I'm the Idea Guy
Perhaps the title of this post should have been "Local IT guy spearheads implementation" but, unless the fine folks at KDOT and MoDOT actually decide to implement my suggestion….well, there's only so much that one person can do.
As an avid Twitter user, I thought about an idea for our regional traffic monitoring system (called SCOUT). They should use the Twitter service as an additional method of alerting citizens to their collection of alerts such as freeway traffic, weather, amber alerts, ozone, and public safety.
What is Kansas City Scout?
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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