National Winners Announced:

City of Walnut Creek

Build a Better Mousetrap 2023

FHWA recently announced the winners of its 2023 Build a Better Mousetrap national competition, which recognizes local agency innovators who are making our roads safer and more efficient. Our congratulations go out to the City of Walnut Creek who enters the history books as California's first ever BABM winner, earning FHWA's Pioneer Award for their "Safe Sightings of Signs & Signals" (SSOSS) innovation.

Using a dash-mount smartphone and open-source software, SSOSS pretty much automates the process of verifying that the City's traffic signals have sufficiently clear and unobstructed sight distances for safe driver visibility. By driving around the city's streets and intersections, SSOSS captures and analyzes sight distance video to identify traffic signal problem areas. 

By automating the assessment of traffic signal visibility, SSOSS saves the City time, increases assessment accuracy, and significantly reduces the risk of error and danger to agency personnel. It's a solution available for use by other agencies wishing to replicate this innovation and achieve similar results in terms of time and cost savings.

Has you or your team developed an innovation you'd like to share? Contact us at info@caltap.org to submit an application for next year's competition. We're always looking to spotlight great ideas from our local agency partners!

Caltrans Celebrates 50th Anniversary

In July 1973, the California Department of Transportation—now known as Caltrans—was created to unify a wide range of transportation functions across the state under a single entity.

To celebrate its “Golden Anniversary,” Caltrans has updated its History page to trace the roots of the Golden State’s transportation system from 1895, when the Bureau of Highways was first formed, to the present day, chronicling key developments and noteworthy projects along the way.

“We’re taking time this anniversary to let you know our work to provide a safe, equitable, and reliable transportation system has only just started.”

Those achievements and more are presented in a new video narrated by Caltrans Director Tony Tavares (below).

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Also don't forget to checkout our online training calendar, where you can find all upcoming courses that have been subsidized (free or small fee) by Caltrans' Division of Local Assistance.

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