From Predictions of “Carmageddon” to Winning Awards for Engagement

The Consent-Building® Strategy That Saved Missouri’s Most Disruptive Project

The headlines were bleak and elicited fear before the roads even closed: “Traffic Nightmare” and “Apocalypse Now!” 

The reactions were rather predictable considering that engineers within the Missouri Dept. of Transportation (MoDOT) proposed that a 10-mile stretch of I-64 (one of St. Louis’ central arteries) needed to be completely closed for 2 years. Staff within MoDOT likely braced for an onslaught of political attacks and opposition as the media picked up on a project that would be the most disruptive in state history.

At the time, an estimate of more than 236,000 commuters drove in and out of downtown St. Louis every day. Built for a much smaller capacity, the public and political figures began to demand that MoDOT expand I-64 to reduce delays and increase traffic circulation. 

Technically, it wasn’t a tough problem for the MoDOT team to solve. They had the expertise and could design more than one solution for the city and surrounding communities. What wasn’t easy was getting the same public to let them implement any solution. 

MoDOT engineers drafted two options for how to widen I-64 and significantly improve the throughfare for commuters. 

• Option 1: widen the road while traffic continued. This option would take 10 years to complete with ongoing lane closures to accommodate the upgrades. Meanwhile, the cost was considered “prohibitive” and beyond the state’s budget.
• Option 2: for a 10-mile stretch, close all traffic in one direction for one year, and all traffic in the other direction for a second year. This option would make it the most disruptive project in Missouri’s history, with traffic being rerouted through neighboring communities and urban areas for 2 years. However, the cost would be within the state’s budget. 

The team at MoDOT recommended Option 2 as it was the only fiscally viable option. 

Even though the traffic on I-64 had become so congested that users demanded an increase in capacity, once the plan became public, there seemed to be strong opposition against it. Although it isn’t the only major interstate with circulating traffic in and around the city, the thought of closing it off to all traffic for two years was unthinkable.  

Had MoDOT not had a Consent-Building student among the team, the story might’ve ended in political and literal gridlock – as too often happens. But Lina Wilson Horn had recently learned SDIC (the Systematic Development of Informed Consent™) from the Bleikers. As the Community Relations Manager for District 6, she developed a public outreach program that was anything but the norm. 

Unlike most public involvement programs, Linda ensured that all of MoDOT’s outreach was objectives-driven. And not just any objectives… The specific objectives the Bleikers’ research revealed will make or break any public-sector plan. 

During the historic project, Linda practiced her Consent-Building skills and honed herself into an Implementation Genius. Not only did she benefit professionally from this, but the whole project and statewide MoDOT team earned the public’s credibility, trust, and respect because of how they communicated this very disruptive and controversial project. 

As many Consent-Building students discover, not only did their relationship with the various interests improve (specifically the opponents, naysayers, and political figures who predicted the project’s failure), but the project was completed three months ahead of schedule and $11 million under budget – likely because there weren’t lawsuits or efforts to stall or stop the project. 

A message from Linda included the details of MoDOT’s historic success in refurbishing ten miles of the state’s oldest highway and its 30 bridges. By the end of the construction, MoDOT had a 95 percent public approval rating. 

Linda shared that the very same outlets that expected “Apocalypse Now” hailed the project as a stunning success. “It was selected as the 2010 best transportation project in the country by the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, AAA, and the Chamber of Commerce.” 

In her email to the Bleikers, Linda noted that while listening to national coverage of the I-64 project, one journalist commented that “it would be wonderful if more projects had that kind of public outreach. (Of course, they did not know that SDIC was behind this incredible success).”

Needless to say, the MoDOT team and Linda’s career soared from there as they continued to use Consent-Building as their outreach strategy for projects big and small.