Consensus Building in Transportation Planning Practice

Resolving conflicts in major transportation corridors remains a challenge. Many times the need to increase access has led to seemingly insurmountable divisions between stakeholders representing widely divergent interests. The case evaluated here, the I-710 corridor in Los Angeles, addresses a unique situation: the transportation planning process was redirected midcourse in response to the public's negative reaction toward the first set of transportation alternatives. An adaptive public participation process more aligned to the complex political and social realities of the I-710 corridor was introduced to replace a more traditional process that had not achieved the needed consensus. Transportation planners initiated a new series of consensus-building efforts with the objective of generating strategies and alternatives that would be acceptable to the affected communities while meeting the purpose and need for mobility improvements in the corridor. The consensus subsequently reached through the more adaptive process helped to reprioritize and bring out latent problems in the study area. Previously, either these problems had not been identified or their importance had been underestimated. Through the process of clearly identifying the problems and potential solutions, participants were able to come to consensus on an alternative set of strategies. By helping to clarify the public debate, this process strengthened the overall transportation planning effort.