By Joel Wascher | Thousands of Gwinnett residents and workers shared their feelings about transportation during the Gr8 Exchange on Transportation the last week of August. They also told Gwinnett what they would like to see in the future.
From the text results alone (not including the online survey results) 52 percent of respondents said they would like to have a combination of modes of transport to get around Gwinnett. Of those, 70 percent wished to use transit in some form or fashion. Only 30 percent of text respondents said they would like vehicular transport to be their only mode of transportation.
The Gr8 Exchange was the most comprehensive transportation survey ever undertaken in Gwinnett County. More than 4,000 surveys were completed in the one week; one of the highest response rates for a transportation related survey with a similar time frame. A total of 25,978 individual texts were received- 155 texts per hour across the seven complete days of the survey.
Warbington
Chuck Warbington, executive director for the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, one of the sponsors for the initiative, says: “We are still culling through the data and evaluating responses to gather specific input, but some overarching themes are already apparent. When asked how they would like to access destinations, an overwhelming majority place a premium on choice in their transportation network.”
The results extended well beyond the survey participation. The true goal of this initiative was to engage local residents and employees in a conversation about transportation and many that did not necessarily complete the survey, did participate in other ways.
Just under 100 events were held in association with the Gr8 Exchange; ranging from telephone town halls and virtual town halls to formal city presentations.
The campaign’s presence was felt online as well. Over 4,000 engagements (likes, shares, comments) took place via social media and nearly 1,600 people pledged via the Internet to hold five personal, transportation-related conversation the week of August 24.
“We couldn’t be happier with the results,” said Warbington. “We received thousands of comments from people all over Gwinnett and plan to spend the next 30-60 days evaluating that data.”
Once the full results are available, the Gwinnett Village CID plans to produce a white paper based on the results and deliver it to federal, state and local officials to aid in their long range transportation plan development. Gr8 Exchange participants are encouraged to go the www.theGr8Exchange.com and sign up to receive updates, the final reports when available and ways to stay involved.
Warbington adds: “Given the amount of public input that has been gathered, we hope Gwinnett County will take its citizens’ views into consideration when developing a transportation vision for our future.”
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