MassDOT Modernizes Infrastructure Oversight with Drone Technology
When a bridge in Northbridge closed for repairs, MassDOT didn’t just send crews, they launched a drone.
The agency’s Aeronautics Drone Operations Program is deploying high-resolution and thermal drones to inspect bridges, roads, runways, and state buildings faster and more safely. “We have one job, and it is to gather data to help improve transportation in Massachusetts,” said Chris Grazioso, Chief UAS Operations for MassDOT. By flying just feet from critical assets, inspectors capture detailed imagery that increases efficiency and reduces risk, helping engineers move projects forward without putting people in harm’s way.
Since launching the program in 2018, demand has surged. “It increases our efficiency. It’s very safe,” the team explained, describing how drone access has reshaped workflows across the department. With 30 licensed pilots and growing, MassDOT is scaling a modern approach to managing aging infrastructure, keeping the Commonwealth’s bridges, rails, and roads moving safely into the future.
- Tech drivers like to joke every season is construction season here in
- Massachusetts.
- I may have said that before.
- I may too.
- MassDOT is apparently taking this to heart.
- It's now taken to the skies in order to speed up work.
- NBC 10's transportation reporter, Eli Rosenberg, is on it, taking us
- inside MassDOT's drone program.
- On a chilly afternoon in Northbridge,
- MassDOT pilots using this drone to get a good look at a bridge
- closed for repairs.
- We have one job, and it is, it is to gather data to help improve
- transportation in Massachusetts.
- The state transportation agency fully embracing drones.
- This drone can fly 20 miles out and 20 miles back.
- As a way to stay up to speed on a system of roads, bridges,
- runways, and state buildings that at times need repairs.
- The drones giving MassDOT a literal bird's-eye view.
- So I started here in 2018, and we're like a completely different
- department nowadays. It increases our efficiency.
- It, uh, and it's very safe.
- And as drone technology has improved, so has demand within
- MassDOT. These drones have high-resolution optical
- cameras,
- thermal sensors, and the most state-of-the-art technology,
- getting
- inspectors and engineers access and data like never
- before.
- You're getting the drone a couple of feet from your target,
- and you're getting your photos or your videos right there.
- You know, as opposed to being on the ground,
- and it's just gonna speed up their
- jobs, make them more efficient, and make them safer.
- MassDOT has about 30 licensed drone pilots and is looking to add
- more. An aging infrastructure meeting a new tech
- solution
- with the goal of getting us around as fast and as safe as
- possible. These pilots feel like they're making the
- difference.
- It's the best job I've ever had, and I had some pretty good jobs in my
- life, and
- this is definitely the best job I've ever had.
- And the goal is to expand this drone program with several
- classes this year, ensuring more drone pilots like this
- are out here keeping our bridges, rails, and roads
- safe. In Northbridge, Eli Rosenberg, NBC
- 10 Boston
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