Beautiful roadways appeal to visitors and residents alike.

Or do we want “litter on a stick” to be our experience?

Trees, skies and natural beauty…

Or ugly, distracting, overwhelming signs.

Many billboards do not promote local venues. This billboard is in Jasper,

Ala.

Content on billboards cannot be controlled by the government.

What do you want people to think of your community?

What do you want families to see when they enter your city?

Even suggestive advertising cannot be outlawed.

Cities have tried unsuccessfully to limit the kinds of businesses that

advertise.

It’s hard to promote a family-friendly town when this is what visitors see.

Billboard companies claim their product is essential for travelers.

How?

Although billboards can

make for some ironic

juxtapositions.

Billboards can generate controversy and “billboard wars”.

Once a billboard is up, people want to be as “in your face” as possible

Here are some more examples of bad billboards

Billboards overwhelm homes, and if they are converted to LED, they

cause light pollution.

Billboards are a blight in historic neighborhoods.

Digital Boards like this one are a new problem.

They are bright – even glaring – and quite distracting

They dominate the streetscape – which of course is what the billboard company wants.

This one at the San Francisco Bay Bridge has caused a big public

outcry

Business is better without billboards. Birmingham’s Five Points

South was a blighted area in the 1980s.

When the billboards were removed and other improvements made, the

area prospered.

Today, it is the entertainment center of the city. Frank Stitt’s nationally

renowned Highlands Bar and Grill is here.

Unincorporated “pockets” of land allowed billboards to destroy lovely views, this one along the Cahaba

River.

Billboards can distract on roadways where attention is vital.

This is the McCalla area with enormous billboards.

Wouldn’t you rather visit or live here?

Logo signs are the best way to communicate with travelers.

Tourists get accurate information when they need it.

An example of how to turn off tourists… the Foley Beach Express

Don’t even try to see the scenery – it is overrun with billboards.

This section of road shows the contrast between lovely trees…

…and the ugly blight of billboards. Which place would you rather stop and visit?

Promoting greenways and saving public trees is a new Scenic Alabama focus

It started with a group in Baldwin County who saw a lovely tree-lined

road destroyed for a shopping center view.

We worked with ALDOT to get a new policy that does not allow

clear cutting of trees for

developments.

Our legislative priority is a fair state fee for billboards, to allow the state

to implement and enforce the Highway Beautification Act.

We are also going to try and address

the problem of illegal

roadway signs, by making it

possible to legally identify

the person responsible for placing

them.

And although it might be a long way off, we want to work toward a

law prohibiting any new billboard

construction in Alabama.

We want to continue the legacy of Lady Bird Johnson

And make our highways, the lifeblood of our state,

a beautiful reflection of who we are.