Innovation Description and Benefit:

The current public health crisis has made it much more challenging to engage the public; especially with MoDOT projects like I-270 that runs for four years. From the beginning, we wanted to initiate an approach to public engagement that would overcome physical boundaries and increase support for the work. More importantly, we wanted our strategies to result in ‘community ownership of the project,” so that those who live, work, and play in the project boundaries would begin to feel like the project belonged to them, and that the work was a demonstrated investment in the betterment of their community. We also wanted our project, and those completing it, to be seen as partners and not strangers or owners of this major investment in north county and the St. Louis region. Throughout the project, we have focused on developing strategies that demonstrated inclusiveness beyond engagement, creativity, added value to the community, and audience emersion through tours, site visits, and presentations.  Our approach moves MoDOT teams beyond merely building short-term community relationships, to establishing potentially long-term, community based beneficial relationships.