LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. - Kansas City Scout, the Kansas and Missouri departments
of transportation’s new traffic management system currently under construction,
now has a web site available. Internet users can access the site at
www.kcscout.net.
Kansas and Missouri are launching the site as a public awareness effort. They want
to inform local commuters about the changes ahead along some of the metropolitan-area
freeways. Those changes include the addition of 25-foot wide electronic message
boards alongside or spanning across portions of Interstates 70, 35, 435, 470 as
well as on portions of other highways, and the use of cameras and vehicle detectors
along Scout’s 75-mile system to monitor traffic.
“Right now the site is a basic, informational site,” says Ray Webb,
Scout Operations Manager. “It’s very user-friendly and is filled with
useful information about the project, its current status, its history, and the site
includes daily work zone locations affecting traffic.”
The Scout project kicked-off last fall and is expected to be operating its entire
75-mile system by the end of next year. After the traffic system is operational,
changes to the web site will take place. The site will eventually allow users to
click on camera locations to monitor traffic via the Internet. KDOT and MoDOT also
hope to allow Scout’s web site visitors to click on activated message boards
that alert drivers to traffic incidents on the road ahead.
“This use of technology to manage traffic is a whole new arena for the Kansas
City area,” says Webb. “We want to make sure the traveling public knows
that Scout is coming, and that it’s a tool to help them by alleviating traffic
congestion and by fostering a safer highway environment.”
Webb says Scout plans to partner with local emergency services to increase incident
response times and to gather better incident information, but stresses that Scout
will not be used to enforce traffic laws.