Didn the Lady Bird Johnson Act ban billboards along the Interstate System?
The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 (HBA), enacted with the help of Lady Bird Johnson and signed by her husband, President Lyndon B. Johnson, did not abolish billboards, or even abolish all billboards along certain highways, such as the Interstate System. Rather, as amended over the years, it requires the Federal Highway Administration to ensure that the State transportation departments maintain “effective control of the erection and maintenance” of signs, displays, or devices, including outdoor advertising signs that are visible from the highway, beyond 660 feet of the Interstate right-of-way outside urban areas, and erected with the purpose of their message being read from the highway. Signs not subject to meeting those criteria are limited to directional and official signs; signs advertising products for sale on the property on which they are located; signs lawfully in existence before enactment of the HBA; and, those advertising the distribution by nonprofit organizations of fre
