Kansas City Scout is Kansas City's bi-state traffic management system. The Kansas and Missouri departments of transportation (KDOT, MoDOT) designed Scout to lessen traffic jams by improving rush-hour speeds, to increase safety by decreasing the number of rush-hour accidents, and to improve emergency response to traffic situations.

Scout manages traffic on more than 90 miles of continuous freeways in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. Scout uses cameras to monitor the highways from its operations center in Lee's Summit, relies on sensors to gage traffic flow, uses large electronic message boards to send urgent traffic notices to drivers along the freeways, and activates a Highway Advisory Radio system that motorists in Missouri can tune to in the event of a freeway incident.

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How will Scout affect me?

If you travel on Kansas City's metropolitan freeways, Scout has a direct impact on you. Scout can't control what happens on the roadways, but it can detect and manage various traffic situations on its system. If a freeway lane is blocked for any reason and traffic slows down, Scout will know and respond appropriately. In the event of an accident, a stalled car, or debris in the road, the sooner the response, the sooner the situation is resolved, and the sooner you're on your way.

Scout doesn't promise to relieve congestion and prevent accidents completely, but it is a system designed to keep freeway traffic flowing as smoothly and safely as possible.

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Why does the Scout web site only show snap-shots instead of video of its traffic images?

When the Scout system launched in 2004, it did not have the equipment necessary to provide video images from its traffic cameras to its web site. Among other things, it was a cost issue.

Instead, Scout led the way by offering a 30-second refresh rate of its traffic images instead of the more common three-to-five minute refresh rates of other similar web sites throughout the country.

Since its launch, Scout staff has been preparing a host of system and web site enhancements – some of them already available, some of them still on the horizon. Among them: increased capacity for the Scout web site.

In August 2006, Scout successfully increased its bandwidth to triple its web site’s original capacity. That means the web site now serves more visitors at once – something that had been a problem particularly during severe winter weather when the Scout web site always reached its capacity.

In September 2006, Scout also streamlined its web site causing it to require less bandwidth to provide the same services. A scheduled change in Scout’s mapping service will have the same -- but significantly greater -- impact. Each of these enhancements are paving the way for Scout to eventually add more equipment once funding is available and begin providing web site visitors video streams from Scout’s traffic camera network.

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Is Scout an AMBER Alert system?

No. Scout is a traffic management tool that uses it technology to alert freeway drivers to problems on the road ahead. However, Scout also uses it message boards to notify drivers of emergency alerts such as evacuations and child abductions (AMBER Alerts).

Scout does not determine whether an AMBER Alert is issued. Locally, those decisions are left to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Kansas City Metro Police Squad, and/or the Missouri Highway Patrol. When either or all of those entities declares an AMBER Alert, they notify local media along with staff at Scout's operations center . Both the media and Scout voluntarily choose to notify the public as quickly as possible.

When Scout receives an official AMBER Alert notification, Scout verifies the information with the agency that issued the AMBER Alert then posts the alert on its freeway message boards.

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Why do the message boards seem to be blank most of the time?

The intent of the message boards is to provide important, real-time traffic information to freeway travelers when necessary without creating overuse and prompting drivers to ultimately ignore them.

When Scout launched in January 2004, the boards were used under limited circumstances while the system operated for most of the year in a test mode. Now, as the Scout system evolves and its staff becomes more knowledgeable of Kansas City traffic patterns and drivers' expectations, the use of the message boards has broadened and will continue to broaden as the Scout system is enhanced and offers additional services such as travel times.

There will always be normal rush-hour congestion and delays. Expect Scout to use its message boards when those delays are abnormally long due to unusual incidents such as accidents and freeway work zones.

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When does Scout use the electronic message boards?

Primarily, you'll see the big, black message boards lit with information about what is affecting normal traffic flow at that moment. Those message boards are also used for alerts. Below is a current list of common uses of Scout's message boards:

If one or more lanes of freeway are blocked for any reason.
If a work zone is in place AND Scout operators are able to monitor the work zone with their cameras (otherwise smaller, portable message boards will continue to warn drivers about work zone lane closures).
If an AMBER Alert (child abduction) is issued.
If an Ozone Alert (air quality crisis) is issued.
If a state or other public emergency or evacuation is issued.
In the event of severe weather that is impacting traffic at that moment (such as impassable roadways due to flooding, ice, etc. and slow traffic due to heavy snow, tornadic activity, heavy rains, etc.).
If traffic is unusually heavy for unexplained reasons.

As the system evolves, Scout's message boards will be used more frequently and under a broader range of circumstances.

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Why doesn't Scout post travel times like other cities with message boards do?

Travel times are an enhanced feature of these types of traffic management systems. It's true, many other cities do provide travel times, but those systems have been operating for years and, like Scout, began operations with limited, baseline features.

Scout staff is very aware of the value of travel times and is also aware of the inconsistencies throughout the nation in how to post travel times and with what level of accuracy. Still, Scout has been working to develop the most reliable means of collecting and disseminating travel time information. Staff is currently in the process of designing and evaluating customized software to enhance Scout's capabilities to offer travel times – slated for the first of 2007.

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Will the cameras on the highways be used to catch speeders and aggressive drivers?

No. Scout is not a law enforcement tool. However, Scout believes the presence of law enforcement and other traffic and emergency services inside its operations center is helpful to the traveling public. Such partnerships could foster better public service by providing quicker emergency response and creating a safer highway environment.

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How will Scout's web site help me with my drive to and from?

Scout's web site will be most useful to you before you head out the door and into rush-hour traffic. With a click of your mouse you'll be able to pull up camera views along the Scout system. You'll be able to see for yourself how well traffic is flowing and where the back-ups are on Scout's routes.

At www.kcscout.net you'll also be able to read Scout's activated message boards to find out what's causing the traffic snarls and where. With that information you can make decisions ahead of time about which path to travel. Or, maybe you'll decide to just sit tight and wait things out.

Scout’s web site also features information about freeway work zone locations in Kansas and Missouri. Knowing where the work zones are before you head out on the road could make a big difference in the route you choose or in determining your delay time.

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Why doesn't the Scout system cover all of I-435 or I-70 and other busy freeways in the Kansas City area?

KDOT and MoDOT joined forces to launch the bi-state, Scout system so they could cover the most congested freeways in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. Studies revealed which freeways are the most heavily traveled, and those are the freeways Scout currently blankets.

There are other congested freeways the studies also identified. Scout will eventually cover those as funding allows. One example is I-70. Originally, Scout stretched only as far east as Noland Road. By the end of the 2005, Scout expanded seven miles farther east to Blue Springs.

Scout is also planning expansions along I-635 in Kansas from I-35 to State Avenue; along I-435 in Missouri from near the Triangle to possibly beyond the Missouri River; and along I-29 north of Scout’s current coverage.

Each of these expansion projects are in various stages and are scheduled to be completed at various times between late 2007 and late 2008.

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How much did Kansas City Scout cost, and who's paying for it?

The project's cost was $43 million.

Of that amount, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) contributed 80-90 percent of the project cost. KDOT and MoDOT shared the remaining cost.

At $43 million for an initial 75-mile project, Scout's deployment costs average $573 thousand per mile. That compares to a conservative $3-$6 million cost per mile for a single, new lane of roadway.

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Why are KDOT and MoDOT spending money on a traffic management system?

Inadequate funding and, in some cases, inadequate room to widen roadways increasingly prohibit new construction and lane additions. Still, the demand from freeway travelers continues. As Kansas City's driving population grows, traffic issues such as congestion, accidents, and air pollution become even more prevalent. In many states, technology and traffic management have become the answer. For Kansas City, the answer is Scout.

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