Social media in action: A virtual open house for the Willamette River Bridge

Jyll Smith

Public Information Officer

Major Projects Branch

Replacing the Interstate 5 Willamette River Bridge

Design enhancements

Sculptures to appear along the bridge’s median and freeway

Build on the Whilamut Passage theme

Designed with the community in mind

The challenge

Introduce bridge enhancement ideas

Modernize outreach methods

Adopt new processes and platforms

Increase public

access to information

The opportunity

Engage an active online community.

Break new ground in

social media.

Increase opportunities

for community

input.

The solution: A virtual open house

Hosted on project website

for six days.

Supplemented a one-time

physical open house.

A first for ODOT. The WRB had

two virtual open houses; this

was the second.

Research and planning

Explored alternative

survey methods.

Coordinated with artists

and facilitators.

Cross-promoting with social media tools

Willamette River Bridge YouTube videos

Willamette River Bridge Twitter feed

Willamette River Bridge blog

Puts human face on the project team.

Provides public with a look behind the orange cones.

Drove traffic to the virtual open house.

Results of the virtual open house

Required fewer resources than a physical open house.

Received 10 times as many responses as typical open houses alone.

High-level input.

Positive feedback.

Strengthened our use of integrated social media to interact with our audience.

Lessons learned

An established online presence is key to driving

traffic.

Engaging online requires a

heavy resource commitment.

Project team’s efforts were worth the

investment.

ODOT will use virtual open

houses in the future.