UBICACIÓN

The research methodology presented interviews as the chosen method for determining the stakeholder definition and perception of traffic hindrance. The goal of this chapter is the identification and selection of stakeholders of an infrastructural project in order to be able determine their traffic hindrance perception by interviewing them. Therefore this chapter describes the concept of stakeholders, introduces the case of the widening the A1 highway and presents a power interest matrix which is eventually used to decide which stakeholders are selected as interviewees.

5.1

DEFINITION OF STAKEHOLDER

The stakeholder identification process relies on two important definitions; the definition of the term stakeholders and the defined goal of the project. This section elaborates on the first topic, the definition of stakeholder.

A common used definition of the term stakeholder is; any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation’s objectives (Freeman, 2010). This definition is organisation oriented and therefore the Project Management Body of Knowledge (2000) adapted this definition for project stakeholders. They define stakeholders as; individuals and organisations that are actively involved in a project or whose interests may be affected as a result of project execution or completion. This research uses the project oriented definition.

5.2

CASE; WIDENING OF THE A1 HIGHWAY

One of the highways (partly) maintained and managed by the Rijkswaterstaat district Oost-Nederland Oost is the A1. Figure 14 shows the trajectory of the A1 highway in the eastern part of the Netherlands. This highway is one of the main roads in the Eastern Netherlands. It connects the eastern part of the country with the Randstad and is a main corridor in the European highway network.

More and more traffic jams occur on the A1 between Apeldoorn and Azelo. Without measures the A1 between Apeldoorn and Azelo will become a bottleneck in the connection on regional, national and international level (Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment, 2014). The Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment (2014) bases this expectation on four indicators:

 The travel time during rush hours in 2020 and 2030 is expected to be above the limit of 1,5 times the travel time outside rush hours.

 Figure 15 shows the expected ratio between the intensity and capacity on the highway during peak hours. The red parts indicate a bottleneck with structural congestion.

 The number of accidents is higher than the average number in the eastern Netherlands. The number of rear-end collisions is the main source of this higher number. As a result of the expected increase in traffic intensities, the number of accidents is also expected to rise. This results in a project goal

stated by Ministry of

Infrastructure & Environment (2014); improving throughput of traffic, traffic safety and the robustness of the road network. The preferred alternative for realising this goal is the addition of a lane between the intersections of Apeldoorn-Zuid and Azelo. The physical construction of this lane is planned to start in 2017.

5.3

IDENTIFICATION OF STAKEHOLDERS

MacArthur (1997) states the necessity of relating the identification of stakeholders to the project goal. Relating this approach to the earlier presented stakeholder definition and project goal means that a stakeholder in this specific case is an individual or organisation that is involved with or affected by improving the throughput of traffic, traffic safety and the robustness of the road network.

Brainstorming and looking into similar projects is input for the identification of potential stakeholders. Based on the case specific definition of a stakeholder is then decided whether a party is a stakeholder or not. Table 5 shows the identified stakeholders and divides them in three main groups; Rijkswaterstaat stakeholders, governmental stakeholders and civil stakeholders. These groups are based on the role and background of the stakeholder.

Rijkswaterstaat Project team Regional district Traffic management Governmental stakeholders Municipalities Provinces Regional cooperation Emergency services Ministry of Infrastructure &

Environment Water boards

Civil stakeholders

Business & Industry Residents Other modalities Freight transporters Road user Environmental NGO's Other Contractor TABLE 5. STAKEHOLDERS OF A1 PROJECT

FIGURE 15. EXPECTED I/C RATIOS FOR THE A1 IN 2030. (MINISTERIE VAN INFRASTRUCTUUR EN MILIEU, 2013)

5.4

INTEREST AND POWER OF STAKEHOLDERS

Interest and power are two characteristics which provide information about the motivation and concerns of a stakeholder and the ability of the stakeholder to act according to their motivation and concern. The topic of interest reflects the importance of the project for the stakeholder and the reason of this importance. The more the stakeholder benefits or loses due to the project, the stronger their interest is likely to be (Kansas University, 2014). Identifying the interest of the stakeholder reveals information which is useful in order to estimate their future actions. Power is the mechanism through which stakeholders influence the direction of and the decisions for a project according to Newcombe (2003). This power can be used

to retain the status quo or to enforce fundamental change. Stakeholders use their power to defend their interest. Appendix F: Description of power and interest gives a descriptive summary of the power and interest of the stakeholders in the case of the A1 widening. This descriptive information does not suit a direct comparison of the position of different stakeholders. A power interest matrix makes this comparison graphical. Figure 16 shows this matrix for the A1 widening project. It shows in which quadrant the stakeholders are located. The earlier mentioned description of power and interest is the base for the estimation of the stakeholders’ position. The descriptive nature of the source results in a rough estimation. The location of the stakeholder in the matrix is used to select interviewees.

5.5

CONCLUSION

The goal of this chapter is the identification and selection of stakeholders of an infrastructural project in order to be able determine their traffic hindrance perception by interviewing them.

The power interest matrix (Figure 16) forms the basis for the selection of the interviewees. The stakeholders in the upper right corner are all selected as interviewees because they have a high level of interest and power. The only exception is the contractor, he is

not part of the interviews. Main reason for this decision is the fact that this research focusses on the ‘demand side’ of the traffic hindrance approach and the contractor is more associated with the supply side. The risk of presenting insider knowledge to a potential contractor is an additional argument for the exclusion. The stakeholders in the lower left quadrant are not interviewed because both their power and their interest are too low to play a significant role.

Table 6 shows the selected stakeholders. The organisations in brackets are interviewed as representative of the stakeholder. Appendix H: interview summaries presents an overview of the interview results and gives more information about the interviewed person and his specific role in the organisation he represents.

Road user [ANWB] RWS Oost-Nederland Oost Municipality of Apeldoorn Province of Overijssel Municipality of Deventer Province of Gelderland Stedendriehoek region Freight transporters [EVO] Freight transporters [TLN]

Road user [VVN] Business park A1 Deventer Emergency services [Police] Traffic management [RWS VWM]

Project team

FIGURE 16. POWER INTEREST MATRIX OF THE A1 CASE

TABLE 6. INTERVIEWED STAKEHOLDERS