The Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT’s) Transportation Management Center, near the Interstate 64 and Missouri Route 141 interchange, helps control the Gateway Guide program. This center is operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week by a team who actively monitors the roadway for incidents, work zones, changing conditions, and takes concerns from the public on roadway issues.
They then work to dispatch the appropriate emergency response forces (whether law enforcement, MoDOT's emergency incident response team, maintenance forces, signal electricians or others) to address incidents on the roadway, help relieve congestion, and improve safety. Gateway Guide is made up of many state-of-the-art devices that, when combined, serve as a powerful tool for relieving traffic congestion and improving safety. This ultimately helps MoDOT manage the region’s transportation system more effectively.
The program utilizes real-time traffic information to help reduce traffic delays caused by incidents, work zones and the rising number of vehicles on the highways. It provides this information in several formats for drivers - primarily by web, telephone, or overhead message signs. The information and camera images are also shared with the media to use during traffic reports.
In addition, information from the departments traffic sensors, cameras and incident reporting is shared with several partners in the area, including St. Louis and St. Charles County traffic teams.
With MoDOT’s Gateway Guide, you get better information for smarter travel.
History of the Transportation Management Center and Gateway Guide
Gateway Guide and The Missouri Department of Transportation, in cooperation with its regional partners the Illinois Department of Transportation, Metro and the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, embarked on a study to identify the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) needs for the St. Louis region in 1994.
One item this early study determined was that 70 percent of the daily travelers on the St. Louis regional transportation system used the 260+ miles of interstate highways and freeways.
An view of the camera wall in the Transportation Management Center in about 2016.
A view of the camera wall in the Transportation Management Center from 2023.
The St. Louis Transportation Management Center. It is located near the I-64 and Route 141 interchange in Town and Country, Missouri. Its address is 14301 South Outer 40 Road, Town and Country, MO 63017.
At that time in 1994, IDOT’s Freeway Service Patrol had already been operating in Illinois for more than two decades and MoDOT’s Emergency Response program had just begun operation. The regional partners decided from the study that the initial build out of the ITS program should focus on freeway and incident management to support the freeway service patrol programs on both sides of the Mississippi River. The study also recommended the Gateway Guide planners to build partnerships with local emergency agencies to help clear the roadway of incidents and to provide traveler information on the region’s freeway system.
In early 2002, after almost eight years of planning, design and construction, MoDOT’s Transportation Management Center (TMC) and the Gateway Guide program became operational. The TMC is located at Interstate 64 and Route 141 in Town and Country, Missouri (centrally located on the Missouri side of the St. Louis metropolitan area). Over time, the TMC began to establish itself as the transportation information hub of the St. Louis region.
In early 2002, after almost eight years of planning, design and construction, MoDOT’s Transportation Management Center (TMC) and the Gateway Guide program became operational. The TMC is located at Interstate 64 and Route 141 in Town and Country, Missouri (centrally located on the Missouri side of the St. Louis metropolitan area). Over time, the TMC began to establish itself as the transportation information hub of the St. Louis region.
MoDOT embarked on a private/public partnership with Metro Networks to operate the ITS components of the center, to help coordinate incident management on Missouri’s interstate highways and to provide traveler information on the dynamic message signs, on www.gatewayguide.com, and to the traffic media.
Customer Service Focus
What also makes the MoDOT Transportation Management Center stand out in its operation is MoDOT’s customer service operators stationed within the center. In St. Louis, MoDOT’s customer service representatives receive calls from the public, local, and state emergency agencies around the clock to report problems on state roadways. If customer service receives a call-in need of immediate incident response, they give it over to the Gateway Guide staff to dispatch Emergency Response crews or call the appropriate emergency agencies.
The Transportation Management Center and the Gateway Guide program officially became 24 hours a day, seven days a week operation in Missouri in early 2003. At any time in the St. Louis region, a transportation representative at the center is available to coordinate and react to all emergencies on state roadways. Later that year, Gateway Guide operations staff took on lead dispatcher responsibilities for Emergency Response. This freed the Emergency Response operators on the roadway (individuals originally responsible for this endeavor) to respond to more incidents and to migrate the overall operation toward a dispatched/patrolling operation. The positive effects on regional traffic because of the Incident Management program through the efforts of Emergency Response and the Gateway Guide program have been enormous.
In 2006, MoDOT’s Transportation Management Center took over after-hour calls for the entire southern half of the state and in 2009 took over after- hour calls for the entire state of Missouri. MoDOT offices from St. Joseph to Sikeston forward their phones to the St. Louis TMC for the coordination and handling of all emergencies on Missouri’s interstates and lettered and numbered routes.
The Foundation for the Future of St. Louis ITS
After its inception nearly 40 years ago, and roughly two decades of operation, Gateway Guide and MoDOT’s Transportation Management Center have become integral to St. Louis’ transportation infrastructure. The center provides a vast majority of all the traveler information to the public. All major freeways and most major arterials have speed sensors, cameras, and dynamic message signs to convey road conditions to the public. The department is constantly innovating, trying new ways to share that information and better help clear incidents. In November 2021, MoDOT signed an agreement with several emergency response organizations to adopt a goal to clear traffic incidents safely from the roadway in no more than 90 minutes from the arrival of the first responder.