Jennifer L. Wells, P.E.
State Bridge Inspection Engineer
Minnesota Department of Transportation
Enhancing Bridge Safety Inspections with UAS
The transportation profession is facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board attempted to look to the future to identify the most Bridges are a key part of our transportation system and maintaining this infrastructure is important to ensure the safety of the traveling public and to effectively manage these valuable assets. Safety inspections not only ensure the structural integrity of a bridge but provide valuable data to decision makers. The Minnesota Department of Transportation and Collins Engineers, Inc. has completed this third phase of research focused on utilizing drones as a tool for improving the quality of bridge inspections. The previous phases focused on the rules and regulations, drone hardware and the ability of drones to collect quality inspection data. This phase of research has identified new drone technology and methods to address limitations identified in Phase II. More importantly, this research phase has focused on the value of data collected during the inspection and finding ways to process the data into actionable inspection deliverables that greatly improve the quality of the inspection and better communicates the inspection results to bridge owners and engineers. Our world is being transformed by technology including drones that can collect, process, store, and analyze large amounts of data and this research is applying the same transformative concepts and technology to improve bridge inspection results.
Jennifer Wells, P.E. Bio
Jennifer Wells, P.E. has been an engineer with Minnesota DOT for the past 20 years, the last 15 in fracture critical bridge inspection and 5 years in bridge design and bridge standards.  Jennifer has a BSCE from Michigan Tech University and an MSCE from the University of Minnesota.  She is a licensed civil engineer, NBIS Team Leader, FAA Certified Small Unmanned Aircraft System pilot, and lead investigator on Minnesota DOT drone research for bridges. The Minnesota DOT Bridge Office Inspection Unit is responsible for managing the Minnesota bridge inspection program and conducting fracture critical inspections statewide on both the state and local system.