Right Transportation Solutions (RTS) Facebook Pilot

MoDOT explored an alternative public survey mechanism as a way to gauge the percent of customers who think that completed projects were the "Right Transportation Solution." Instead of having a consultant conduct a mailed survey, the department created an online survey in-house using SurveyMonkey and used social media (namely a Facebook targeted ad) to promote it. The pilot included an urban and a rural project (the recently completed I-64 Daniel Boone Missouri River Bridge project in the St. Louis District and an ADA project in Buffalo, MO from the Southwest District). The District created a communications and marketing plan to complement the Facebook ad, which targeted people within a certain radius of the project. For the Daniel Boone project, 612 responses were obtained, 314 coming from the Facebook ad (the rest resulting from the Division's marketing efforts). The survey results were overwhelmingly positive with 95% of respondents indicating that the project was the Right Transportation Solution. The benefits of this new survey mechanism included reduced cost, improved response rate, real-time feedback, real-time results, survey customization, demographic information and repeatability. The pilot survey demonstrated an innovative method of gauging public feedback which satisfied the concerns of the Executive Team and continues to validate MoDOT’s planning process. This new survey methodology is being deployed statewide with each District able to select relevant projects. MoDOT's Executive Team is excited by the real-time results and real-time dialogue of this innovative approach and wants to explore the use of this mechanism for future outreach efforts.

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Report number: cmr17-004 (summary only)
Published: March 2017
Project number: TR201706
Author(s): Missouri Dept. of Transportation (internal staff) 
Performing organization: Facebook

Transportation Research Methods Training: A Guide to Searching for Funding Opportunities

This project developed a training methodology focused on external funding. This hands-on training presented the basics of external funding identification, teambuilding and collaborative partners, and proposal element design. Real-time searches and tutorials were presented as part of the project. In addition, actual proposals were “red teamed”, or reviewed for completeness/readability, and a research methods handbook summarizing all of these activities was prepared as the deliverable for the final report.

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Report number: cmr17-003
Published: March 2017
Project number: TR201615
Author(s): Suzanna Long and Genda Chen
Performing organization: Missouri University of Science and Technology