news releases on major projects Massachusetts Aggressive press releases, media tours Washington Community meetings Illinois PSA when available, social media activities, pitching feature Michigan Website Tennessee Public press releases Pennsylvania Press releases Nevada Cable TV within the project area(s), community Michigan Additional signs in the project work zone with website information Pennsylvania Provide free access to traffic video cameras New York Reached out to minority groups through Spanish language ads, minority news publications including bidding opportunities Oregon Very heavy use of media relations to keep our topics on construction projects in the news Georgia Traffic information is supplied to the radio and TV from the Traffic Management Center Pennsylvania PSA = public service announcement. TABLE 22 COMMENTS FOR QUESTION 54 FIGURE 21 Strategies most effective in communicating information to stakeholders (see Question 54). (Owing to multiple choices percentages do not equal 100%.) FIGURE 20 Strategies used by the agency to communicate information to stakeholders (see Question 54). (Owing to multiple choices percentages do not equal 100%.)

performance measures and specific metrics are being exam- ined for a multitude of activities in the transportation arena it is interesting that so little measurement is used to assess these strategies. In reviewing the narrative responses Oregon mentioned that social media is being examined. Arizona involves the public in Traffic System Management efforts. E-mail, focus groups, and mass text messaging were also mentioned. Using the media relations and an effective strategy for using the media to communicate with stakeholders is an important element of urban projects. Agencies are relying 30 on their own staff to be the “up front” person dealing with the media, but sometimes using outside resources to assist in those efforts. Fifty-two percent of the agencies reported a strong relationship with the media that reflects a delib- erate effort to establish that connection. The majority (83%) rely on this relationship to further the messaging or com- munication strategies relating to their urban projects. Ulti- mately, this approach reflects a healthy professional rela- tionship and respect that should exist for a positive outcome on these projects. A particularly interesting point is the lack of metrics and specific data being used to manage and make decisions relating to use of the media for urban project communications. Unknown Illinois Social media techniques, project managers broadcast/print interviews Michigan Website Tennessee Video cameras New York Not sure Louisiana Not sure Nevada TABLE 23 COMMENTS FOR QUESTION 55 FIGURE 22 How agencies know the effectiveness of media strategies (see Question 56). (Owing to multiple choices percentages do not equal 100%.)