CALTAP Honors Walnut Creek PWX Innovation
On September 26, 2023, Associate Traffic Engineer Matt Redmond of the City of Walnut Creek Public Works Department was officially awarded FHWA's Pioneer Innovation 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.
SSOSS signicantly reduces the effort behind verifying that Walnut Creek's traffic signals have sufficiently clear and unobstructed sight distances, both to comply with MUTCD mandates and provide for driver safety. An effort that once took 15 to 45 minutes per intersection to verfiy, SSOSS is now capable of completing a visual inspection of all 100 city intersections in a single day, without anyone ever having to get out of their car!
To honor Walnut Creek's 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 or your team have an innovation you'd like to share with other agencies in California and possibly across the nation? Contact us to apply for next year's competition, we're always looking for ways to showcase great ideas from our local agency partners
The FHWA BABM Initiative
Build a Better Mousetrap is a national recognition program that highlights locally relevant, innovative solutions and provides a platform to share innovations to everyday challenges that local and tribal transportation professionals encounter maintaining their local roads.
These local road solutions range from the development of new project delivery or design processes to the invention of new tools, equipment, or modifications that increase efficiency, enhance safety, reduce cost, and/or improve the quality of transportation on local roads.
Visit FHWA to find out more
City of Walnut Creek
Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about 16 miles east of Oakland.
The city has a population of just over 70,000 across its 19.8 square miles (0.06% of which is water) and boasts an upscale downtown with well-established neighborhoods in surrounding areas that range in both affordability and feel.
