Executive decision making for transportation capacity : the multiagency context.

Transportation for Communities–Advancing Projects through Partnerships (TCAPP) is a web-based resource that provides agencies and practitioners with guidance on reaching collaborative decisions as they work through the transportation planning, programming, and permitting processes. TCAPP is designed for practitioners, but to succeed in practice, it will need support from upper-level managers and CEOs within transportation and environmental resource agencies. Based on extensive market research, this report presents strategies for communicating the value of TCAPP to the target audience. This report sets out marketing principles, potential marketing strategies, and key messages that can serve as foundational research for subsequent outreach efforts and implementation of TCAPP. The audience for TCAPP includes any agency that has involvement in a transportation capacity project, on any level. This is a vast and diverse audience, encompassing numerous federal agencies, tribal entities, state governments, metropolitan areas, and nongovernmental agencies. While the agencies’ missions are distinct, they are often overlapping, and they approach issues relevant to transportation in different ways. The first step in the research was to document and synthesize the leadership context and structure of these agencies. The research included an effort to illuminate the issues various audiences of TCAPP face, how collaboration and TCAPP can play a role, and the best way to disseminate information about TCAPP and its benefits. The first phase was a facilitated charrette-style meeting with industry leaders. In the second phase, the research team, led by Elizabeth Sanford of Cambridge Systematics, expanded on the preliminary findings from the charrette through interviews with decision makers across agencies, positions, and geographic regions. Based on the results of the market research, the research team developed messages and potential strategies that effectively convey the value of TCAPP to decision makers in transportation agencies as well as executives of resource agencies who review and often approve or reject alternatives for transportation capacity projects. (Author/publisher)