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Scenic America Petition Seeks Moratorium on Digital Billboards
Washington, D.C.—Citing concerns over driver safety, threats to roadway aesthetics and the violation of due public process, Scenic America has formally asked the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to rescind their guidance memorandum of 2007 that allowed for digital billboards to go up along federal aid highways.
The petition for rulemaking, filed by the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law Center on behalf of Scenic America, asks FHWA to issue a rule that defines the phrase "flashing, intermittent, or moving light or lights" to include digital billboards. Signs with such lights are prohibited along federal aid highways by federal regulations.
Both the Highway Beautification Act and long-standing FHWA regulations prohibit signs with intermittent lights in an effort to promote highway safety. Using any common sense definition, digital billboards by their nature include “flashing, intermittent, or moving light or lights.” Therefore, FHWA’s 2007 memorandum violates both the letter and the spirit of the law.
In addition, Scenic America contends that the 2007 memorandum was a significant rulemaking that violated the due process, public notice and comment period requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Most importantly, the petition asks FHWA to immediately institute a moratorium on the erection and maintenance of digital billboards and return to the pre-memorandum status quo.
“The 2007 memorandum was a short-sighted and improper rulemaking that has allowed thousands of digital billboards to go up around the county,” said Mary Tracy, president of Scenic America. “It is imperative that FHWA place a moratorium on these signs and enforce federal laws designed to promote driver safety and enhance scenic roadways.”
For more information contact: Max Ashburn, Scenic America Director of Communications at 202/638-1839 or ashburn@scenic.org or Margie Sollinger, IPR Staff Attorney at 202/662-4025 or mjs289@law.georgetown.edu.
—Press Release
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