On June 11, 2024, Caltrans announced contracts with Deloitte Consulting LLP, INRIX, and Accenture LLP to pilot GenAI technology in a controlled sandbox environment. The initiative aims to improve traffic management, address congestion, and enhance safety for vulnerable road users, aligning with Governor Newsom’s directive for ethical and responsible implementation of emerging technologies.

Caltrans, in partnership with the California Department of Technology and the Department of General Services, awarded the state's first GenAI vendor contracts to test innovative solutions aimed at protecting vulnerable road users and improving traffic management. The contracts, awarded to Deloitte Consulting, LLP, INRIX, Inc., and Accenture, LLP, follow Governor Newsom’s Executive Order and emphasize ethical, controlled technological integration.

Caltrans demoted deputy director Jeanie Ward-Waller after she raised concerns over a $280-million repaving project suspected of covertly expanding freeway lanes without proper environmental review, reflecting punitive retaliation against internal dissent and raising labor and ethical concerns.

Caltrans has established a labor compliance program aimed at creating a level playing field among contractors by rigorously enforcing federal and state labor laws, ensuring that employees on its projects receive prevailing wages and work in a non-discriminatory environment.

Caltrans demoted its deputy director of planning, Jeanie Ward-Waller, after she objected to highway expansion projects that appeared to bypass environmental review. Ward-Waller raised concerns that project details misclassified road widening as routine maintenance, undermining proper evaluation under state and federal environmental laws, and subsequently filed a whistleblower complaint.

Unionized Caltrans workers represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers ratified a three‐year labor agreement that began on July 1, 2023, providing wage raises, bonuses, and special pay adjustments aimed at improving recruitment, retention, and addressing pay disparities.

The article details how in 2007 Caltrans attempted to forcefully displace a long-established bald eagle nest by placing a large black plastic cone and tearing down a newly built nest, an act that was met with strong public outcry. In response, after activist intervention, Caltrans reversed course by allowing the nest to remain and installing a camera to monitor the eagles, enhancing transparency and community oversight.