The Project
Link21 will transform Northern California's passenger rail network into a faster, more connected system. This new government-funded program needed a website to inform, educate, and build a broad base of support. In close collaboration with a range of internal stakeholders and agency partners, Kalamuna facilitated consensus-building workshops, designed an accessible, inclusive experience, and developed the site in Drupal 8.
After a successful initial launch with press coverage, we’ve been augmenting the site with new functionality for events, timelines, and maps.
The Big Goal
After a successful redesign of the FasTrak website, our partnership with the Bay Area Transit Authority (BATA) shifted focus to a new passenger rail system connecting northern California. Before Link21 had a name, we began strategizing its public launch alongside a complex web of stakeholders, including transportation experts Convey, BATA, Capitol Corridor, and their agency partners at HNTB and Reflex. Kalamuna’s role centered on structuring, designing, and building the site, then augmenting it with planned feature upgrades over time.
We knew our expertise in building alignment and consensus both within and across institutions would be invaluable to this project. We conducted one-on-one interviews with representatives from Bay Area Rapid Transit, Capitol Corridor, HNTB, and Reflex. This allowed us to understand what was important to each organization, along with who needed to be included and when. As an international team, we brought a practiced sensitivity to cultural differences to our work. The remote collaboration tools that have served our distributed team for years were essential to this project’s success during a pandemic.
A major infrastructure project is of interest to a variety of audiences, including historically underserved communities. This project’s mandate for equity extended beyond accessibility compliance into true inclusivity.
Kalamuna structured and labeled a simple navigation that makes finding information easy for people of all backgrounds and professional interests. Beyond designing an engaging, accessible expression of the new Link21 brand, we recommended adjustments to the initial brand color palette to ensure sufficient color contrast for use in links, buttons, menus, and maps. We optimized the mobile experience so that community members on mobile phones or with low bandwidth could be included in the conversation. We built an accessible and multilingual site, allowing for content to be easily navigated by screen reader and human-translated into both Spanish and Mandarin.
From the start, we knew we would launch a simple website to announce Link21 to the public, with plans to grow as the program matured. The initial launch included a foundation of Drupal 9 and integrations with select editing, survey, and public engagement tools. After the public began engaging with the site, we shifted our focus to adding features to expand the site’s impact. They included an interactive quiz, enhanced event functionality, and more.
Final Thoughts
The website remained performant, even with press mentions driving traffic above 700K. Client stakeholders received broad public support and praise for the site. While Link21 continues to populate translations, we are iteratively building new functionality into the website to stay aligned with the program as it readies for service in 2040.
The Link21 leadership team and BART and CCJPA communications staff are extremely pleased with the site. We have a product that we are proud of!
Kimberly Sims
Director, Public Involvement, HNTB