If We’re Serious About Outcomes, We Have to Be Serious About Inputs.
My mom sent me the “project page” for a bridge New Jersey’s Department of Transportation (NJDOT) out of compulsion, I think. I’m not sure how she found this site, nor do I think she understood how to use it. Mom’s a smart lady, so it’s not because the links and videos baffled her, it’s because the page wasn’t meant for her, or anyone else really. I think this page was meant to satisfy a funding requirement, all else be damned.
I’m a professional transportation planner.1 I’ve been at it for nearly a decade—more if you consider my “pre-planning” work as a real estate finance bro tangential. I’ve written requests for proposals (“RFPs”); I’ve responded to them. I’ve coordinated with agency professionals, and I’ve worked as…
