“Why are we making these kinds of seven-figure purchases when we’re in a fiscal deficit and when the old system worked good enough?” asked Matt Mayer of the Buckeye Institute, a conservative think tank.
The equipment is more than a luxury, according to ODOT spokesman Scott Varner. The digital mapping camera system from Alabama-based Intergraph Corp. would allow the department to get better images for road and bridge projects, cutting down on design time. Federal funds were also used to buy the camera, he said.
The plan called for swapping out the film camera system the department was using on its aerial photography plane, a Cessna 208B Caravan, and replacing it with the high-tech digital camera and a light detection and ranging system that could produce 3-D maps.
But unbeknownst to ODOT officials, according to Varner, the plane’s mounting system did not meet new Federal Aviation Administration specifications adopted in 2008. ODOT bought the plane for $1.72 million in 2004, then paid a vendor $104,455 in 2007 to mount a film camera system on the underbelly.
FAA grounded the plane in May 2009.
Integraph and ODOT have since been scrambling to meet the FAA specifications. But Varner said it’ll be the “end of summer at the earliest” before the plane is put back in use.
The camera is one of only 103 in use worldwide, including 31 in the U.S. and four at other departments of transportation.
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