Current Public Involvement Practice in North Carolina Metropolitan Planning Organizations (2012)

Undergraduates: Jeffrey Miles, none none none

Faculty Advisor: Nina Martin
Department: Journalism & Mass Communication

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Regional groups called metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) have become one of the dominant forces in shaping America's highways and transit systems. Involving the public has emerged as a central issue for many MPOs. Though some question the usefulness of public involvement in the transportation planning process, transportation investment decisions have perhaps more of an impact on the day-to-day lives of the citizens of an area than any other type of planning activity. Though certain state and federal public participation requirements apply across all 17 of North Carolina’s MPOs, there are vast differences in the ways that different MPOs engage with those requirements and provide or do not provide meaningful public involvement in the planning that they do. This paper seeks to understand and record those differences. The analysis here is intended to be more descriptive than it is value-laden. What’s intended here is an understanding of the current state of planning practice in North Carolina as it relates to MPOs.