How Louisiana DOTD increased public involvement with Masterworks Community Engagement

Louisiana DOTD's yearly planning process requires preparing the Highway Priority Program, which lists projects for the upcoming fiscal year based on expected legislative funding. Both state and federal rules mandate public feedback on this program. The agency primarily gathered feedback through annual public hearings across its nine highway districts, but faced persistent challenges:

• Insufficient feedback volume from constituents
• Feedback skewed toward the loudest voices rather than the broader community
• Every comment from hearings, emails, and phone calls had to be manually transcribed, sorted, and analyzed
• Lack of equitable participation across the community
• Low constituent awareness of the feedback process

In 2022, Louisiana DOTD began updating its Statewide Transportation Planning Public Involvement Process in coordination with the FHWA. The Planning Department worked with Aurigo to implement Masterworks Community Engagement to streamline public involvement and reach a more diverse audience through social media promotion.

For the 2023 Highway Priority Program, Louisiana DOTD imported projects from a spreadsheet, previewed the campaign, and promoted it across its website and social media channels. Constituents used a smartphone or computer to access the online portal, review projects geo-located on a map, and submit feedback directly.

DOTD staff used Community Engagement's AI-based reporting and analysis to quickly review public sentiment and identify potential issues at both the project and program level.