Best Practices for 

Gaining Community/ 

Stakeholder Buy-In

Misty Klann

Program Planning Specialist, FHWA FLH Office of Tribal Transportation

Barbara Shaffer

Realty Program Manager/Environmental Specialist,

FHWA Pennsylvania Federal-Aid Division
Welcome – Icebreaker

• In December 2019, there were 10M daily Zoom 

meeting participants. Can you guess how many by 

April 2020?

• +300M

• The Good,

• The Bad,

• The Ugly.

Karl, K.A., Peluchette, J.V., Aghakhani, N. “Virtual Work Meetings During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Good, Bad, and Ugly.” SAGE Public Health 

Emergency Collection, May 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8165498/. 
Learning Outcomes

• Define approaches to gaining community and/or 

stakeholder engagement

• Apply approaches of gaining community and/or 

stakeholder engagement through the transportation 

planning process

• Identify opportunities for gaining community and/or 

stakeholder engagement through the right-of-way 

process 
Practices for Gaining Acceptance and Support

• Communicate the purpose

• Emphasize expected outcomes and relate to 

purpose

• Identify a champion

• Establish a comprehensive understanding of 

the community

• Create and communicate 

context/background

“Understanding 

people certainly 

impacts your 

ability to 

communicate 

with others” –

J.C. Maxwell
Practices for Gaining Acceptance and Support

• Use the data and/or information to support 

the effort

• Provide opportunities for input through 

direct involvement

• Utilize public involvement strategies

• Provide an example and apply to situation

• Share applicable laws and regulations Education

Outreach

Relationships
Overview of Transportation Planning

Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)

Prioritization 

and 

Implementation 

Strategies

Identify and 

Evaluate 

projects and 

activities

Identify Needs

Vision

Mission

Goals

Evaluation and Objectives

Inventory of 

current and 

future 

conditions

Stakeholder Outreach

Pre-project 

planning
Why in Transportation 

Planning?

Early involvement in project development

Time for relationship building

Involvement in early decision-making

Understand prioritization process and funding analysis

Accounts for community goals

Effective use of resources

Planning and Preproject Planning

Scoping

Construction

Preliminary 

Engineering

Maintenance
Poll: Transportation Planning

Who is involved in your transportation planning efforts?

Tribal government departments

State

Counties

Cities

Other Tribe(s)

Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMA) ex: forest service

Metropolitan and/or Regional Planning Organizations (M/RPO)

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)

Others
Transportation Planning

VISION, MISSION, GOALS, OBJECTIVES

Share the big picture

Establishing strategic direction of the 

transportation system

Examples:

Improved access to lands and uses

Advance economic development

Safety

Improving access and mobility

PRACTICES FOR GAINING 

ACCEPTANCE AND SUPPORT

Communicate the purpose

Emphasize expected 

outcomes and relate to 

purpose

Identify a champion

Preproject 

planning

Identify Needs

Identify and 

Evaluate 

projects and 

activities

Prioritization 

and 

Implementatio

n Strategies

Vision

Mission

Goals

Evaluation Objectives

and Inventory 

of current 

and future 

conditions

Stakeholder Outreach
Transportation Planning

EVALUATION AND INVENTORY OF CURRENT 

AND FUTURE CONDITIONS

IDENTIFY NEEDS

Provide context

Use data collected

Socioeconomic information

Traffic patterns

State of infrastructure (level of service, conditions)

Access management

State of safety

What will it look like 5, 10, 20 years from now?

Get input from stakeholders and public

Collectively identify needs or gaps

PRACTICES FOR GAINING 

ACCEPTANCE AND SUPPORT

Have a comprehensive 

understanding of the community

Create and communicate 

context/background

Provide opportunities for input 

through direct involvement

Utilize public involvement 

strategies

Use the data or information to 

support effort

Preproject 

planning

Identify Needs

Identify and 

Evaluate 

projects and 

activities

Prioritization 

and 

Implementatio

n Strategies

Vision

Mission

Goals

Evaluation Objectives

and Inventory 

of current 

and future 

conditions

Stakeholder Outreach
Transportation Planning

IMPROVEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

PRIORITIZATION

PROJECT-PROJECT PLANNING

Discuss implementation strategies to meet identified 

needs

Prioritization criteria 

5, 10, 15, 20-year priority needs

How to deliver, implement?

