Though their purposes vary, state governments are clearly becoming more comfortable with the use of drones, with an American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials survey determining their use in 35 separate state Departments of Transportation (DOTs).
The survey was conducted with 44 state departments, 80 percent answered in the positive over drone use. Twenty of the 35 utilize drones on a daily basis, most prominently for photos and videos of highway construction projects. The remaining 15 are still testing drones to determine how best to use them.
“This is another example of how state DOTs are advancing innovation to improve safety and productivity for the traveling public,” Bud Wright, AASHTO executive director, said. “Drones are being used to significantly cut the time it takes to gather data, which is leading to major time and cost savings.”
Of the 20 mentioned, 14 use them in survey projects, 12 for public education and outreach, 10 for bridge inspections, 8 for emergency response, 6 for pavement inspections, 5 for research, 2 for daily traffic control and monitoring, and one even uses these drones for high-mast light pole inspections.
Of the 35 states currently using drones, 23 have created extensive drone policies covering everything from their acquisition, to use, training of pilots and restrictions on airspace. Further, 27 have plans to add full-time staff for drone operation.
“We already have local government agencies coming to us and asking for training and so we’ve partnered with our community college system to come up with a curriculum to train drone pilots,” Basil Yap, manager of the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s UAS program, said. “We’re talking about making an economic development decision here–because commercial drone package delivery is coming and State DOT’s across the country need to play a role in developing the highways of the sky– especially in urban areas.”