Hutchinson ? Bob Dole certainly doesn’t lack for recognition in his native state, but, more than a year after a highway bypass was named for the former U.S. senator, no signs designating the honor have gone up.

While in the Senate, Dole was instrumental in securing more than $40 million in federal funds for the nearly eight-mile Kansas 96 bypass west of Hutchinson, and the Legislature last year approved an amendment naming it after him. However, no money has been raised to put up the signs calling attention to the widely known honoree, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 1996.

The state legislation said that the Kansas Department of Transportation would put up signs only after receiving “sufficient moneys from gifts and donations to reimburse” it for the cost, plus an additional 50 percent of the initial cost to defray future maintenance or replacement costs. The department has estimated that expense at $1,000 to $1,500.

Martin Miller, a Hutchinson-based official of the department, said the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce is serving as local coordinator of the project.

The chamber president, Jon Daveline, said Thursday that he didn’t know how many signs would be installed or the likely cost.

Steve Buckley, state signing engineer for the department, said that until this week the agency had had no local contact for the Dole Bypass signs. Once that first step is made, the department finalizes the design for the signs and calculates the cost so the money can be raised before they’re made and installed.

The bill designating the Dole Bypass also authorized the Kickapoo Veterans’ Memorial Highway on Kansas 20 west of Horton and the 930th Ordnance Ammunition Company Bypass that runs through Parsons. Signs for both of those designated stretches of highway are already in place after private funding was raised.

Rep. Jeff Jack, R-Parsons, said two signs mentioning the ordnance unit went up last year. He said he didn’t know the final cost but thought it was closer to $500 than $1,000.

In Wabaunsee County, about $300 remains to be raised of an estimated $1,050 needed for signs designating a portion of Kansas 4 as the Maisie DeVore Highway, said Deann Williams of Eskridge.