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What
is Operation Green Light?
What will it do?
Why is Operation Green Light important?
How will Operation Green Light work?
How will it affect traffic flow?
What will it do for air quality?
Who is involved in the project?
How big is the system?
How much will it cost?
How soon will it happen?
Will it solve all of our air quality problems?
Will drivers still have to stop at red lights?
Whom can I contact for more information?
What
is Operation Green Light?
Operation
Green Light is a project to improve the coordination of traffic
signals on major routes throughout the Kansas City area.
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What
will it do?
Operation
Green Light will help to synchronize traffic signals on major
routes throughout the region, especially those that cross city
limits. This will help reduce unnecessary “stop delay,”
improve traffic flow and reduce emissions that contribute to ozone
pollution
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Why
is Operation Green Light important?
Operation
Green Light is important for three main reasons:
- It will
improve the flow of traffic on the most-used arterial roads
in the region
- It will
improve regional air quality
- It will
provide a tool for state and local governments to be able to
better manage changes in traffic patterns with the Kansas City
Scout freeway management system now under development.
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How
will Operation Green Light work?
The state
and local governments that own traffic signals in the area will
work together to make sure that the timing plans for the intersections
on major routes are coordinated for more efficient flow of traffic.
Although existing equipment will be used wherever possible, some
new communications equipment and software -- and some new signal
controllers -- will be installed so that the traffic signals on
the system can communicate with each other and with a central
operations center. This equipment and software will help keep
the traffic signals in sync with the new timing plans.
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How
will it affect traffic flow?
Operation
Green Light could reduce delays on the coordinated routes by an
average of 17 percent. Depending on things like the length of
the trip and the number of traffic lights on the trip, this could
mean time savings of up to two to three minutes for someone driving
on one of these routes. When multiplied by the thousands of trips
per day on these routes, this could noticeably improve traffic
flow, especially during peak travel periods in the morning and
afternoon.
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What
will it do for air quality?
Operation
Green Light should help to reduce emissions that contribute to
the formation of ground level ozone, the Kansas City area’s
main air pollutant.
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Who
is involved in the project?
The Mid-America
Regional Council, Missouri and Kansas Departments of Transportation,
and 17 area cities in Kansas and Missouri are participating in
the project.
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How
big is the system?
The entire
system includes 1,500 intersections throughout the region. The
first phase of the project will include nearly 600 intersections.
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How
much will it cost?
The cost
estimate for the entire project is about $57 million. The first
phase of the project is estimated to cost $9.6 million.
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How
soon will it happen?
MARC
received a federal award of $1.5 million in 2002 to develop the
first phase of the system. That work should take about a year
and a half. Additional funds have been secured to deploy the first
phase starting in 2004. The remaining system would be developed
and deployed as funds become available.
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Will
it solve all of our air quality problems?
No.
Operation Green Light is only part of the solution to the region’s
air quality problems.
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Will
drivers still have to stop at red lights?
Yes,
of course. And Operation Green Light won’t solve all the
region’s traffic flow problems, either. However, it should
help reduce overall signal delay in the region.
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Whom
can I contact for more information?
Ron
Achelpohl, PE
Assistant Director of Transportation Services
Mid-America Regional Council
816/474-4240
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