Background
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) oversees more than 2,200 active highway projects across the state with a total annual contract value of $14 billion. These projects span bridges, road construction, and land surveys. Caltrans faces a constant challenge of managing these projects efficiently and meeting budget goals, while ensuring public safety and minimizing disruptions.
Challenge
Improving efficiency while being understaffed.
Caltrans needed a way to improve the efficiency of their project management, particularly when it came to inspections. Their existing processes involved a combination of manual inspections and scattered drone use, but this wasn’t enough to keep up with the demands of monitoring $14 billion worth of active projects. Additionally, the department was facing significant staffing shortages, with over 100 vacancies in key positions like inspectors.
“ We operate about 2,200 active projects right now with a contract value of over $14 billion. We’re constantly looking to do things better with technology, from drones to BIM (Building Information Systems).
solution
An expanded drone program with automated flights.
To address these challenges, Caltrans expanded their drone program, deploying over 140 active pilots for photo and video-based site monitoring. This helped streamline data collection across the various projects, allowing for quicker and more accurate site inspections. The department also began experimenting with dock-based, autonomous drones to achieve more regular, automated flights — especially critical for large-scale projects like bridges.
“ We’re experimenting with dock-based systems for continuous daily flights at critical project sites. It’s about scalability — how we can manage projects with the limited staffing we have.
Results
Significant savings of time, money and mistakes.
By integrating drone technology into their workflows, Caltrans significantly reduced the time and cost associated with manual inspections. The program has already helped prevent costly mistakes on construction projects. For instance, the availability of drone-captured images helped settle contractor disputes that could have led to millions in claims.
Caltrans has also increased their ability to monitor projects more consistently and gather accurate data even with a limited number of personnel, thanks to their innovative use of drone technology.
“ One or two photos taken by drones have saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars in contractor claims.
A Look ahead
Scaling up for greater efficiency on large projects.
Looking forward, Caltrans is focused on scaling its autonomous drone operations across key construction sites, especially for large infrastructure projects like bridges. The department aims to further integrate AI-powered systems for analyzing data and automatically detecting issues on-site.
“ We’re looking at scaling autonomous operations, where drones can handle inspections across multiple sites without needing pilots on-site every day.
