One impact state departments of transportation are feeling from COVID-19 pandemic is the temporary cessation of “traditional” face-to-face public meetings to discuss upcoming transportation projects – with most of such gatherings going virtual.
[Above photo by the Arizona DOT.]
In this podcast, Steve Olmsted – senior program manager at the Arizona Department of Transportation – discusses how his agency is handling the challenge of engaging the public and moving forward transportation projects during a time of social distancing.
“We call them virtual call-in public hearings,” he explained on the podcast.
“The meeting was presented by phone only and callers could verbally submit comments … with a court reporter transcribing the comments,” Olmsted noted.
“The meeting was also simultaneously broadcast on free public radio stations – that is a novel thing for us and credit goes to our community relations team for that,” he added.
To hear more about the “lessons learned” by the Arizona DOT from this process, click here
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Today in Transportation History: December 3, 1967
A Famous Passenger Train Completes Its Last Run
After 65 years of service, the New York Central Railroad (NYC) express passenger train 20th Century Limited completed its final journey. The half-full train pulled into LaSalle Street Station in Chicago at 6:45 p.m. The Limited had actually been scheduled to arrive nine hours earlier, but was delayed due to a freight derailment in Ohio. “I’m just sorry we could not get it in on time,” remarked J.A. McClain, the Limited’s engineer for this last trip.
Read more on the blog: https://bit.ly/2JL4fjq #TransportationHistory
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