City of Baton Rouge, Parish of East Baton Rouge

Building the Infrastructure to Support EBRP Motorists

Challenge
The Green Light Plan includes more than $650 million in City-Parish infrastructure improvements and was voted on and approved by residents of East Baton Rouge Parish in 2005. The City-Parish subsequently engaged a program management team to oversee the day-to-day management of the program and its projects, with SSA Consultants serving as the lead firm in charge of all outreach and engagement efforts.

Approach
SSA’s role as part of the Green Light Plan program management team includes working directly with the Mayor-President, Metro Council, Department of Public Works officials, the program management team, and individual project managers to consult on public awareness strategies as they relate to the roads projects and the program as a whole. SSA is responsible for all direct media inquiries, media relations, coordination with community stakeholders and media representatives on project start dates and completion dates, outreach for major road closures, community and media relations for project public meetings and informational sessions, and serving as liaisons between the project team(s) and community stakeholders during public events and informational sessions. SSA is also responsible for the design and development of materials for public issuance, including press releases, media advisories, and both program and individual project updates to the community.

Impact
The Green Light Plan’s communications, media relations, and community awareness effort has produced and included public information workshops, news broadcasts, articles, and feature stories. In 2010, Public Works Magazine, a nationally distributed industry magazine focused on the needs of public works professionals and partners along with the needs of the communities they serve, published a cover story about the innovative nature of the Green Light Plan and the success of the program to-date. SSA project team members have coordinated more than 50 public events, including public information workshops, groundbreaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies, and community outreach sessions for program and project-specific updates. Community relations has been a strong focus of the Green Light Plan since voters overwhelmingly approved it in 2005, and this will remain true moving forward as the program continues to break ground on new projects and complete existing ones throughout East Baton Rouge Parish. 

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