CRTPO 2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan

RS&H assisted the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO) with development of the 2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP). The MTP, a federally required document that contains CRTPO’s priority projects for a minimum 20-year horizon, is one of the most important documents maintained by CRTPO. Public engagement is a significant component of developing the MTP and RS&H helped CRTPO implement several new innovations and best practices for improving upon previous public outreach efforts.

RS&H used a variety of public engagement techniques to build consensus and understanding throughout the plan update process, such as a stakeholder committee that provided guidance and recommendations. RS&H also assisted CRTPO with the coordination and facilitation of more than 20 small group meetings throughout the region at strategically identified locations, including community events, employment centers, business meetings, and park-and-ride lots, to reach various segments of the population with different transportation perspectives.

Visualizations, interactive online tools, and social media were an integral part of our public engagement campaign for the MTP. RS&H developed a website to brand and market the MTP, including interactive online mapping that allowed the public to provide comments with the click of a button. In addition, RS&H produced two videos associated with the development of the MTP to inform and educate stakeholders, elected officials, and the public.

Our team attended neighborhood meetings to gather input from community members that are traditionally under-represented and also engaged the next generation of transportation users by working with CRTPO to develop an interactive board game that was presented to several fifth-grade classes and a YMCA summer camp, reaching over 125 students.

Through our previous experience serving CRTPO, RS&H was able to recommend unique strategies to improve the MTP development process, along with delivering an enhanced, visually stimulating plan that is accessible to a wide range of audiences.