Role of Social Media in Environmental Review Process of National Environmental Policy Act

With the profound influence of social media on current culture, new tools are changing how practitioners communicate with the public. These new tools expand the toolbox for transportation professionals involved in dealing with the public and allow large-scale, remote interactions. The use of social media allows community members to participate in the planning process without leaving work or social settings. However, the increased use of social media in the planning and public outreach process represents a new challenge because transportation professionals may not fully understand how to use social media effectively to engage all persons interested or affected by a proposed transportation project. Focusing specifically on the use of social media in the environmental review process, this paper provides an assessment of social media that considers the public call for e-government and transparency in environmental review, equity of access to e-government and social media tools, and the need to measure the effectiveness of informing and engaging the public. To understand how social media tools were used in the environmental review process of transportation projects, three case studies were examined. This assessment of social media identifies useful recommendations for professionals interested in incorporating social media tools into the development of robust public involvement project portfolios and recommends future research necessary to measure the success of informing and engaging the public more effectively. This paper also calls for federal guidance to assist transportation professionals in tracking and documenting social media public involvement interactions in the environmental review process of transportation projects.