KC Scout reported an accident on northbound I-635 at Leavenworth Road. Some other accidents have been reported on I-635 and I-435. (KC Scout photo)
Some accidents are being reported on highways in and around Wyandotte County today.
A collision was reported on northbound I-435 at Woodend about 9:43 a.m., according to KC Scout.
According to a Kansas Department of Transportation spokesman, I-435 northbound at Woodend Avenue was down to one lane, the center lane, because of a collision. The traffic queue was restricted to the center lane and was moving very slowly through this location.
Another accident was reported about 9:53 a.m. on southbound I-635 near Leavenworth Road, according to KC Scout. The left lane was closed.
On westbound I-70 near I-635, another accident was reported around 10:09 a.m., according to KC Scout. The left lane was closed.
An accident has been reported at northbound I-435 and Woodend. (KC Scout photo)
Kansas auditors remain worried about the quality of a major state information technology project involving about 2 million drivers’ records — with little time left until the project’s go-live date.
The Kansas Department of Revenue, which is in charge of building and rolling out KanLicense — formerly known as KanDrive — said it is monitoring the situation on a daily basis but that the auditors’ recent report is based on out-of-date information.
We “will not go live until we are comfortable with the status of the program,” Rachel Whitten, a spokeswoman for the revenue department, wrote in an email Thursday.
KanLicense’s current launch date is listed as Jan. 2. That’s six years behind schedule.
Legislative auditors have been reviewing the project’s progress on a quarterly basis because of its troubled history. KanLicense involves migrating records from an aged mainframe. A smooth transition is critical to ensuring uninterrupted access at driver’s license exam offices and by law enforcement agencies.
The latest audit, released this month, said “it is unlikely the project can be deployed” without again pushing back the launch date or experiencing quality problems.
In an email, Whitten said the KanLicense team has been meeting with the auditors weekly but that the recent audit is “three months out of date.”
“Now the focus is on the homestretch and the launch,” she said of the project’s current status.
Revenue Secretary Sam Williams has sought to resolve project woes by switching to a fixed-bid model with milestone deadlines for the contractors.
But the auditors said that led to incorrectly listing parts of the project as on target, preventing the accurate picture necessary for the steering committee’s decision and scheduling process.
“KDOR’s milestone tracking does not accurately represent the project’s status,” auditors wrote.
Milestones delayed from one quarter to the next were “marked as ‘on track,’ signaling no project health concerns in later steering committee reports,” they wrote. “Other milestones that had been marked as ‘completed’ still had outstanding work.”
The Department of Revenue replied in writing to the audit, saying KanLicense “has experienced significant progress since the last report.”
“The project has begun mock cutover dress rehearsals,” the agency wrote and “is currently under heavy oversight by the executive management team.”
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.
National Weather Service graphic
Light snow was falling at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Wyandotte County, as temperatures were at 10 degrees with a wind chill of minus 5, according to the National Weather Service.
Up to 1 to 2 inches of snow is possible today, the weather service said.
Snow could continue through 1 p.m. today, according to the weather service. Today’s high will be near 14 with a wind chill between minus 3 and 3. A northeast wind will be around 9 mph.
A winter weather advisory is in effect for the Kansas City area through noon because of potentially hazardous road conditions.
Dangerous wind chill readings of 10 to 20 below zero are expected tonight through Wednesday morning, the weather service said.
Well below normal temperatures are expected for the New Year’s weekend with wind chill advisory conditions again expected to be met on Sunday and Monday morning, according to the weather service.
Tonight, it will be partly cloudy with a low of 1 and wind chill values of minus 3 to minus 8, according to the weather service. There will be a north wind of 5 to 8 mph.
Wednesday, the high will be near 17 with mostly sunny skies, the weather service said. The wind chill readings will be between minus 8 and 2, with an east wind of 3 to 7 mph.
Wednesday night, the low will be 14 with mostly cloudy skies and a southeast wind of 6 to 8 mph, according to the weather service.
Thursday, the high will be near 30 with partly sunny skies, the weather service said. A southeast wind of 7 mph will become northwest in the afternoon.
Thursday night, the low will be around 15 with mostly cloudy skies, according to the weather service.
Friday, it will be mostly cloudy with a high of 26, the weather service said.
Friday night, expect a low of 11 and mostly cloudy skies, according to the weather service.
Saturday, there is a 30 percent chance of snow after noon, with a high near 17, the weather service said.
Saturday night, the low will be around 3 with mostly cloudy skies, according to the weather service.
Sunday, the high will be near 13 with partly sunny and cold skies, the weather service said.
New Year’s Eve, Sunday night, it will be partly cloudy with a low of 2, according to the weather service.
Monday, New Year’s Day, it will be sunny with a high near 16, the weather service said.
