The Aeronautics Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has received $1 million in funding from the Federal Highway Administration\u2019s Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration Program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and authorized to accelerate innovation in highway transportation. This grant funding goes toward the second stage of a three-phase project, using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (\u201cUAS,\u201d also known as drones,) to create a \u201cdigital software systems infrastructure.\u201d Phase one of the project was funded with an AID grant received in 2021 and with additional match funding of $250,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Implementing the necessary UAS digital infrastructure to integrate UAS technology into the operations of MassDOT\u2019s Highway Division and a variety of MassDOT agencies will enhance the state\u2019s ability to collect, store, process, and disseminate UAS data throughout MassDOT. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Massachusetts Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division is recognized as being a leader in the use of drones for tasks of the Highway Division and the funding from this second phase of the AID grant will give us a unique opportunity to improve and expand digital software systems for drones,\u201d said Transportation Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt.\u202f\u201cWe are grateful to the Biden-Harris Administration and our congressional delegation for supporting our application and we look forward to continuing to innovate when it comes to drone technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy using drones to collect and analyze data on highway infrastructure, this second phase of our project represents a significant step toward leveraging new technology to help MassDOT Highway improve management processes, strategic planning, and operations,\u201d said Acting MassDOT Aeronautics Administrator Denise Garcia. \u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This funding will help streamline critical processes across our transportation system, allowing us to more quickly advance projects that improve our infrastructure,\u201d said Director of Federal Funds and Infrastructure Quentin Palfrey. \u201cThank you to Secretary Buttigieg, Acting Administrator White, and all of our partners in the Biden-Harris administration for investing in the future of transportation, energy, and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UAS-based digital infrastructure is designed to integrate with MassDOT Highway projects across Massachusetts, ranging from rural to urban locations, supporting a range of projects, including advanced bridge inspection, asset mapping, construction monitoring, and highway corridor asset detection\/inspection. The new technology is anticipated to lower the costs of some projects, provide enhanced asset inspection opportunities, and allow for the monitoring of many construction projects simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Highway Division looks forward to an active partnership because this MassDOT Aeronautics project works to make surface transportation safer, more responsive to public needs and more adaptable to new technologies,\u201d said MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AID grant request is part of the Healey-Driscoll Administration\u2019s whole of government strategy to compete for federal dollars. This award joins the administration\u2019s record of recent successes, which includes $1.72 billion to replace the Cape Cod Bridges, $335 million for the Allston Multimodal Project, $145 million to lay the groundwork for West-East Rail, as well as more than $1.33 billion in still pending federal funding applications to advance projects that further equity, mobility, competitiveness, workforce development and climate resiliency in communities across Massachusetts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Aeronautics Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has received $1 million in funding from the Federal Highway Administration\u2019s Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration Program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and authorized to accelerate innovation in highway transportation. This grant funding goes toward the second stage of a three-phase project, using Unmanned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-massachusetts","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30406,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30405\/revisions\/30406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}