Burnham Avenue Grade Separation Project
Challenge:
Currently, an at-grade crossing consisting of five (5) railroad tracks exists in the Village of Burnham near the intersection of Burnham Avenue and Brainard Avenue. This portion of Burnham Avenue experiences 14,200 vehicles per day and serves as a main route for residents, commuters, and other users to travel between the Village of Burnham, Ward 10 (City of Chicago), and other surrounding communities. This at-grade crossing has a daily average of over three (3) hours of downed gate time resulting in safety, congestion, mobility, and environmental issues for the community and commuters. The goal of this project is to create an inclusive engagement strategy in order to select preferred alternative that solves the community impacts created by this at-grade crossing.
Our challenge was to develop a public engagement strategy that would inform residents, businesses, and stakeholders in hard-to-reach communities about the initiation of the project and keeping them engaged throughout the Phase I study.
Solution:
Our strategy for this project was to develop a multitude of resources and implement a plan that would initiate and maintain engagement with residents, businesses owners, and stakeholders. To date, we have worked closely with the Village of Burnham and Cook County Department of Transportation & Highways (DoTH) to achieve the following:
Initial Public Involvement
Developed several resources to inform the community about the project including a project website, fact sheet, and Public Involvement Plan
Translating all materials on the project website and available the public meeting into Spanish to serve the heavy Hispanic speaking population in the Village of Burnham and Ward 10 (City of Chicago)
Created an exhaustive stakeholder list that includes residents, businesses, elected officials, community organizations, schools, emergency services, and civic organizations
Public Meeting #1
Distributed a postcard to 1500 residents and businesses within and around the project corridor
Developed newsletter collateral for the Village of Burnham, Ward 10, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and Illinois Legislative District 33 to promote the meeting
Produced day-of meeting materials including sign in sheets
Content of the meeting included providing the public an overview of the project, background of the study area, intended project process, and next steps
Developed text and provided graphic design for a voiceover presentation, exhibit boards, sign-in sheets, public notices, electronic invitations, comment forms, and public surveys
Collected and synthesized feedback from attendees and developed and distributed a post meeting summary discussing the content and result of the meeting
Published all meeting materials on the project website for public viewing and project transparency
Community Advisory Group
Assembled a group consisting of transportation agencies, local government agencies, utilities, Class I railroads, and community organizations to gain insight and technical expertise about the project area and community
Held CAG meeting #1
Provided a live presentation discussing an overview of the project, background of the study area, intended project process, and next steps
Published all meeting materials on the project website for public viewing and project transparency
Collected and synthesized feedback from attendees to inform the project team about results from the meeting
The meeting produced an attendance of 20 CAG members
Result:
Our outreach strategy has resulted in wide-spread involvement from residents and stakeholders for this regionally significant grade-separation project. The first public meeting garnered 45 total attendees and the first CAG meeting garnered 20 attendees. The project team will build onto the first round of engagement by providing updates to the public and stakeholders through the email listserv, adding new project information to the website, distributing invitations to upcoming meetings, and strategizing new avenues to increase awareness about the project.
