Director's Corner

So far, so good, with much more to accomplish

Gratitude is certainly among my primary emotions as I look back on my first year as director of the California’s Department of Transportation. It has been quite the ride, so to speak, as together we have traveled great distances and done much meaningful work.

Let us take a step back and acknowledge the past year’s highlights, many of which are listed in the 2022 Caltrans Annual Accomplishments Report, released this summer.

The annual report, which was first produced for 2020, is framed in the context of Caltrans’ six strategic goals: safety first, cultivating excellence, stewardship and efficiency, multimodal transportation network, climate action and equity and livability. Those goals, in turn, are consonant with Caltrans’ “Core Four” fundamental principles: safety, equity, climate action and economic prosperity.

Here's a quick look at those four principles and some of the ways in how we have addressed them this past year.

Safety: To achieve our ambitious goal of zero fatalities on our state’s transportation system by 2050, we have implemented what is known as the “Safe System Approach.” The approach recognizes that humans make mistakes, humans are vulnerable, and responsibility for safety is shared.

Equity: We have recently merged our Sustainability and Race and Equity Offices to form the new Office of Equity, Sustainability & Tribal Affairs. Our intention is to promote and advance holistic, integrated, and restorative policies to planning, building, and advocating for a more just transportation system.

Climate action: Our department is conducting a historic shift to reduce our use of non-renewable energy and working hard to simultaneously prevent further negative impacts to our climate. For example, Caltrans worked with the State Transportation Agency and others to develop the California Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure.

Economic prosperity: This fourth foundational principle of our Core Four is an integral part of Caltrans’ role in planning and building equitable, sustainable and safe projects for all.

In other positive developments, we are reaping the benefits of some of the largest infrastructure investments in our history thanks in large part to the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021. Over the past 18 months, our state has received more than $20 billion in IIJA funding that empowers us to rebuild California across our many transportation platforms.

We also can point to advances in our Clean California, Complete Streets, fleet-electrification and Middle Mile Broadband efforts, among many others, in addition to the vital, ongoing work we constantly perform to improve and maintain our multimodal transportation network.

We have a lot to celebrate – particularly during this golden year of Caltrans’ 50^th anniversary – but, as always, we have more to do. Thank you for helping us achieve all we can in the months and years ahead, and as always, stay safe.