In fact, managing public perception is a central concern of Sorel’s, judging by articles he and others have written on his Utah work. In a 2004 piece that he authored, Sorel puts purposeful PR firmly among the prerequisites for the success of big transportation projects. One such project, Utah’s massive I-15 highway rebuild (for which Sorel led the Major Projects Team) required a PR plan in its request for design-build proposals, just like the I-35W bridge. A separate report on “Marketing Mega Projects and Public Trust,” which he cites, credits Sorel — who seems to be a social as well as literal engineer — with the concept that “quantitative measures …to gauge public trust” are “paramount” for transportation megaprojects.  Gaining public trust requires honesty and forthrightness — the very qualities Sorel admires in the PR for a highway project in Colorado. There, what could have been a devastating tale about the extermination of 50 prairie dogs to make way for a road for humans instead turned into a feel-good story about people not killing 100 other, luckier prairie dogs. It’s a win-win for both species. Do the math.