Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Kentucky
When it comes to advancing air quality education in Kentucky—a state with metropolitan, rural, and small urban populations with diverse travel behaviors—the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) takes a regional approach to addressing transportation and air quality challenges.
KYTC got its start with It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air in 2003 and adopted it as their core public education program as a way to deliver consistent messages that increase awareness of the simple things people can do to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.
Options that Make Sense
To meet the needs and interests in different areas of the state, KYTC Transportation Engineer Jesse Mayes said the trick was to tailor the materials and make them specific to Kentucky's various audiences. "The It All Adds Up radio and television ads were customized to focus on area—specific 'Simple Steps to Improving Air Quality,'" Jesse said. For example, the ads airing in the metropolitan areas of Northern Kentucky, Louisville, and Lexington focused on use of mass transit, while ads in more rural areas focused on ride sharing, carpooling, and vehicle maintenance. In ads sponsoring radio traffic reports, KYTC focused on the refueling messages.
The ads were supplemented with KYTC press releases, appearances on talk radio shows, and use of the It All Adds Up exhibit at various state fairs and events. KYTC also set up an air quality "hot line" for people seeking more information.
Jesse said one of the strongest measures of It All Adds Up's success in Kentucky is the fact that three of their Metropolitan Planning Organizations—Bowling Green, Owensborough, and Ashland—have started offshoots of the program. "I think It All Adds Up has been a very good thing, because it has inspired MPOs to start their own public outreach campaigns, which are grassroots," Jesse said. From the beginning, KYTC had hoped that regions across the state would draw from the broader, statewide initiative to create their own, more localized air quality outreach programs.
To complement the It All Adds Up program, KYTC added a valuable feature to its Web site —developed with the University of Louisville—that allows citizens to check ozone forecasts for their area. "This is our first shot at doing something at the state level specifically for our seven main ozone areas, which include rural areas," Jesse said. "Although it's not part of It All Adds Up, we're doing it in conjunction with the initiative because the more people learn about air quality, the more they're interested in it."
Small Steps to Awareness
When they first joined It All Adds Up, KYTC developed a survey to measure changes in public awareness and attitudes resulting from their It All Adds Up campaign. Jesse said the survey indicated a small increase in residents' awareness of ways to improve air quality, and it showed that individuals with a higher level of awareness were more likely to take actions to improve air quality.
Jesse noted changing awareness and attitudes requires a long-term effort. While Kentucky residents' awareness and attitudes changed only slightly in 18 months, it is encouraging that they changed in the ways the It All Adds Up messages advocate. KYTC has shared a hard copy of the survey results with the Federal Partners and believes they will be valuable to other states with small urban and rural ozone non-attainment or maintenance areas.
The It All Adds Up program in Kentucky continues to grow as KYTC officials prepare to launch another season of the program during the summer ozone season.
For more information visit the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.