William "Rusty" James, Incident Management Coordinator for Kansas City Scout was honored by the Kansas City Chapter of the American Public Works Association with the Professional Manager of the Year Award in the Public Works Emergency Management category. The award was presented to James on May 18, 2010 at the KC Metro Chapter’s National Public Works Week luncheon.

The Professional Manager of the Year Award in Public Works Emergency Management seeks to inspire excellence and dedication by recognizing the outstanding career service achievements of public works emergency management profes¬sionals. The primary focus of this award is the recognition of exceptional leadership in the field of public works emergency management. The recipient must have made significant contributions to the advancement of public works emergency management and possess outstanding leadership and vision evidenced by employing progressive management techniques in the area of public works emergency management. Additionally employment of new and innovative ideas and technology resulting in the advancement of the effectiveness of public works emergency management must be exhibited as well as implementation of effective methods to optimize fiscal management of public works emergency management operations.

Rusty James works tirelessly to reach people with his message on the benefits of a healthy incident management program. He is dedicated to saving lives through proper training, equipment and procedures. He seeks to inspire excellence and dedication in the Incident Management program. The first incident manager in the country to coordinate incident management across state lines, Rusty meets the task of coordinating multiple entities for both states, each with different objectives, procedures and protocols. Coordinating the different agencies and jurisdictions proved to be challenging, given their diverse institutional functions and individual agency goals however James rose to and met these challenges. He expresses that clearing incidents safely and quickly within an effective incident management system is not based solely on proven technologies it also requires cooperation and communication among diverse organizations.

The Kansas City Chapter of the American Public Works Association honored Kansas City Scout with the 2010 Technical Innovation Award for Scout’s "Maximizing the Flow" Ramp Metering Project on May 18, 2010. The award was established to provide recognition for an individual, team or organization for the development and implementation of a creative idea, device, process, or system that enhances the goals of public works in serving the public and protecting the environment.

On November 24, 2009 Kansas City Scout began "Maximizing the Flow" of traffic on the south I-435 corridor with the activation of its ramp meter pilot program. Ramp meters are special traffic signals that regulate the rate at which vehicles enter the freeway from the on-ramps. In 2008 this eight-mile corridor, which crosses two states, three cities and has 15 on ramps, saw an extremely high rate of rear end and side swipe accidents, which created tremendous travel delays. The primary focus of the multi-phased ramp meter project is to provide south Kansas City commuters smoother, safer freeway entries, more consistent traffic flow, decreased travel times and improved freeway speeds through metering.

The Kansas City Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (KCITE) recognized Kansas City Scout (KC Scout) as the recipient of the annual KCITE Excellence in Transportation Award. "Maximizing the Flow", Kansas City Scout's Ramp Metering project, was selected for the award from the nominated projects. The award was presented to the KC Scout Ramp Metering project team at the KCITE chapter meeting on July 8, 2010.

This award recognizes organizations within the Kansas City metro area for the development of traffic, transportation, or transportation planning projects that have had a significant impact on the region. KC Scout's Ramp Metering project focuses on providing south Kansas City commuters smoother, safer freeway entries, more consistent traffic flow, decreased travel times and improved freeway speeds by regulating the rate at which vehicles enter the south I-435 corridor from the on-ramps.