Behind the Build: Plan Bay Area’s Award-Winning Website
The redesigned Plan Bay Area website has earned two national honors: the 2026 Pinnacle Award and Members’ Choice Award for Best Special District or Nongovernmental Website from the National Association of Government Web Professionals.
I’m proud to have served as Technical Lead Developer for this redesign through Fuzetto Web Solutions, working alongside Peak Digital, which led the project for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).
The recognition is a welcome opportunity to share some of the work behind the website—and celebrate the team that brought it to life.
Bringing the Design to Life with Drupal 11
As Technical Lead Developer, I led Peak Digital’s development team through the Drupal implementation, coordinating technical work, reviewing code, and helping resolve challenges throughout the redesign. Working alongside the team’s developers, I contributed to the content model, custom functionality, reusable components, migrations, and launch preparation.
My contributions included:
Leading Peak Digital’s development team and coordinating the Drupal technical implementation.
- Helping build and maintain the content model.
- Performing code reviews and technical troubleshooting.
- Developing custom functionality and reusable content components.
- Assisting with document and content migration.
- Supporting accessibility, performance, and maintainability goals.
- Leading deployment planning and launch activities.
A central part of this work was building a foundation that serves both visitors and the people managing the website. Reusable components and structured content give editors flexibility while helping maintain consistency across the site.
A Shared Achievement
A successful public-sector website takes many kinds of expertise. Peak Digital brought together design, user experience, content strategy, project management, development, and QA, working closely with MTC and ABAG throughout the redesign.
Peak Digital’s developers brought their front-end and back-end expertise to the implementation, building the features and components that turned the team’s designs and content requirements into a working website. Their collaboration, problem-solving, and attention to detail were essential to bringing the platform to life.
MTC and ABAG staff contributed the program knowledge, content, and feedback that helped shape the site around the needs of residents, stakeholders, and content editors.
Receiving both the Pinnacle and Members’ Choice awards makes this recognition especially meaningful. I’m grateful to Peak Digital for the opportunity to contribute and proud to have worked alongside everyone who helped make the redesign a success.
A Digital Foundation for Regional Planning
Plan Bay Area brings together transportation, housing, economic, and environmental planning for the San Francisco Bay Area. Its website helps residents and stakeholders explore the region’s long-range vision and access the information behind it.
For me, that public purpose is one of the most rewarding parts of the project. Technical decisions—from how content is structured to how components behave on mobile—support how people find, understand, and use that information.
Congratulations to Peak Digital, MTC, ABAG, and the entire project team on this recognition. I’m proud to have helped build the platform and look forward to seeing it continue to evolve.
Read MTC and ABAG’s awards announcement or explore the Plan Bay Area website.