Caltrans rolls out engagement playbook, pilot portal and draft director policy to standardize community input

Caltrans executives and staff told the Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee on May 14 that the department is formalizing how it engages communities across the life cycle of transportation projects and plans.

The department is developing a suite of tools — a director—s policy on external engagement, a statewide community engagement playbook, district-level playbook templates, and a web-based Caltrans Engagement Portal — designed to make engagement more consistent, trackable and easier to carry forward from planning into design, right-of-way and construction. "We are creating the ability to be able to engage people through the life of a project," said Naila Pope Hardin, deputy director of equity and tribal affairs for Caltrans.

Why it matters: Caltrans staff and committee members said communities have been invited into planning unevenly and too often late in the project timeline. The new resources aim to reduce late design changes, keep community feedback visible from phase to phase and help districts tailor outreach to local needs.

What Caltrans presented and why the department says it—s needed - Director—s policy: Caltrans staff said a formal director—s policy will set the department-wide expectation that projects incorporate meaningful external engagement and will clarify roles and responsibilities across headquarters and the 12 districts. "A director's policy is intended to broadly cover a specific policy area and translate its purpose into an action plan," said Jacqueline Garcia, equity analyst on the Caltrans team. - Statewide playbook and district playbooks: The statewide playbook will set best practices and an overall framework; district playbooks will adapt that guidance to local conditions and procedures. Staff said the playbook work is informed by internal listening sessions and by an internal community engagement advisory committee. - Public engagement plans (PEPs): Staff described a standard PEP template that project teams would use to answer six essential questions (what—s open to change, who is affected, level of involvement, methods, timing, and responsibilities). Caltrans presented the PEP as the operational tool that ties strategy to activity throughout a project's life cycle. - Caltrans Engagement Portal: Emily Abrahams, the portal lead, described the web platform tested in an 18-project pilot beginning in late 2023. The portal provides a public project page, surveys and comment collection, translation and captioning, livestream hosting for hybrid meetings, and a back-end for staff to filter and map participant inputs. "The Caltrans engagement portal is a new tool that Caltrans is beginning to use to foster greater access and opportunity for the public to engage on projects and plans, both online and offline," Abrahams said. Staff said the portal allows inputs collected in person or by phone to be uploaded into a single system of record and supports equity-focused mapping to check whether outreach reached under-resourced communities.

Staffing and near-term rollout Caltrans said each district will receive a community engagement coordinator (CEC) position — the department described 12 new positions (one per district) whose responsibilities will include supporting PEPs, advising project teams on methods, maintaining the portal, and drafting district playbooks. Staff said the portal pilot showed promise and that a "soft launch" to add more projects begins in July following refinements. The statewide playbook and district playbook templates are expected to be available in interim form this summer, with a first draft of the statewide playbook targeted for publication in January 2026.

Committee input and next steps EAC members pressed for metrics that show not just how many participants were reached but whether engagement changed outcomes. Members also urged Caltrans to catalog prior outreach in places where communities already have a long history of interaction with agencies; to avoid re-asking questions residents answered years before; and to build in methods to compensate community-based organizations for time when feasible. Caltrans staff acknowledged those requests and proposed to continue the detailed drafting in the newly formed EAC community engagement subcommittee and to return with updated drafts and examples this summer.

What Caltrans is not yet doing Staff said the department does not yet have a statewide roster of dedicated community engagement practitioners available for hire on demand, nor does it yet have a departmentwide budget for compensating every community group that participates. Both items, they said, are areas under discussion but not yet implemented.

Bottom line: Caltrans has moved from ad hoc outreach toward a formal, layered system of policy, playbooks, staff roles and digital tools. The department asked the EAC for detailed feedback on draft language and on measurable standards the EAC would like to see included before any policy is finalized.