From the archives: ADOT photolog vans through the years

The above photo from the May 1974 issueof an employee newsletter for the Arizona Highway Department (ADOT's predecessor) show the Safety Projects Team's brand new photolog van "outfitted with sophisticated electronic gear to control operation of a 16-mm color fiIm camera."

The custom, futuristic-looking van would allow Highway Optical Data Supervisor Ray Fulton (left) and Electronic Technician Beggs Nelson (right) to capture the third complete filming of Arizona's state highway as part of a traffic safety program.

According to the newsletter, "the Highway Department's equipment mechanics and carpenters are credited with doing a 'super' job in preparing the mobile unit for its unique duties."

The photolog program has adapted to evolutions with technology over the decades since. The film captured in the 1970s was digitized and they switched to digital cameras in the 1990s. However, much of the data from that decade was lost or deteriorated.

Following the loss of data in the 90s, ADOT hired a contractor to collect imagery in 1999. The program then sat idle until the early 2000s, when the team again began collecting photos of the entire state system each year.

Robert Bush, who is currently a planning program manager in ADOT's multimodal planning division, drove a photolog van in the early 1990s and was part of the team that "resurrected" the program in 2003.

Over his career, Bush said he took millions of images while driving over a quarter million miles of Arizona's highway and connected roads and features.

"I have the rare, even unique, privilege of traversing all the state highways annually for over 12 years. Not many people can say that," Bush said. "It was great. I was a paid tourist."

The ADOT photolog van in 2013 (above), and the current photolog van used by ICC in 2022 (below).

In 2009, ADOT got a new photolog van that also had laser radar to collect pavement data, leading to Arizona becoming the first state to have a lidar inventory of its entire state by 2016.

ADOT began using contractors in 2017 to collect photo and pavement data annually, usually starting in March and going through June. Meanwhile, ADOT Transportation Photolog Specialistsmaintain a digital record of all 6,500 miles of Arizona's state Highway System.

The photolog van used by the current contractor, ICC (International Cybernetics), uses a ladybug camera, which consists of six cameras mounted together to create a panoramic view and a laser scanner on the front bumper.

Similar to Google Maps, the process gives us a detailed view of every mile of state highway, its features and surroundings, as well as the condition of the pavement. The data collected by the photolog vans is used by teams all across ADOT, from maintenance and engineering to design, signing and more.

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