Dow, Jeffrey F., March 1978 - SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION TECHNIQUES: A PROBLEM IN TRANSPORTATION AND A PROPOSAL Abstract: This thesis explores several facets of transportation planning: social impact assessment and citizen participation. Social impact assessment is defined, its methodology and techniques described in detail. The same is done for citizen participation, thus laying a basis for the evaluations that follow. The mental health implications of noise, air and chemical pollu- tion, and of population density and unemployment are explored as social impacts. The history of the Hillsborough County Fletcher Avenue Environ- mental Impact Statement and Corridor Location Study is traced. From the inception of the Tampa Urban Area Transportation Study to the completion of the Planning-Profile sheets, many aspects of this study are described, including the citizen participation program and the author's own social impact assessment for the residents of the Fletcher Avenue area. This portion of the paper comes out of the author's internship at Diaz, Seckinger and Associates, a Tampa-based engineering firm carrying out the aforementioned Corridor Study under contract with Hillsborough County. Information was taken from specific reports made for the firm as well as personal daily notes on activities performed by the firm's personnel. Evaluations of both the social impact assessment and the citizen participation program with respect to the opening chapter, are presented. Recommendations for improvement are also advanced. Conclusions are finally put forward, and the case is made that social science methods can be an integral part of the transportation planning process. .