kcscout.net

[BigBill33]

Check out this site for road information...in Colorado!

http://www.cotrip.org/

Very informative, easy to use site, with information on variable message signs, weather conditions, real-time cameras, etc.

And yes, I agree, those signs are extremely expensive, and rarely used.

[dangerboy]

Scout is *finally* increasing their bandwidth!  From their May 2006 monthly report...

The scout website bandwidth was increased from 1MG to 3MG with future plans of adding 10 MG within the next 60 days.

[DaveKCMO]

travel times coming soon!

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/15832673.htm

[quote]By BRAD COOPER
The Kansas City Star

The waiting isn’t the hardest part after all.

What gets us most about sitting in traffic is the wondering: How long am I in for?

“I would rather know that I was going to be stuck for a half hour as opposed to just sitting there, not knowing when this is going to clear up,â€

[KC0KEK]

OP finally put its camera feeds on-line a few weeks ago: http://traffic.opkansas.org/map.aspx.

[GRID]

OP finally put its camera feeds on-line a few weeks ago: http://traffic.opkansas.org/map.aspx.

I wonder why kcscout doesn't link to the OP cameras.

I'm surprised that KC Scout is being expanded so fast.  It's good to see.  635 in KCK doesn't have a lot of traffic, but it has been recently rebuilt and can be extremely treacherous in the winter months when it ices over.

travel times are a bit overrated I think.  They don't really work very well and in KC, people will slow down to look at the signs, especially on the MO side where they are on cantilevers vs the overhead trusses they use in KS making them hard to read from the left lanes or if there are trucks next to you.  They are popular though and will help justify the sytem to the general population.

But I think overall, it's a great project.  It's becoming one of the more extensive ITS systems in the nation.

I will be nice to get some cameras along 470 in LS.  That area "hides" traffic jams all the time.

[KC0KEK]

I wonder why kcscout doesn't link to the OP cameras.

Good question. Maybe their systems are incompatible and thus it would be difficult, expensive or both to link them. Or maybe a third party needs to step in, along the lines of www.gcmtravel.com/gcm/camReport.jsp.

[BigBill33]

I wonder why kcscout doesn't link to the OP cameras.

I'm surprised that KC Scout is being expanded so fast.  It's good to see.  635 in KCK doesn't have a lot of traffic, but it has been recently rebuilt and can be extremely treacherous in the winter months when it ices over.

travel times are a bit overrated I think.  They don't really work very well and in KC, people will slow down to look at the signs, especially on the MO side where they are on cantilevers vs the overhead trusses they use in KS making them hard to read from the left lanes or if there are trucks next to you.  They are popular though and will help justify the sytem to the general population.

But I think overall, it's a great project.  It's becoming one of the more extensive ITS systems in the nation.

I will be nice to get some cameras along 470 in LS.  That area "hides" traffic jams all the time.

As I live up near Parkville and work in OP, I use I-635 extensively.  I still want to send a letter to KDOT on this, but I was wondering why with the newly rebuilt I635, why there weren't any traffic management systems added to this stretch?  I don't see any KC Scout message boards or cameras.  One would think (yes, I realize that is hard in KC), that traveling to and from the northland especially to the airport, one might want to know traffic or weather conditions!  Not only that, but there is an extreme lack of freeway lighting along this stretch as well!

I have seen other cities that do a remarkable job at illuminating the freeways (hmm...T-Rex!! )

Bill

[SouthKC1985]

I think they're going to add I-635 to the system sometime soon. I think I read that on the kcscout website somewhere a week or 2 ago

[GRID]

Kdot has rebuilt their KS portion of 635 and now they will add ITS along the entire stretch.  I would think Modot would go ahead and finish it out since they are adding a new interchange in Riverside and have the opportunity to add ITS to much of their stretch during contruction.

Bill, yea, KC has the most under lighted interstates I have seen anywhere, bar none.  With the exception of I-70 between downtown and 435, it's dark everywhere save the new 350/435 interchange and the Grandview Triangle, both of which desperately needed lights decades ago.

I think KDot embarrassed Modot when they widened 435 from state line to metcalf and added tower lights.  MoDot threw up a few up on the MO side just to keep from looking stupid.  But as I said, they are at least lighting the new big interchanges.

[KCPowercat]

I like what the website did with multiple cameras in one view...so you can check your whole route in one screen.

[im2kull]

I never had even heard about lighted intersections and such untill I went to des moines a week ago ...damn i feel stupid...

[KC0KEK]

I was wondering why with the newly rebuilt I635, why there weren't any traffic management systems added to this stretch?  I don't see any KC Scout message boards or cameras. 

It looks as if they put in some of the piers for the message boards. But the boards themselves won't be installed until later this year or early next year, from what I read a few weeks ago.

[BigBill33]

I realized after posting last night that I probably should have read the article, where it states that I-635 will have KC Scout sometime next year.  I also realize that funds and project plans initially might not have included sensors, variable message boards, and cameras, and maybe it has and the ability to add them was built into the new road.

On the lighting subject, it just amazes me that tower lights are scattered, and even the ones that are up aren't always on, i.e. Northbound I-635/K-5 interchange.  Not only that, but many of the overhead signs are not lite up as well.

The newly completed stretch of I-25 in Denver has lighting all the way up and down the corridor and cameras and message boards are strategically placed throughout.  Cameras exist on all major interchanges and all major intersections near the freeway system.

Bill

[dangerboy]

So Scout supposedly got a big bandwidth upgrade last month.  Let's see if it survives tonight's storm if it once again goes tits up.

[DaveKCMO]

Let's see if it survives tonight's storm if it once again goes tits up.

what a visual! 

[im2kull]

could be an interesting night 

[scooterj]

Sweet!  For the first time I just saw a wreck happen live in the snow as I was refreshing one of the traffic cams.

(Very minor, the people are walking around so they're ok.)

[Tosspot]

Sweet!  For the first time I just saw a wreck happen live in the snow as I was refreshing one of the traffic cams.

(Very minor, the people are walking around so they're ok.)

Schadenfreude!

[im2kull]

I'm in awe too...for once we have gridlock all the way out in Olathe  I only wish scout would quadruple the amount of cameras and make it more streaming and have a better map to zoom around on, rather than the static map..use somthing like a google map of the kc area...

[dangerboy]

I'm in awe too...for once we have gridlock all the way out in Olathe  I only wish scout would quadruple the amount of cameras and make it more streaming and have a better map to zoom around on, rather than the static map..use somthing like a google map of the kc area...

You can zoom a little bit. Click on the map in the lower left corner or use the pull-down above the main map.  Also, look at posts in this thread from a few weeks ago, Scout is adding lots of new cameras and pavement detectors in 2007.