Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

2.3.1 Barriers in the transport decision-making process
Vol 1 - Table of Contents
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Why are barriers important?
A barrier is any obstacle which prevents a project from being
implemented, or limits the way in which it can be implemented.
Barriers often arise as a result of conflicting interests. In the
extreme, such barriers can lead to certain options being
excluded and the resulting projects being less effective.
Five common types of barriers can be grouped for transport
projects, and can be further grouped under two broad
categories (illustrated in Figure 3):
Contextual barriers
Institutional: problems arising from the distribution of
competencies among institutions and administrative bodies.
Legal: lack of legal powers to implement a particular
measure, or constraints on how it can be accomplished.
Financial: budget restrictions that can limit the amount
and type of expenditure.
These barriers are heavily dependent on regional and national
circumstances. Because of this, the handbook cannot provide
detailed advice on techniques to overcome these barriers; it can
only provide suggestions about ways to avoid and control
potential impacts. It is important to identify contextual barriers at
an early stage, and to limit their impacts through appropriate
design of the project (e.g. contents of the project, project
management structure or engagement strategy).
Process barriers
Management: problems due to limited staff resources
and skills, or unexpected delays experienced on a daily
basis.
Communication: problems associated with achieving
acceptance by stakeholders, and with communication
issues/challenges.
The project management and engagement tools described in
this handbook offer a range of possibilities for handling these
various types of barriers.
What are the principal barriers in the decision-making process?
Institutional
Barriers
Management
Barriers
Figure 3 - Barriers to the transport decision-making process
Barriers can occur at any stage in a project and there is no
universal approach to their resolution. Addressing barriers as a
theme throughout this handbook allows a particular tool to be
selected in the knowledge of the types of barriers that might be
encountered during its use, and the ones which the tool might
help to overcome. Thus, the role of each project management
and engagement tool in addressing barriers and allowing a
project to continue successfully is emphasised.
How can barriers be identified?
During the initial stages of planning a transport project, it is
important to establish the constraints and context within which
the project is designed and implemented:
BARRIERS
CONTEXTUAL BARRIERS
Legal
Barriers
PROCESS BARRIERS
Communication
Barriers
Financial
Barriers
How much funding is available?
Are there timing constraints?
Do regulations limit how the task can be approached?
Once the project has begun, well designed monitoring should
assist in identifying process barriers, such as: the work is
behind schedule or over budget; the project is experiencing
strong adverse media reaction, etc.
Conflicting interests between project partners, or with external
stakeholders, can lead to management and communication
problems. Understanding the objectives and concerns of
stakeholders can help to identify such issues at early stage, or
even avoid them.
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