Caltrans presents rebalanced 2026 SHOP; commission to consider adoption in March

Caltrans presented the draft 2026 State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOP) to the Transportation Commission at a south hearing, telling commissioners the program was rebalanced because allocation capacity and rising costs prevented funding every proposed project on the original schedule.

Acting state asset management engineer Diana Campbell said the draft remains a large preservation portfolio — nearly 600 projects — but that ‘‘75% of the projects consumed 98% of the capacity,’’ forcing schedule shifts and carryovers. She said those pressures reflect higher construction costs and repeated major‑damage director’s orders that have exceeded $1 billion in recent years.

Campbell described the four‑year draft as ‘‘still producing $17,000,000,000 over the 4 years’’ and said the portfolio focuses on the core fix‑it‑first assets: pavement, bridges, TMS elements and culverts. She told commissioners Caltrans expects to work on several thousand lane miles of pavement, millions of square feet of bridges and hundreds of thousands of linear feet of culverts under the draft, and to include multimodal elements (bike, pedestrian and transit features) where feasible as part of preservation work.

Campbell also flagged program delivery challenges: 19 projects in the draft exceed $100 million each and ‘‘require careful schedule and cost management,’’ she said, adding that the agency will monitor project change requests early to avoid last‑minute schedule shuffling.

Commission staff reiterated statutory milestones for the SHOP review: Caltrans circulated the draft on December 8, accepted public comments through January 16 and submitted the proposed SHOP to the commission on January 30. The commission plans to consider adoption at its March meeting and — if adopted — would submit the SHOP to the legislature and governor by April 1, staff said. The hearing was informational only; commissioners took no vote.

The presentation included a public‑facing tool: Campbell pointed attendees to projectbook.ca.gov, a GIS‑enabled dashboard listing Caltrans’ anticipated projects for the next 10 years.

Next steps: the commission will review the submitted draft at its March meeting; the agency and regional partners said they will continue coordination on schedule and delivery as the SHOP moves toward final adoption.