Public participation in transportation planning : a case study of the agricultural campus bridge planning process on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville campus

An agreement reached between the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the Tennessee Department of Transportation resulted in the agreement to build a multilane bridge to connect the Agricultural Campus to the Main Campus at the University. This plan drew protest from the onset mainly from students and faculty at the University. A framework of public participation was used to determine the levels of public participation that have occurred in the decision making process to build the connector bridge. It was found that the Tennessee Department of Transportation used a two-hearing system of public involvement that relegated the concerned public to only be informed of decisions already made by transportation officials. Based on the framework of participation the level of informing the public is essentially non-participation and results only in further alienating groups that are left out of the participation process. This study also concluded that the Tennessee Department of Transportation broke laws regarding public input in transportation decisions. They did however use a method of project development to ensure that public participation could be circumvented and/or dismissed. The State of Tennessee has no distinct laws regarding the use of effective public participation techniques in transportation planning. This allows the Tennessee Department of Transportation to develop plans and programs in near secrecy and without effective public participation.