Share funding opportunities; constraints

Partnerships

Take a closer look at 5, 10-year projects

Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL)

4-year TIP

PRACTICES FOR GAINING 

ACCEPTANCE AND SUPPORT

Provide opportunities for input 

through direct involvement

Utilize public involvement 

strategies

Use the data or information to 

support effort

Provide an example and apply to 

situation

Share applicable laws and 

regulations

Preproject 

planning

Identify Needs

Identify and 

Evaluate 

projects and 

activities

Prioritization 

and 

Implementatio

n Strategies

Vision

Mission

Goals

Evaluation Objectives

and Inventory 

of current 

and future 

conditions

Stakeholder Outreach

(TIP)
Transportation Planning

STAKEHOLDER OUTREACH

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

Identification of needs

Identification of improvement recommendations

Short-term implementation decisions

Strategies

Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)

Early and often

Ongoing updates

Advisory Groups - ex: Elder and Youth Councils

Multiple ways to engage

Translations – not just language

PRACTICES FOR GAINING 

ACCEPTANCE AND SUPPORT

Provide opportunities for input 

through direct involvement

Utilize public involvement 

strategies

Use the data or information to 

support effort

Provide an example and apply to 

situation

Share applicable laws and 

regulations

Preproject 

planning

Identify Needs

Identify and 

Evaluate 

projects and 

activities

Prioritization 

and 

Implementatio

n Strategies

Vision

Mission

Goals

Evaluation Objectives

and Inventory 

of current 

and future 

conditions

Stakeholder Outreach
Environmental Process

IDENTIFY NEEDS

DEVELOP ALTERNATIVES

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Process

Occurs during Preliminary Engineering

Refine Purpose and Need

Develop Alternatives

Assess Environmental Impacts of Alternatives

Natural: e.g., wetlands, endangered species, floodplains

Cultural: e.g., historic bridges and buildings, archaeological sites

Social: e.g., community impacts, ROW acquisitions, displacements

Develop Mitigation

This is the opportunity for allstakeholders 

to influence the alternative selection

PRACTICES FOR GAINING 

ACCEPTANCE AND SUPPORT

Provide opportunity for all 

stakeholders, including 

adjacent property owners, to 

provide input

Ensure that all property 

owners who might be 

impacted are included during 

the Environmental process
What is the Purpose of NEPA Public 

Involvement?
Environmental Process

STAKEHOLDER OUTREACH

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

Public and stakeholder involvement is NOT to present 

a solution and try to convince the public to accept it

Input from the public might result in:

Changes to existing alternatives

The addition of new alternatives

The dismissal of an alternative that otherwise might have 

been highly ranked

Strategies for stakeholder outreach and public 

involvement are the same as during Transportation 

Planning

PRACTICES FOR GAINING 

ACCEPTANCE AND SUPPORT

Provide opportunities for input 

through direct involvement

Provide access to data and 

documentation to support 

environmental impact analysis

Utilize public involvement 

strategies

Share applicable laws and 

regulations
Right-of-Way Phase

PROPERTY OWNER COORDINATION

Occurs during Final Design

Environmental document must be approved before 

discussions with property owners concerning 

acquisition can be undertaken

Alternative has been already been selected

Property owners should have been included in 

outreach concerning alternatives during 

Environmental phase

PRACTICES FOR GAINING 

ACCEPTANCE AND SUPPORT

Build trust and provide:

Content: facts, figures, processes, 

options, and responses to 

inquiries.

Organization: structure, sequence, 

and agenda for conveying 

information and proposals.

Delivery: how you communicate, 

verbal, visual, attitude, empathy, 

body language, etc.
Stakeholder and Public Involvement Tools

Virtual Reality Videos

Capture infrastructure as if standing at that location

Social Media (notices, updates, input, surveys)

Traditional media such as radio, newspapers, flyers, 

websites, call line, post cards

Community gatherings – maps, interactive tables, 

audience response clickers for instant feedback and 

engagement, feedback forms

Kiosks (ex: library)

Virtual Public Involvement techniques

Digital site

Maps

Video clips

Survey

References

Simple process or 

status graphics QR Codes 

to 

website/

page

Email lists

Virtual 

meetings

Open House

Stakeholder 

specific

Newsletters
Practices to gain 

acceptance and 

support:

Are they practical? 

What works well? 

What could be 

improved?

Do they help achieve 

desired outcome?

Needs
Closing 

Thoughts

• Approach unique to 

a community

• Approach unique to 

the effort

• Buy-in not always 

acceptance