LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. - The Kansas and Missouri departments of transportation will showcase
the future of highway travel in Kansas City with a 10 a.m. kick-off event on Tuesday,
Sept. 25, at MoDOT's district headquarters in Lee's Summit, 600 N.E. Colbern Road.
Kansas City Scout is a congestion-management and traveler-information system designed
to offer area drivers the latest in technology and communication to help make their
daily commute safer, faster and more manageable. Elements include various traffic
sensors, closed-circuit video cameras, electronic message boards, highway advisory
radio, traffic updates via the Internet, and Motorist Assist and emergency-response
services.
Those elements will merge in a traffic operations center that monitors traffic on
75 miles of Kansas City's most congested freeways and responds to roadway incidents.
A scaled-down version of the Scout system will be set up during the kick-off event.
The installation of the Scout system is currently under way, and about 19 miles
of it should be operating by late 2002. That portion will cover Interstate 435 from
Interstate 35 in Kansas east to Missouri's Grandview Road near the Triangle.
The remaining Scout system, scheduled to be complete in late 2003, includes portions
of I-35, US 69 and K-10 in Kansas and portions of interstates 35, 470, 670, 70;
highways 71 and 169; and Route 9 on the Missouri side.
Scout's traffic operations center will be located inside MoDOT's district headquarters
in Lee's Summit. Construction on the center is also under way and should be completed
next spring.
The Federal Highway Administration is funding 90 percent of the $35.5 million project,
with the remaining cost shared between KDOT and MoDOT.