California Department of Transportation
Caltrans > Caltrans District 3 Home Page > Departments > Planning > Advance Planning
 

Office of Advance Planning

 

Overview and Purpose

The Advance Planning Unit in District 3 develops the Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) in the District. A PID is usually the minimum qualification required for a State Highway System project to qualify to compete for funding.  The most important function of a PID is establishing a project as a viable candidate for Federal, State, regional and local funds.  Without completion of a PID, most capital projects would be ineligible for programming—which is the commitment of funds. 

Products and Process

California and its regional transportation planning agencies develop transportation plans and programs through a continuing, comprehensive and cooperative process.  The goal in each instance is to develop and maintain a system that provides safe, reliable transportation and mobility for people goods and services in the State.

The various planning processes identify structural or operating deficiencies in the transportation system and generally recommend consideration of a range of projects to address these deficiencies in a Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).  Once a project to address a deficiency is identified in an RTP, the department and local agencies use a Project Initiation Document (PID) as the vehicle for determining the type and scope of project that will be developed to address the targeted deficiency.  When that PID has been developed, the project is sufficiently defined for an agency—either the State or a local transportation planning agency—to compete for funds for that project. 

The PID is a record of the purpose and need for the project, and the approach that will be taken to meet or reduce transportation deficiencies.  This is normally done by a Project Study Report (PSR) which is a format that meets statutory requirements and is a model for other PID documents.

Detailed information about the PID process is provided in Chapter 9 of the Project Development Procedure Manual, at http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/oppd/pdpm/chap_pdf/ch09.pdf

Contacts

For questions regarding processes represented on the page, please contact Isam Tabshouri at (530) 741-5749

Additional Pages