Missouri Bicycle News :: Advocacy 101: How to take on MoDOT and win--or at least, not lose (Part I)

Part I:

MoDOT is building or 'improving' a road or highway in your town.

You would like MoDOT to include bicycle and/or pedestrian accommodations as part of this project.

How do you do it?

Here is how:

There are a "triangle" of inputs into MoDOT's decision-making:

1. Traffic engineers, "engineering judgment" & policy
2. Local politicians
3. Citizens

Usually when you start, MoDOT is able to say that 1, 2, & 3 are ALL against you. They have taken surveys of public opinion, of course the public doesn't ever think much about bike/ped access, so even the one point you think MIGHT be in your favor isn't--according to them.

So now you get your neighbors & maybe the bicycle club or bicycle advocacy org to generate, say, a couple hundred emails in support.

So now MoDOT says, great, you've got some of #3 but #2 and #1 are still against you.

Keep in mind that MoDOT is trying to take into account "public opinion" (whatever that is) as a whole, and so they know that in one sense, having 20 or 50 or 100 or 1000 people write in on a certain issue is a lot, but in another sense it is only a very small percentage of all 6 million Missourians.

So you've taken a step in the right direction--but you're not there yet.

Then you work with your local city council & get some of the local politicians on board. If you've already gotten a lot of people to speak up in favor of your project this is going to be easier than you thought--because politicians do listen to citizens, especially citizens who vote.

So you work to develop local political support. After some work, maybe the city council even makes a formal statement of support for your project.

Now suddenly from MoDOT's viewpoint it is 2 to 1 in YOUR favor.

You don't always get your objective in this situation (there is still that pesky budget thing . . . ). But the balance of power has shifted and now their is more support for your position than opposition.

That's what you are shooting for in this process.

Of the three legs of the triangle, the most powerful by far is the local politician. MoDOT listens to local politicians. They are "the boss" to MoDOT. So you need to get at least one local politician--preferably more--on your side and advocating your case with MoDOT.

Click here for Part II of Advocacy 101--Working with MoDOT

Labels: advocacy101