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Benefits of Transportation: Telling America’s Transportation and Environment Story

In an effort to increase public awareness about the many environmentally beneficial activities underway at each state DOT, the Center for Environmental Excellence embarked on an exploration of the methods currently in place to communicate with the public about those activities. The result is a report that outlines strategies for reframing and increasing the reach of state DOTs' messaging about all of the work that improves quality of life in their states.

A panel of state DOT communications and environmental staff guided this research effort. The research took place in three parts: first, through an anecdotal look at several state DOTs' current environmental communications efforts; second, through an exploration of how former U.S. congressional communications staffers perceive transportation messaging; and third, through an analysis of how the public and the state DOTs discuss transportation activities with environmental considerations on social media.

This research yielded several high level recommendations for communications and environmental staff at state DOTs, as well as a number of "next steps" activities. The final report is provided below for download.

• Executive Summary
• Full Report without Appendices
• Appendix A: Panel Call Summaries
• Appendix B: Survey of Former Congressional Communications Directors
• Appendix C: Top 10 Tweets from Each State (full appendix)
  • Appendix C — Part I: Top 10 Tweets from USDOT, Secretary Foxx, AASHTO Speaks
  • Appendix C — Part II: Top 10 Tweets from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part III: Top 10 Tweets from New Jersey and New York Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part IV: Top 10 Tweets from Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part V: Top 10 Tweets from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part VI: Top 10 Tweets from Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part VII: Top 10 Tweets from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part VIII: Top 10 Tweets from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part IX: Top 10 Tweets from Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part X: Top 10 Tweets from Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada Departments of Transportation
  • Appendix C — Part XI: Top 10 Tweets from Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington Departments of Transportation
• Appendix D: Complete Year of Twitter Study at a Glance

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