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CONTACTS:
Jody Ladd Craig, Public Affairs Director, jcraig@marc.org,
816/701-8241
Ron Achelpohl, Asst. Transportation Director, rona@marc.org,
816/701-8327
Raymond Webb, Manager of Traffic Operations, rwebb@marc.org, 816/701-8358
Operation Green Light software now operational
On Monday, Nov. 24, representatives of the 20 participating cities, the Federal Highway Administration, and MoDOT and KDOT celebrated the beginning of the operational phase of Operation Green Light with a symbolic ribbon cutting and reception at MARC.
In addition to the ribbon cutting, equipment used in the project was demonstrated and an overview video of the project shown. Representatives of participating communities, including Kansas City, Mo., Lenexa and Overland Park, Kan., explained how the project coordinates signals across city, county and state lines.
“The communications network that’s used to send information to and from intersections in this system is one of the most sophisticated wireless networks in the area,” said Ron Norris, Lenexa’s Public Works director.
The Operation Green Light collaboration grew out of regional concerns about how traffic signal operations contribute to air pollution in the region as well as local concerns about how to transition to newer generations of traffic signal hardware and the potential interaction between Kansas City Scout freeway management system and surface streets. It is a national model for regional collaboration that is already providing tangible benefits to the travelling public and agencies participating in the project, including:
Phase I of Operation Green Light, which was celebrated today, will manage information at 634 signals in 20 communities in the region. Ultimately, the project could synchronize as many as 1500 traffic signals.
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