CALTAP Honors Walnut Creek PWX Innovation

2023 Build a Better Mousetrap

On September 26, 2023, Associate Traffic Engineer Matt Redmond of the City of Walnut Creek Public Works Department was officially awarded the FHWA's Pioneer Award for devising an automated approach to capturing traffic signal sight distances. Known as "Safe Sightings of Signs & Signals" (SSOSS), Matt and his team are one of four national winners of FHWA's 2023 Build a Better Mousetrap (BABM) competition.

To honor the achievement, both CALTAP and Caltrans DLA converged on City Hall to present their public works team with the prestigious BABM award, where they were joined by the City Manager and Caltrans Public Affairs.

Flying-in from Long Beach, CA, CALTAP Director O'Brien officiated the ceremony noting "Our public sector workforce represents an under-appreciated source of innovation in our nation. With another government shutdown only narrowly avoided, it’s worth being reminded how much we depend upon the services they provide."

Do you have an innovation you'd like to share with other agencies? Contact us to apply for 2024's competition and help us showcase your achievement! 

2023 Build a Better Mousetrap Winners

October 19, 2023, 11:00am – 1:00pm PT

FHWA is hosting a 2-hour webinar to present the national winners of their annual "Build a Better Mousetrap" (BABM) innovation competition.

Through this initiative, FHWA works year-round to discover, recognize, and celebrate those local government and tribal agencies who pioneer workplace innovations that ultimately lead to improvements in transportation system performance, safety, and/or efficiency.

The 2023 Winners are:

• The Mobile Unit Sensing Traffic (MUST) Device, HollyAnna Littlebull, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation

• Route 71 over Shark River Road Diet, Gerald Oliveto, New Jersey Department of Transportation

• Solar-powered Remote Cameras, Matthew Beyer, St. Louis County, Minnesota, Public Works Department

• Safe Sightings of Signs and Signals (SSOSS) Software, Matthew Redmond, City of Walnut Creek, California 

No registration required, to join just click here on October 19 at 11:00am PT. If you have any questions about this upcoming webinar, please contact Trinette Ballard, Program Manager with FHWA’s Local Aid Support.

Environmental Excellence Awards

FHWA has announced the opening of the 2024 Environmental Excellence Awards (EEA) Program, which recognizes outstanding transportation projects, processes, and partners that use FHWA funding sources to go above and beyond compliance to achieve environmental excellence.

Who is Eligible

FHWA accepts nominations for any project, process, group, or individuals involved in a project or process that has used FHWA funding sources to make an outstanding contribution to transportation and the environment.

How to Submit an Entry

All award nominations must be submitted through the FHWA EEA website. To submit an application, please create an account, log in, and click on the “Submit an Application” link at the top of the page.

All entries for the 2024 EEA are due NLT November 3, 2023

Read more about the 2022 winners or contact the EEA team at EEAwardsNomination@dot.gov for more information.

Caltrans Local Assistance Day

November 2, 2023, 8:30–11:30am PST

Caltrans DLA, in partnership with the Regional Transportation Planning Agencies Group, invites you to attend their statewide Local Assistance Day webinar this November 2, 2023.



This quarterly event informs RTPAs, MPOs, LPAs, and other transportation parties on timely topics related to local project delivery policies, processes, procedures, and the peer-sharing of best practices.

These webinars are free and attendance is encouraged for anyone who works with Caltrans local assistance processes for local or tribal agencies.

Register now or contact DLA with any questions.

Life-Cycle Planning Analysis in a Transportation Asset Management Framework

NCHRP has released Life-Cycle Planning Analysis in a Transportation Asset Management Framework, a guide for transportation planning and engineering professionals on the implementation of life-cycle planning (LCP) analysis to support transportation asset management (TAM)

This guide presents a four-step framework with specific technical methods that agencies can apply to integrate life-cycle cost analysis into TAM decision making. This research will be of particular interest to transportation agencies seeking to develop and apply robust and consistent methods of life-cycle cost estimation to inform TAM decision making.

Supplemental to this report is NCHRP web document Implementation of Life-Cycle Planning Analysis in a Transportation Asset Management Framework which develops a framework to perform life-cycle planning.

Access the full report here.

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New Updates Released

As more CALTAP site features get released, know that we'll be bringing you new resource collections to simplify your search for eligible funding, online presentations and webinars, and on-demand recorded trainings.

Also be sure to checkout our online training and events calendars, where you'll find upcoming classes, conference, and webinars by event date. Most are free of charge and support online attendance.

Visit www.caltap.org for all of your

local agency training, news, and event needs

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