Iowa DOT Offering a New Way to Give Feedback on Projects

The Iowa Department of Transportation has updated the way it gets input on its various projects through its web-based feedback portal.

The DOT’s Trisha Miller says the new system does a better job of collating the input on each project. “This one is a more comprehensive so the voicemail, e-mail and electronic comments. From the website are all gathered and stored on a project basis,” Miller says. So if there’s a road or bridge project in your area, you can click on the PublicInput.com link and share your opinion.

She says they will put the link in when they send out notices on projects. “And it says, ‘not able to attend in the open house, learn about the project and share your feedback online.’ And if you click that link it will take you to the public input,” she says. Miller says it’s part of the information you can review. “It shows you the project overview and shows you all of the events and then you’re able to see the comment link and submit your comments there as well,” Miller says.

She says they get lots of different comments on the projects in the six districts across the state. “It varies widely between communities, but we get a consistent and. We get consistent feedback through all the projects that we do throughout the state. I think the least amount of comments we get are bridge replacement,” Miller says.

The Iowa DOT also holds open houses, and public hearings at different stages of project development to get input on everything from detours to right-of-ways.