They are providing "invaluable assistance" in understanding holiday traffic in bottlenecks like Blackheath and will be used when race fans head to Bathurst for the start of the Supercars season opener this month.
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The eyes in the sky - some 70 drones - are being deployed to help the Transport Management Centre better respond to road crashes and peak hour choke points, allowing detours to be put in place earlier to ease delays and clear traffic jams.
Holiday traffic in the Upper Mountains always puts the network under pressure and has knock-on effects.
Member for Blue Mountains Trish Doyle is pleased to see the measure introduced.
"Drone technology will be very useful for providing real-time traffic and transport information to those travelling in, around and through the Blue Mountains, when needed," Ms Doyle said.
The fleet of drones is being led by a chief pilot and will give information which is relayed on the Live Traffic app.
The drones are also being used on Sydney roads during morning and afternoon peaks and on some of Sydney's other problem areas (like the problem-plagued Rozelle Interchange).
They will provide a line of sight outside the existing traffic-monitoring camera network.
Transport for NSW executive director customer journey management, Craig Moran, said the rones are "incredibly effective at closing gaps in what we can see across the network".
"Not every location is suitable for CCTV installation, whereas one drone can be deployed from almost anywhere ... to survey a wide range of areas."
NSW Roads Minister John Graham said: "With an eye in the sky, detours can be put in place faster and information provided on apps like Live Traffic".
"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."
He said there are more than 1700 CCTV cameras across the Greater Sydney Road network "and our drone capabilities supplement these, by providing an extended line of sight in areas not covered by CCTV".
The State government has projected that using these drones will save NSW motorists more than $71 million in travel time, $24 million in secondary incidents and $23 million in vehicle operating costs.
The Blue Mountains Gazette asked specific questions about how the drones will help manage holiday traffic in Blackheath and help manage known bottlenecks and also whether it was being used on the M4 daily. We were awaiting a further response from the Minister's office.
