Drone captures shots of Walterdale Bridge progress

A drone over downtown captured viewsthe Walterdale Bridge replacement projectnotseen before.

The drone was hired by Dialog, a design firm working on the project, and is believed to be the first time a commercial permit has been issued by Transport Canada to fly over downtown Edmonton.

The remote-controlled drone carried a mounted camera providing a 360-degree viewfrom above.

Dialog's Tom Sutherlandsays using the drone offers a unique view of bridge construction is it progresses which it can use for promotional and marketing purposes.

"To be able to look at [the bridge] from above and see both sides coming together and meeting at the top is pretty fantastic but you have to get up there in the air so the drone does that for us."

Skymatics owns and operates the drone that was used turning what started as a hobby into a real job for pilot Connor Burns.

Now, Burns said he expects more and more requests like this in the future since drones are a much cheaper option compared to the helicopters traditionally used.

Drones can also access places helicopters cannot, he said.

I would expect over the next year you're going to see a bunch of [drone] companies pop up as more companies get special flight operation certificates, Burns said.

You're going to see them ... probably daily in the next five or 10 years.