CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND ROLE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS

This paper describes and comments on the procedures followed by state transportation agencies before and after public hearings on highway projects. Information was obtained through interviews with public hearing officers, or their equivalents, in state highway and transportation departments. Items addressed include hearing administration, prehearing strategies, hearing formats, and posthearing strategies. Hearing officers interviewed were also asked to submit written copies of their agencies' public hearing strategy and any other material pertinent to public hearings or citizen prticipation. From the information gathered, we have assumed that the procedures described are currently in use unless otherwise stated. State transportation agencies have either one of two administrative operations for conducting public hearings: 29 agencies have centralized administrations in which mandates emanate from the central office, and 21 agencies delegate the responsibility for hearings to district or regional offices. The trend is toward the use of independent moderators at public hearings, especially if the hearings are likely to produce controversy. The most efficient and widely used prehearing technique is the informal prehearing meeting, which all 50 agencies use in some form. Thirty-nine agencies hold hearings at night but only 3 agencies conduct morning hearings. Although the formats for public hearings held by state transportation agencies are similar, 12 agencies recess at the midpoint for 30 min to 1 h to answer questions, informally. /Author/