Why a Topeka highway message board put up in October still isn't displaying messages

Seven months after it was put up, an electronic message board standing along Interstate 70 near Topeka's western edge still displays no messages.

But that should change in the next few weeks, says a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Transportation.

The message board still needs a controller board, said Kate Craft, KDOT's public affairs manager for northeast Kansas.

Reader asked why electronic message board was inactive

Topekan Hank Nelson contacted The Capital-Journal last week to ask why messages still weren't being displayed on the rectangular message board, which was installed in the median so cars traveling both directions could see it.

The board stands along I-70 about one-quarter mile west of S.W. Fairlawn Road.

"Installation was finished around October 23," Nelson wrote in an email. "To this day, the screen has never been turned on."

The Capital-Journal responded by contacting Craft.

"The contractor has been waiting on a controller board for the new I-70 message board," she told the newspaper in an email Monday. "We’re hoping to receive it and have the message board operating in the next few weeks."

KDOT since 2008 has maintained electronic highway message boards, which are used for purposes that include warning drivers about weather problems, traffic accidents or construction work.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.