12/17/2009
Large electronic message board installed on U.S. 20 south of Rexburg
RIGBY ‑ Crews have installed a large electronic message board on northbound U.S. Highway 20 south of Rexburg, the Idaho Transportation Department announced.
The dynamic message sign (DMS) will post messages on road conditions, traffic flow and AMBER Alerts starting in the spring. It is part of an ongoing program to better inform the traveling public.
The sign is the first of six such electronic signs under construction in eastern Idaho. The others are on northbound Interstate 15 near Pocatello, Fort Hall, Idaho Falls and Sage Junction, and on eastbound Interstate 86 near Chubbuck.
The new signs will be similar to the one installed this spring on southbound Interstate 15 south of Idaho Falls.
Crews hung the Rexburg message board earlier this week and will complete electrical work, communications setup and testing during the next several weeks. The signs are designed to improve traffic safety and emergency response.
The Rexburg DMS is scheduled for operation early this spring, with the other signs scheduled for operation by summer.
The department has installed 34 such signs statewide. Regional offices of the transportation department determine messages for local signs.
Wheeler Electric, Inc. of Idaho Falls is the general contractor for the installation project.
The signs include a concrete foundation, pole and cantilever structure, communications cabinet, protective guardrail and the message board. The boards are 8-feet-tall by 25-feet-wide by 4-feet-deep and weigh 4,000 pounds. Fitted with economical light-emitting diodes (LEDs) lights, the boards display 18-inch-tall characters in amber, such as can be read at 1,100 feet.
The department installed its first DMS in eastern Idaho on northbound I-15 near Dubois in the late 1990s. In addition, the department installed a DMS on Idaho Highway 33 at Butte City in the early 2000s.
The department owns two signs in northern Utah, one on northbound I-15 near Tremonton and one on northbound Interstate 84 near Snowville just before the Utah-Idaho border, each to notify motorists of conditions on I-84 in southern Idaho, which can be treacherous during winter months.