SBCTA: I-10 Express Lanes

CPOG was awarded the outreach contract for the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) SB Express Lanes project,a $929.2 million dollar project from the Los Angeles/San Bernardino County Line to the I-15. Unique to this project is that while the construction corridor is less than 10 miles, the freeway is a gateway for millions of stakeholders west of the county line into Los Angeles and east of the project corridor out to vacation destinations, including Big Bear and Palm Springs.

 

For more than a year prior to construction start, CPOG worked with SBCTA to develop readily available and easily accessible platforms to engage and educate stakeholders. These strategies were used to manage right-of-way (ROW) and temporary construction easement (TCE) issues; utility relocation operations; shoulder, ramp and mainline closures to prepare for construction; high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) to general purpose lane conversion; narrowed lanes and reduced speeds; lane shifts; bridge and median preparation for demolition and reconstruction; and staging of equipment and materials.

 

To engage all of the stakeholders impacted by the project, our outreach efforts included both the corridor stakeholders in Montclair, Ontario and Upland and a broad swath of the region’s traveling public from Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. CPOG’s scope of work includes preconstruction and construction outreach, ROW support and stakeholder engagement.

 

CPOG uses multiple platforms so that stakeholders experience content and messaging through a variety of touch points. Our team develops and uses adaptable engagement strategies, including:

 

  • Working with city staff to use their platforms to reach constituents
  • Advertisement and marketing campaigns (print, radio and television) to reach beyond the corridor limits of the project build
  • Online surveys to identify how and when stakeholders would like to receive project information
  • Coordination with professional and industry organizations to reach their members
  • Geotargeted and geofenced social media campaigns rich with video and graphics
  • In-person and virtual meetings with school districts/ schools and local and regional businesses and neighborhoods to engage with the project

 

CPOG has developed and implemented outreach and engagement strategies to inform the public about upcoming closures and detours, while also promoting the project’s benefits — providing choices, offering trip reliability and easing congestion to stakeholders regionally. Platforms for engagement include:

 

  • A 24/7 live answer/dual-language hotline
  • An email address direct to the outreach team for project inquiries
  • An online and live stakeholder log/database that captures all phone and email inquiries
  • Weekly construction alerts with a live Google Map to highlight closures and detours in real time
  • Collateral materials such as fact sheets, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and presentations to brand SBCTA as well as to communicate the project benefits, timeline and funding
  • Corridor canvassing to introduce and engage local businesses and residents about the project and the resources available to them
  • An opt-in mobile text messaging program to serve as a reminder to the traveling public about closures and detours occurring throughout the corridor