"Before I left the Chicago Tribune, I was doing radio at 6 a.m.; television every day -- MSNBC, Fox News Sunday; blogging constantly; and writing my stories," said former newspaper reporter Jill Zuckman, who now works as director of public affairs for the U.S. Department of Transportation. "I had to operate on every possible platform."

Zuckman has brought this multimedia experience into her DOT position, including working on U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's "Fast Lane" blog last year after LaHood took office. By June 2009, the blog had 12,000 followers; by January of this year, that number had expanded to 45,000.

"When we announced the high-speed rail grants [last month], every train person in the country logged onto the blog," she said, adding that her agency pushes out the news through the blog, "not just one quote in a press release."

That personal touch and point of view do make a difference in raising awareness with the media, said Lisa Caruso, a reporter for National Journal and moderator of the publication's "Transportation Expert" blog.

"If you have good quality content, reporters will use it," Caruso said. "Feature real people, and give them good story ideas to lessen the amount of work they do."

In discussing what resources he looks at every morning when he comes into the office, Pete Rafle, communications director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said, "We're operating in a different environment -- everything is electronic; things are happening in real time. Maybe someone will read a blog post at 9:30 at night; it can change what happens [the next day] in the Senate. Bloggers don't care about standard business hours."

So much churning of information requires almost constant surveillance of the new media environment. Shana Marchio, communications director for Sen. Kit Bond, R-MO, stressed the importance of constantly monitoring the media.

"It can be a full-time job; so it is important to make it a team effort," she said. "Embrace the 24-hour news cycle. But be sure to tailor your messages to the different media."

Lisa Lambert said there were several good resources to monitor what's going on in Congress. Lambert, a "Being Heard on Capitol Hill: Communicating the Future of Transportation" workshop panelist who covers transportation for Reuters, said she follows LaHood's Fast Lane blog, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar's Twitter feed, and ProPublica (an online investigative publication) to keep up with the news.

Paula Hammond, Washington state transportation secretary, has been a leader in embracing new media and stressing transparency in government. Moderating the workshop, Hammond said that the "use of social media tools has revolutionized how WSDOT relates to the public and how we manage our communications."

Hammond said her department has assessed its website to see what its customers go to first and reoriented the homepage to make it easier to find important information.

"We are using Flickr and taking photos at every event and groundbreaking," she said. "Then we have readily accessible photos of real people working whenever we might need them. But it is important to have a strategy on how you use Twitter and blogs so there is a central core message. Be careful about your brand."

In the coming months, Hammond said WSDOT is planning to move forward in developing real-time traffic information for mobile devices, which appears to be the next popular application on the horizon.

Making an Impact on Congress

Several panelists noted that the difficult partisan climate now existing in Congress can add to the challenges of communicating important information. Long-time WTOP radio reporter Dave McConnell noted "much more anger, much less cooperation in Congress" since he's been covering issues on the Hill.

Both Rafle and Marchio said transportation has long been a bipartisan issue.

"Transportation is the bridge between party politics," Marchio said. "Bond and [Sen. Patty] Murray [D-WA] approach transportation funding as a team. The Senate jobs bill is a shining example of what can be done."

Rafle said that the jobs bill currently pending in the Senate (HR 2847) worked because of the inherent support for increasing employment across the country. He referenced the recent AASHTO report, "Projects and Paychecks," as a good way to let Congress know how state DOTs are using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to create and save hundreds of thousands of positions during a time of astronomically high unemployment in the construction sector. (see related story)

"Members of Congress do respond to personal stories," Rafle said. "When people see those numbers and hear that story, Senate offices really take notice."

Looking ahead to the upcoming long-term surface transportation reauthorization, Rafle said jobs never go out of style.

"For the long term, we have to talk about a world-class infrastructure for a world-class economy -- it plays to national pride," he said.

Marchio, who also is the secretary for the bipartisan Senate Press Secretaries Association, said that trying to get Congress to raise taxes is always difficult.

"There are [currently] no popular solutions," she said. "It's your job to make it hard for people to say 'no.' Don't get into urban versus rural; look at the needs of an overall transportation plan."