10,000 Billboards is enough!

Just got back from a trip to Denver, Colorado. While I was out there, I met with one of the Board members of Scenic Colorado, who was quite impressed with the success we've had in Alabama. We really do have a lot to be proud of, but more work ahead.

One of the things that struck me was how few billboards Colorado actually has - they did a complete survey a couple of years ago, and there were fewer than 2,300 IN THE WHOLE STATE - not just interstates, but everywhere. Alabama has 10,000 billboards - and that is just on the interstates and major highways! It works out to 1.5 billboards per mile. That doesn't even count state roads, county roads and city roads. Don't you think 10,000 billboards is enough?

For me personally, Alabama has it hands down over Denver for scenic beauty. Not to insult Rockies lovers, but a distant horizon of snow-covered peaks does not make my heart sing like a view of forest-covered mountains or a beautiful lake. Yet we continue to cover up this beauty as if it did not matter!

Here's what you can do, if you agree that 10,000 billboards is enough: Call your legislator and ask him or her to support Scenic Alabama legislation. Find your House member here and your Senate member here. We are proposing two bills this year. One would not allow any new billboards to be constructed on interstates and major roads. The other would increase the application fee and renewal fee (right now they are a paltry $25 and $10) for billboards, with the funds going to ALDOT for implementing and enforcing the Highway Beautification Act.

We're talking to legislators about signing on as a sponsor, so anyone with a suggestion please comment or email us so we can follow up.

Remember: 10,000 billboards is enough! Let's make sure we can see our state's beautiful places.

Jumbotron TV Screens are not "signs"

"Digital billboards" are popping up all over and they are a real problem. Most everyone has probably seen one - they're like giant TV screens, the kinds you have in sports arenas. They are a real driving hazard, and certainly a lot more distracting that regular billboards which are bad enough.

It really irks me that the billboard companies are putting these things up without any kind of public safety study. It really doesn't take a study to know that it's hazardous to come around a curve on a dark night and have a giant glaring TV screen in your face (see my Vestavia Hills post), or go down a long straight road on a rainy night with a Jumbotron filling your entire field of vision (West Oxmoor Road in Homewood). But shouldn't they have to prove their product is safe before they just casually start plopping them in everywhere?

In December, Atlanta's mayor put in a moratorium on digital boards. Tuscaloosa has done the same thing. According to this news article, the federal highway administration has just now commissioned a study on video boards. We need to ask our city councils and county commissions to do the same thing. As drivers and citizens, we deserve to know that giant video boards are safe. It should not be up to the billboard company to decide.