• Public Involvement Team
  The Public Involvement Team is comprised of staff from ODOT and the Port, and members of the consultant team. This team is responsible for planning and implementing public involvement and outreach with people who may be impacted by the problem and proposed solutions. This team coordinates online surveys, open houses, project newsletters and website, and stakeholder interviews, briefings and advisory committee meetings.
• Project Development Team
  The Project Development Team is responsible for coordinating the project and finding consensus among partners on critical issues. The members of the Project Development Team represent the Port, ODOT, the City of Portland, Metro, Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and project staff.
• Stakeholder Advisory Committee
  The role of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) was to advise the Project Development Team and Policy Group to ensure that the interests, issues, knowledge and recommendations of the local community are considered in project decisions. Committee participants also share project information with their various constituencies. Look here for a list of the committee members, their affiliations, and meeting notes. 
  
  Note: Regular SAC meetings are not held during these final phases of the project but will be scheduled as needed. Check back for updates.
  
  Project Schedule

Step 1: Technical Analysis: Existing and Future Traffic Demands
The project team studied the current extent of the interchange congestion problem and will forecast what traffic will be like in 2028 in order to develop solutions that account for future regional growth.

Step 2:  Identify Stakeholders and Relevant Issues
This step, also known as “scoping,” involved the project team conducting an Issues Workshop with the Stakeholder Advisory Committee, interviewing more than 30 potentially impacted individuals, hosting a public open house, and conducting an online survey. The project team used this information to develop a baseline understanding of the issues to be considered in the project analysis and to identify potentially affected individuals and groups whose opinions should be taken into account.

Step 3:  Develop Criteria to Evaluate Alternative Solutions
The project team developed evaluation criteria to evaluate and compare alternative solutions.  The criteria are based on the project Goals and Objectives— desirable project outcomes that are derived from issues identified by the Stakeholder Advisory Committee and members of the public via interviews, an open house and an online surveys.

Step 4:  Develop Alternative Solutions
For this step, the project team held a three-day Value Planning Workshop in July 2008 with representatives from ODOT, the Port of Portland, WSDOT, Metro, FHWA, City of Portland, transportation engineers and planners, and the Stakeholder Advisory Committee.  During the workshop, participants brainstormed 65 solutions to improve the flow of Airport Way traffic accessing I-205 north at the Airport Way interchange.  After evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, workshop participants identified 22 solutions, including three non-engineered actions (Traffic Demand Management, improvement to public transportation and land use management) to advance to the next evaluation process (Step 5).

Step 5: Evaluate Range of Solutions
In August 2008, the Stakeholder Advisory Committee and Project Development Team began a qualitative evaluation of the 19 engineered alternatives based on the criteria that reflect the project Goals and Objectives. Most of the 19 alternatives are not stand-alone solutions, and in many cases, compliment one another in addressing the project’s three identified key constraints. As a result, proposed solutions have been combined into ten (10) “alternative packages,” each of which may be combined with any of the three non-engineering solutions. Of the ten alternative packages, five (1, 2, 3 4 and 6) appear to perform the best based on evaluation criteria. Members of the public were invited to review and comment on the 10 alternative packages and evaluation process at open houses and online surveys.
 
Step 6: Narrow Alternatives
After considering public comment from the online survey, open house and stakeholder briefings, and evaluation results, the Stakeholder Advisory Committee and Project Development Team will select up to five alternative packages that most adequately address the project’s core purpose and need. The project team will conduct traffic modeling, visual simulations and quantitative evaluations for these selected alternatives.