Director's Corner

We're making inroads on equity and safety

Greetings, Team Caltrans, and welcome to our departmental e-newsletter, CT News. In this issue I want to briefly describe two of Caltrans' most important and exciting undertakings, one of them getting into gear this month and the other is seeing a major upgrade.

Earlier this month in rural San Diego County, Caltrans began constructing the first leg of the 10,000-mile broadband network aimed at bringing high-speed internet services to all Californians so they can access emergency information, telehealth services, education and employment. We are proud to support the California Department of Technology's (CTD’s) efforts to create this $3.25 billion “Middle-Mile Network,” which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law (Senate Bill 156) last year.

The initiative will build, operate and maintain an open access, state-owned middle mile network – high-capacity fiber lines that carry larger amounts of data at higher speeds over longer distances among local networks. On Oct. 13, several state officials including CalSTA Secretary Toks Omishakin gathered beside State Route 67 as the first 500 feet of fiber optic cable was blown through conduit in the network’s first segment.

While Caltrans is mostly known for our roads and highways, we are also about connecting people in other ways. That is exactly what the broadband middle-mile initiative comes down to – connecting people.

I also want to talk about safety, which as we all know is our top priority at Caltrans. Recently in a department-wide email, I announced that we are implementing the Safe System Approach to guide how we respond to our goal to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on all California roadways by 2050.

This approach includes accounting for human mistakes that we know will result in crashes — and building a more forgiving system to minimize the severity of damage. It’s about taking more proactive measures — as well as reactive measures based on data — to improve safety. And it involves building more resilience into the system, so if one part fails, overlapping parts are in place to protect people.

Learn more about the Safe System Approach by accessing this facts sheet (PDF).

Thanks for all your good work. Enjoy this edition of CT News, make the most of California’s beautiful fall season, and stay safe.