Columbia River Crossing Study - Tri-Cities, Washington

Client: Tri-Cities Council of Governments

Project Details

Columbia River Crossing Study - Tri-Cities, Washington, 2010
Tri-Cities Council of Governments

Project Overview

Project Background

The Tri-Cities of Richland, Pasco and Kennewick is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Washington State with over 253,000 people. At the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, these communities are linked by three major bridges. The genesis for the Columbia River Crossing Study came from increasing congestion on the Pasco-Kennewick Bridge, officially the “Pioneer Memorial Bridge” and locally known as the “Blue Bridge”. As the situation gained attention, not only did the Cities of Pasco and Kennewick express interest in an appropriate solution, other affected agencies began to join the discussion, including the Benton Franklin Council of Governments (BFCOG). That interest culminated in an agreement wherein a regional study was funded among the local agencies and the Legislature to consider not only the Blue Bridge, but to look at all reasonable alternatives for a new Columbia River Crossing in the area.

The BFCOG Steering Committee for the Study is made up of voting members from nine participating public jurisdictions as well as representatives from Ben Franklin Transit, Tri-City Development Council, Washington State Department of Transportation and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Public Involvement

As a member of a team including H.W. Lochner out of Bellevue, Washington and J-U-B Engineers out of Kennewick, Washington, The Langdon Group was hired to manage the public involvement process on a limited budget. This posed the significant challenge of reaching and effectively engaging four distinct communities (including the City of West Richland) to guide a process of determining 2-3 potential crossing locations for further study, from an initial list of 10. It was determined that online media would play a key role in the process.
In April 2010, The Langdon Group launched a project website, Twitter page, Constant Contact E-Newsletter and online survey to provide the community with up-to-date information and receive valuable public input.

Our strategy was to utilize the local media and existing stakeholder email databases as a means to drive the public to the website. The plan worked— In response to exceptional media coverage, the website generated over 1,100 survey responses and 300 written comments were received. At the May 20, 2010 Steering Committee meeting, this input helped refine the initial 10 crossing alternatives to four.
In August 2010, a second survey was launched and due to media coverage responding to the news release, nearly 700 members of the public provided online input. The carefully crafted surveys provided valuable demographical and driving habit information to help determine where people in the region were going, when and why. Survey data ultimately revealed three preferred crossing locations, approved by the Steering Committee for further study.
Throughout the course of the project, members of the Tri-Cities print, radio and television media followed the project through regular Twitter messages and Constant Contact E-Newsletter updates. The Twitter and E-Newsletter campaigns proved so successful that news outlets in Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane provided media coverage of an October Public Meeting.

Some traditional public involvement techniques were utilized (Public Open House and information booth at the County Fair), but the comments gathered through those processes were minimal compared to the input gathered via the online tools. Some public comments received praised the approach as the most effective way of reaching this diverse community.