KC Scout Shout!

  They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and the 2025 TMC Pooled Fund Study (PFS) was no different. While this event is typically held in the spring, this year it was moved to the fall, providing the opportunity to pair the study with Texas DOT’s Transportation Systems Management & Operations (TMSO) Summit, making the event bigger and better. Traffic Systems Supervisor, Kelly Alvarez attended this year’s event in Austin, Texas. “ The range of topics for the TSMO Summit and the TMC PFS are so vast,” says Alvarez. “Everything from cyber security, to V2X (short for Vehicle-to-Everything referring to technology that allows vehicles to communicate with other vehicles, pedestrians, infrastructure, and networks), to TMC best practices, roadway and incident detection systems, World Cup, Dynamic Message Sign policy, Motorist Assist programs, Drones, etc. were discussed.”   Having an event such as this one, where individuals from various state DOTs and Federal Highway Association...

  With the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching, KC Scout is brainstorming all the ways that we can make this worldwide event run as seamless as possible. One of those ways is by simplifying travel time messages on our roadside message boards. With visitors traveling to Missouri from all over the world, KC Scout thought of a way that we could make Scouts message boards easy to read and understand for everyone. With a single point target. For many years, Scouts message boards have listed several locations with the current time it takes to travel to that location. In the past, drivers have reported that these boards are difficult to analyze and understand when they are not familiar with the location. Adding additional information, such as distance, will help travelers be prepared for what to expect.  According to the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), “Travel time should be tied to the distance to a particular destination or junction so that road users can esti...

Preparing your city for an event that is viewed all around the globe is no easy feat, but KC Scout handles the pressure with ease. With the FIFA World Cup fast approaching Kansas City, our top priorities remain clear: keeping travelers safe and traffic flowing smoothly across the KC Metro. With hundreds of thousands of tourists flooding into our city traffic snarls are inevitable, but it is our job to minimize the damage as much as possible. With that goal in mind, Scout is creating Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) for its four major functional areas to anticipate and respond to a range of situations that could likely occur to disrupt the tight schedules of getting teams, coaches and fans to the Stadium for their scheduled matches. There was no stone left unturned when coming up with these EOPs. With our teams’ years of experience and extensive knowledge of Missouri’s roadways, we collaborated to create plans covering everything from staffing needs to the most efficient way to rep...

James Banhart, KC Scout TMC Supervisor, conducted a training on Tuesday, July 1 for a Carter Kit which is a sensory tool designed to assist first responders when handling incidents involving individuals with autism, particularly children. Two sessions were held to accommodate different shifts. Additional sessions will be scheduled to ensure that any Emergency Response Operators who were unavailable during the initial training have an opportunity to participate. This idea originated after Banhart attended the Traffic and Safety Conference in Wichita, Kansas. During one of the breakout sessions, Banhart had the opportunity to speak with Mrs. Jessica Parker, the Program Coordinator for EMSC in the state of Kansas who shared what a Carter Kit is. Many individuals are not equipped to accurately recognize when someone is on the autism spectrum. Enhancing this ability is a substantial benefit to all agencies involved. This training not only provides the tools to identify individuals with ...

The Kansas City- Area is preparing for next year’s, 2026 FIFA World Cup in many ways. With the anticipated influx of people coming to Kansas City, a major aspect of preparation is Surface Transportation. “This past spring, representatives from federal, state, and local agencies in the Kansas City region came together at Sporting KC to participate in a regional transportation security exercise in preparation for the FIFA World Cup,” shared Traffic Systems Supervisor Kelly Alvarez. This transportation exercise involved a multi-staged incident involving a derailed train carrying an unknown chemical substance followed by a cyber-attack during a FIFA World Cup match in Kansas City. During the exercise, KC Scout was represented by Randy Johnson, Marcus Slaughter, Chris Engelbrecht, and Kelly Alvarez. “KC Scout is fortunate to be a daily witness to key transportation stakeholders' strength and collaboration in our region” stated Alvarez. “However, it’s still rather amazing what can...

This past April marked KC Scout’s one-year anniversary of the cyber event that resulted in months long system outage and there was interest in how the agency mitigated the aftermath of the cyber-attack. At the ITS Heartland conference, KC Scout’s Traffic Center Manager Randy Johnson and Traffic Systems Supervisor Kelly Alvarez presented about the cyber event, giving their firsthand account of the event and how KC Scout recovered. The presentation focused on the first eight hours after impact, our response over the course of the first few days, and the consequential months as KC Scout recovered.  “During that time, KC Scout received a great deal of interest on how our agency mitigated the aftermath of the cyber-attack. The ITS Heartland Conference provided an ideal opportunity to talk about our experience” shared Alvarez. While continuing to share about their experience, they shared what they learned. "We focused on lessons learned which included: limiting too mu...