Billboards are back with a vengeance

September 7th, 2021

Billboards sure ugly, and they’re particularly noticeable heading up to Lake Superior. Each time to and fro, I wonder whatever happened to Lady Bird Johnson’s billboard effort. Yesterday, down Hwy. 61, they were as visible as ever.

And it wasn’t just an effort, there was the “Highway Beautification Act.” It wasn’t just law, billboards disappeared, blue “Gas,” “Food,” and “Lodging,” and “REST AREA” signs appeared, brown park signs, and no more Burma Shave signs… does Burma Shave even exist now?

Yes, KEEP WISCONSIN GREEN OR WE’LL ALL GO BUST! I digress…

There were many attempts to gut it, and many attempts to strengthen it, with linkage to the Scenic Byways program, and the HBA was enacted and debated and amended in tandem with the build-out of the interstate highway system which bypassed many towns with businesses dependent on signs. See this linked Wiki. What a mess. But I don’t see how, given the existing laws, how there can be so many signs out there today… makes no sense.

Posted by Carol A. Overland
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