Sydney’s transport system is scoring some serious upgrades: with a metro superhub taking shape beneath the city, a new light-rail operating in Parramatta, and e-scooter trials taking place in Sydney's south-west. There's also a spaghetti-like network of tunnels being built underground, but as we know from the latest Rozelle interchange debacle, those don't always solve traffic issues for those commuting by road. Enter, 70 drones overhead. In order to tackle traffic congestion in the city, Transport for NSW has deployed dozens of space-age flying objects into the sky.
Managed by the Transport Management Centre (TMC), the fleet of drones will monitor Sydney streets for delays and incidents, helping to map out potential diversions and alternate routes. Clearing traffic more quickly after an incident not only reduces the risk of longer traffic snarls, it also lowers the risk of additional bump-on crashes – these airborne traffic monitors are projected to save NSW more than $71 million in travel time-related costs, $24 million in secondary incidents and $23 million in vehicle operating costs.
The fleet of drones will be operated remotely by a chief pilot, complementing the 1,700 CCTV cameras that already monitor the Greater Sydney Road network.
“With an eye in the sky, detours can be put in place faster and information provided on apps like Live Traffic," says Minister for Roads John Graham. "No one wants to be stuck at the back of a queue of traffic, and drones will help reduce the severity of traffic jams around road incidents.”
You can learn more about Sydney’s traffic via the NSW Government’s live traffic page, here.