Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

T9: Overcoming barriers
Vol 1 - Table of Contents
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Understanding barriers
Barriers can arise at any stage in a transport decision-making
process. They can lead to a significant delay, or even the
cancellation, of a project. Many barriers are caused by different
stakeholder interests (see Section 2), giving rise to different
kinds of barriers that have different effects on the progress of a
project. The most common types of barrier are:
Institutional / Legal / Financial (contextual factors)
Management (process barriers)
Communication (process barriers)
The strategies to reduce the impact of barriers include: (1)
strong management; (2) the commitment of elected officials to
give the project certainty and legitimacy; (3) clear planning to
avoid problems from the outset; and (4) providing enough
resources for troubleshooting to deal with unanticipated
barriers.
Aims
The overall aim is to avoid barriers, as far as is possible, and
to overcome the remaining ones swiftly so that the project can
continue smoothly. This requires:
A clear planning process to avoid barriers;
An early identification of barriers in order to limit their
impact and to provide more scope for finding solutions;
To involve all the stakeholders causing or being affected by
a barrier in efforts to find solutions for them; otherwise the
solution may create a new barrier; and
A feasible project management structure that can adjust
rapidly to changing circumstances.
Useful hints
By planning a project carefully it is possible to reduce the
number of barriers that will be encountered;
Leave a contingency in the planning for resources (money,
time, staff, etc.) to overcome unexpected barriers;
The type of barrier likely to be encountered depends on the
kind of project. Make sure that the partners involved have
relevant skills and experience to overcome the most likely
barriers;
Get the support of actors in key positions (project
champions) in order to overcome barriers more easily; and
Projects viewed as important or positive by the general
public have a better chance of overcoming barriers.
Therefore, involve the public and get their support.
In practice
Gävle, Sweden
An objective of the Gävle project was to increase the modal
share of cycling. The project relied on soft measures convincing
people to cycle rather than on new infrastructure. To reflect the
high importance of communication with the public, a project
manager was chosen with experience in marketing and good
contacts with the media. This farsighted approach was very
successful as communicational barriers, potentially the biggest
danger for 'soft measure' projects, were largely avoided.
Saarbrücken, Germany
The introduction of a new tramline in Saarbrücken was a major
infrastructure project with a high risk of potential conflicts
between private and project interests. The problems that arose
during construction were handled by the Stadtbahn Saar
GmbH, which was created specifically for the construction of
the Saarbahn. Due to its un-bureaucratic structure, it was able
to react to problems in a fast and flexible way.
Brighton, England
In a previous attempt to develop the Station Site, a private
sector consortium developed plans for a superstore without
consulting the local community. The application was not
considered appropriate by the local community or
environmentally sustainable by the local authority. There was
strong dissatisfaction directed at the consortium and at the local
authority for allowing such an inappropriate proposal to reach
the public domain. In the current attempt at development, the
local authority has taken a lead role in the development process
to ensure that local stakeholders are properly consulted and to
try to influence the developer's proposals. The process of
drawing up both Supplementary Planning Guidance and a
development application has taken longer than the previous
attempt, but is widely considered more acceptable by the local
community and has been approved by the local authority. In
particular, the process has helped maintain trust and positive
perceptions between groups of stakeholders.
The Brighton station site.
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