Write Up:

A traffic incident is an unplanned event that blocks travel lanes and temporarily reduces the number of vehicles that can travel on the road. The speed of incident clearance is essential to the highway system returning to normal conditions. Responding to and quickly addressing the incident (e.g., crashes, debris and stalled vehicles) improves system performance.            

St. Louis recorded 3,026 traffic incidents, with an average time of 26.4 minutes to clear those incidents in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025. Compared to the same period in 2024, there was an increase of 11.6% in the number of incidents and a decrease of 9% in clearance times.          

Kansas City recorded 1,492 traffic incidents, with an average time of 30.8 minutes to clear those incidents in the fourth quarter of FY 2025. Compared to the same period in 2024, there was a decrease of 26.4% in the number of incidents and an increase of 11.6% in clearance times.          

Springfield recorded 565 traffic incidents, with an average time of 29.6 minutes to clear those incidents in the fourth quarter of FY 2025. Compared to the same period in FY 2024, there was an increase of 64.7% in the number of incidents and a decrease of 3.6% in clearance times.            

Rural counties of Interstate 70 between MM 28 (Oak Grove) and MM 203 (Foristell) recorded 36 incidents and an average clearance time of 97.1 minutes in the fourth quarter of FY 2025. Looking at the 3-year average for the same period, there was a decrease of 45.5% in the number of incidents and an increase of 51.7% in clearance times.                 
Rural counties of Interstate 44 between MM 0 (Oklahoma) and MM 69 (Springfield), as well as between MM 91 (Strafford) and MM 224 (Sullivan), recorded 99 incidents and an average clearance time of 40.5 minutes in the fourth quarter of FY 2025. Compared to the same period in FY 2024, there was an increase of 28.6% in the number of incidents and a decrease of 40.1% in clearance times.  

This reporting period saw a decrease of 0.1% in traffic-related incidents captured in MoDOT's Advanced Traffic Management Systems in the combined measured areas and an overall increase of 2.5% in clearance times.                

For the fourth quarter of FY 2025, St Louis and Springfield efforts resulted in clearance times in line with the target time to clear. Kansas City exceeded the time to clear, but results were due to a drop in the number of minor events, incidents of 30 minutes or less.              

Kansas City fourth quarter numbers were compared to the average of the past three years for the same quarter. There was a lack of useable traffic data, resulting from network and storage issues suffered last year at this time.  

Purpose of the Measure:

This measure is used to track the trends in incident clearance on the state highway system.

Measurement and Data Collection:

Advanced transportation management systems are used by traffic management centers in St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield to record the incident start time and the time when all lanes are declared cleared. Traffic incidents can be categorized into three general classes of duration set forth by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which include minor, intermediate and major incidents. Each class has unique traffic- control characteristics and requirements.

This target is established by projecting a 10% improvement over a 5-year average.