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States look for highway money through ads on signs used to alert drivers
Grappling with the high cost of highway maintenance, states are increasingly experimenting with a long-prohibited fundraiser: advertising on signs that normally announce traffic congestion or construction detours.
The signs raise safety concerns over distracted drivers and diluted emergency messages. But advertising shows promise for raking tens of millions of dollars into state highway systems in dire need of repair. Recent efforts by state officials have been hit or miss.
A California congressman lost his bid to allow plants to be arranged, for a fee, into advertising symbols — think the Nike swoosh or Pepsi logo. New York state is at odds with the federal government over its use of tourism signs. Texas will experiment with sponsored signs showing a brand logo such as Shell or Allstate next to travel times.
“The states have been starting to get more creative,” said Asha Agrawal, director of transportation finance at the Mineta Transportation Institute.
Federal law prohibits advertisements on highway structures, such as poles or signs, or directly along publicly funded roadways.
A large part of the concern falls to distracted drivers: Nearly 80% of all crashes and 65% of near-crashes involve drivers looking away from the roadway, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report in 2006.
The proliferation of official signs, from construction warnings to Amber alerts for missing children, raised concerns about adding even more commercial signs.
A 2016 state bill in California, which proponents estimated would generate $200 million a year, sought advertising on changeable message signs on or near state highways.
The bill wasn’t approved. Critics such as U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman and Sam Farr, both DCalif., said it would “create new risks for drivers” and distract from safety messages and AMBER Alerts.
The House of Representatives rejected another idea out of California, this one from Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter in 2015, that would have allowed plants to be arranged into logos for a fee. Then-representative Corrine Brown, D-Fla., said that advertising could have generated $35 million in revenue and $8.7 million in maintenance savings each year for her state.
The top Democrat on the Transportation Committee, Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, called the advertising dangerous. “There was heavy regulation ... so as not to distract drivers and cause potential traffic accidents,” he said.
Still, the opportunity remains tantalizing for some states.
New York state posted 514 “I Love NY” tourism signs, a move directly counter to Federal Highway Administration rules. State and federal authorities recently discussed the signs, issuing a joint statement that they would work together to explore “opportunities to achieve New York’s objectives of continuing to promote tourism” while abiding by federal law.
When asked about the issue during her confirmation, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said she would adhere to the law “unless and until it is changed.”